Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now by Brian Hinton

by Brian Hinton

The first book to analyze Joni Mitchell's controversial life, career, songs and the strange times they so exactly chronicle.

Genres: Music

Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the definitive biography of Joni, but it was one of the first. A better one I review in greater detail is David Yaffe's 2017 book, Reckless Daughter: A portrait of Joni Mitchell. But I saw it on my shelf and decided to finally read this one, too. My friend Tom gave me this book in 1996 though he warned me it wasn't very well written (!). But we both love Joni and it was a book that encompassed all of her life at that time, so i started it a couple times but just could not deal with the style. Yet even as annoyingly as this is written, it nevertheless gives inside dope on all those years. You get some inside information, a few tidbits, that are interesting.

Yaffe's book is better because he actually interviewed Joni several times in the process and he write better and more insightfully. Hinton never talked to her, but he does compile from various sources some condensed versions of reviews, interviews and articles, so that's useful. He does adore her work, and focuses on it, but doesn't ignore all the men she lived with along the way (so you can get just enough of that gossip) or her snarkier self especially as she headed into the nineties. The main work it does is to briefly and idiosnycratically analyze every album she had done up until 1996, and also spends a little time on her painting. He is with the mainstream in valuing her early folkier work more than the later jazzy experimental stuff she seemed to be resentful no one liked or understood.

But if you want a better book and better review, with music, see the Yaffe.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For those of us who feel that Joni Mitchell is the world's greatest living artist, AND the greatest Canadian who's ever lived, this book would seem to be a must-read. Sadly, this biography contains so many errors, both in fact and typography, that any longtime fan of Joni's will become annoyed fairly quickly. All of which is not to say that Ms. Mitchell's legion of fans will not enjoy reading Brian Hinton's effort. Joni makes for a fascinating subject, and her life has been as full of incident as any celebrity's out there. Still, one turns the last page of this book feeling that there should've been more; that we still don't know what makes Joni "tick"; that there are huge gaps that have gone unrecorded. Mr. Hinton, having been limited, schoolboy fashion, by what the libraries and old publications could provide, and not having done ANY original interviews himself, sheds no light on Joni that hasn't been shed before. He merely provides the useful service of compiling dozens of old articles and interviews and putting them together in a nice, readable order. And while it is always interesting to hear another Mitchell fan's views on her work, Hinton's interpretations, while at times dead-on and insightful, are often strained and ludicrous. (Are we really to believe, for example, that in Joni's painting for the front cover of "Clouds," the flower is "a cross between a lily and a poppy...some kind of Canadian hybrid, or a plant invented by Mitchell herself, playing God," and thus her way of offering us a clue to the album's theme: paradox?)

On the up side, there are some anecdotes that I, a Joni fan of some 40 years, had never heard before, but these nuggets are more than counterbalanced by the remarkable carelessness with which the book has been put together. The errors in this book are legion!!! Space does not permit me to go into the dozens and dozens of goofs, but any longtime fan of Ms. Mitchell's will quickly spot them. So when all is said and done, Hinton's work remains a book that all Joni's fans should read and get annoyed at. Any of these fans will enjoy the book up to a point, as long as they don't go in expecting the work of, say, a Donald Spoto. Ms. Mitchell deserves THAT kind of treatment, but, to paraphrase the words of another great songwriter, Sammy Cahn, this will have to do until the real thing comes along...

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. This is not the definitive bio of Joni Mitchell. That still needs to be written. Someone should have told Hinton to put his enthusiasm on low boil: this book nears hagiography and the author gushes as much about Mitchell's good looks as about her early work. His hyperbolic, corny prose is off-putting at times. Over the course of just two pages he uses these high water marks to try and describe how good she is: Lou Reed, Pirates of Penzance, Gone with the Wind, Sandy Denny, Roy Harper, Angela Carter and Sylvia Plath.
Don't get me wrong. I adore Joni Mitchell. My other quibble with this short bio is that he concentrates more on the work than the life. So, like I say, she deserves a more full-blooded account. That being said, the book is still about Joni Mitchell and, hence, an enjoyable read.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me forever to read it. Full of good information, but not exactly a page turner. A few pictures would have been nice.

[Anne Totoro]

Did not finish…..I wouldn’t call it a biography…..I don't think the author ever interviewed her himself……

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exhaustive biography of the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter & nicotine-addicted Joan Roberta Anderson a.k.a. Joni Mitchell. I have to admit to being a real fan since the early 70s but have up till now avoided knowing too much about her whys & wherefores...fearing that songs are often compromised by knowing too much about their inspirations. Judge them on what you hear & feel & ignore the reviews, back-histories & recording-studio processes. Joni's repertoire is unique & durable; her songs still resonate with me - & I listen to very little contemporary popular music these days, mostly from an antipathy towards the 'artists' who either push the boundaries too far, lyrically & visually, or simply 'sample' or 'regurgitate' the back-catalogues from the last 50 years! Joni was the best of a very talented pool of singer-songwriters - mostly male! - & her music evolved, with some cork-screwing around - to new levels of sophistication & new musical forms...jazz-influenced...drum-based...always with her poetic gift with words.
This biography informs about & assesses Joni's career up to her 1994 album 'Turbulent Indigo'...so the years since then remain unchartered. Obviously,I was fascinated by Joni's personal comments on performing,the music business & contemporary (in the 90s!) west-coast ethics. She seems to have suffered along with all us gentle 'warriors' for a more peaceful & less frenetic & material world.I can't help thinking we still have a lot of work to do.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the only book I have voluntarily stopped reading before finishing. I was amazed, after referring to the writing as being incredibly pretentious, to see a review on the jacket saying it was un-pretentious! I love Joni Mitchell, but unless you want to hear a jacass talk about her golden hair for page upon page upon page, read another biography.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good biography of Joni Mitchell using numerous interviews, articles and reviews of her catalog. Brian Hinton also provide an in dept study of each of her albums song by song. If you are a fan of Joni Mitchell - this is a must read. If you want to know more about her and why her fans like her so - this is a good place to start.

[Greta Gilbertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew very little about Joni Mitchell's life, although she was a huge influence on me growing up. This book is packed full of information about her, and as another reviewer said, much of it about her boyfriends. She was treated cruelly by the press at times, especially when they referred to where she lived as El Lay.

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is wretched, terrible, just horrifyingly bad. His research apparently consisted of reading old magazine articles, and he makes some ludicrous factual errors, including that singer James Taylor is a transvestite and that Joni gave birth to a baby in her fifties!

[Lucia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely written by a man, but has lots of interesting info about the life and work of Joni Mitchell. This is where I learned about all her boyfriends ;o)

[Sarah Battersby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was full of inaccuracies, and seemed to be cobbled together. Some great info on Joni though, interviews and nuggets about her life.

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to evaluate this book. On the one hand, we need more critical looks at the 20th century's greatest (maybe?) songwriter, and Hinton has pretty good critical sense (for some reason, he's in love with 'The Hissing of Summer Lawns' above everything else Joni did). On the other hand, the writing is at times directionless, and the author's personality breaks through the narrative too often. He has annoying habit of introducing a new album, listing its position in the pop charts and its sales figures, and then writing" "Those are the facts." He then tries to counter the "facts" with some momentous critical analysis, but this pretentious approach totally falls flat.

Overall, a nice try, but the definitive book this isn't.