I recently had the opportunity to review Joni Mitchell's classic album Court and Spark, which is part of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's ongoing release of six of Joni's most iconic albums. You can read my review of that superb UltraDisc One-Step 180 gram LP set HERE. The UltraDisc is MoFi's ne plus ultra analog statement format, and their version of Court and Spark didn't disappoint, easily besting the handful of catalog and reissue LPs I had on hand. And was perhaps the best One-Step audiophile pressing I'd ever experienced, bar none. Mitchell's albums released so far in MoFi's series include Ladies of the Canyon (1970), Blue (1971), Court and Spark (1974), and Hejira (1976), leaving only For the Roses (1972) and Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) yet to come. As I said in that review, I'm pretty sure Blue and Court and Spark are the finest examples of Joni Mitchell's work, with Blue probably the overall fan favorite—it's the album that touched everyone's soul. Despite Blue's UltraDisc set having been released in 2024, my excitement level pegged past ten when I got the email that MoFi had decided to send a copy for review!
After receiving the One-Step set for Blue, I reached out to Mobile Fidelity's Bridget Davis¹ to confirm the pressing information regarding its release. Fidelity Record Pressing went online in late March 2024, and all MoFi LPs have been pressed there since, meaning my copy of Blue was actually pressed at RTI, prior to the transition. As always, the UltraDisc One-Step LP set for Blue was sourced from the original analog master tapes, and was remastered using MoFi's GAIN 2 system by Krieg Wunderlich assisted by Shawn R. Britton at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in Sebastopol, California. The analog tapes were transferred to DSD 256, then lacquers were cut for LP production, with the pair of 45 rpm LPs pressed on Neotech's Supervinyl at RTI. UltraDisc's Neotech Supervinyl LPs are perfection incarnate, and they arrive inserted into protective MoFi branded rice paper inner sleeves, which guard against scratching and minimize static buildup.
Stoughton Printing in California handles every aspect of UltraDisc's packaging. Each sleeved LP gets inserted into an inner jacket that's then inserted into a heavy outer slipcase; both the jackets and slipcase are distinctively gold foil-stamped. Crisp album artwork sourced from the Reprise Records vaults was used for the packaging as well as the beautiful printed insert that contains all song lyrics and music journalist Bob Gendron's illuminating essay on the making of Blue. All UltraDisc LPs are secured inside their inner jackets with gatefold paperboard sleeves to preserve their integrity, and playing an UltraDisc LP requires you to remove a lot of packaging to get to the LPs. But it's a small inconvenience when you consider the level of protection it provides to your investment. The UltraDisc represents the pinnacle of MoFi's perfectionist approach to the manufacture of exceptional audiophile LPs. Blue is strictly limited to 12,000 copies worldwide, and you can order one from MoFi's webstore HERE.
Joni Mitchell, Blue. (2) 45 rpm UltraDisc One-Step LPs, $125 MSRP
Blue was Joni Mitchell's fourth studio album; it arrived in June 1971, and followed a break from performing after the release of 1970's Ladies of the Canyon. When she abruptly took off for an extended vacation in Europe and the Grecian Isles, escaping the turmoil of her rapidly dissolving relationship with Graham Nash. Much of the album's material is said to stem from her relationships with Nash, James Taylor, and her time away in Greece. Joni Mitchell self-produced Blue, which was recorded at LA's A&M Studios in January 1971. Henry Lewy engineered the record, and the fairly sparse album featured Joni on guitar, piano, Appalachian dulcimer, and vocals, along with James Taylor on guitar, Steven Stills on bass and guitar, Russell Kunkel on drums, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel guitar. A number of the songs simply featured Mitchell's mezzo soprano accompanied by either her guitar, dulcimer, or piano. Blue reached the number 14 spot on the Billboard album charts upon its release, eventually passing the platinum sales level, and was greeted with an abundance of critical praise.
Many of the songs on Blue are ingrained in the collective consciousness of the record-buying public. That's actually rather surprising, considering the underperformance of the pair of singles released to promote the album: "Carey" only reached number 93 on the Billboard singles chart, and "California" failed to chart. The album's stripped-down production values and sparse instrumentation obviously struck a nerve with listeners, who bought it in droves. Powerful songs that are essentially solo performances by Mitchell include "Blue," "River," "A Case of You," and "The Last Time I Saw Richard," all of which dug into the psyche of everyone who heard them. When she sings "A Case of You," she shows that she fully understands the dichotomy of the sanctity but flawed nature of relationships: "You're in my blood like holy wine, you taste so bitter, and so sweet, oh, I could drink a case of you, darling." The relationship she was singing about might not have been perfect, but she nonetheless reveled in the moment, even as it crashed around her. And even though the lighthearted "California" failed to chart, the chronicle of her Grecian Island experience and homesickness for LA spoke to many listeners.
Listening to Mobile Fidelity's Blue
By clicking on my name in the header above, you can see the full complement of components that occupy my dual audio setups. My all-analog system features LS3/5A clones from XSA Labs, running in tandem with a pair of Caldera 12 subs, a ProJect Classic EVO turntable fitted with an Ortofon Quintet Bronze moving coil cartridge, and a PS Audio Stellar phono preamp that plays into a PrimaLuna EVO 300 tube integrated amp. The amp was recently upgraded with RAY Reserve KT88 tubes; any doubts I might have about this system's audiophile credibility are quickly erased by putting on a Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc LP. Joni Mitchell's sparsely instrumented Blue emerged from this system with a level of uber-realism that believably placed her voice, guitar, dulcimer, and piano in the soundfield that unfolded in front of and around me.
The pair of Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc LPs were not only flawless in their appearance, but provided defect- and noise-free playback with impressively silent backgrounds. The Supervinyl™ compound affords them a level of whisper-quiet playback that many audiophile LPs can't replicate. I also had multiple LP pressings of Blue on hand, including a Reprise label original, a mid-2000's repress from Warner, and a 2021 Bernie Grundman remastered repress from Warner/Rhino. The 45 rpm playback of MoFi's new UltraDisc set bettered them all; the One-Step process is a couple of generations closer to the master tape, and presents the music with enhanced levels of nuance, detail, clarity, and realism. During my initial playback of MoFi's Blue, I only intended to skim through the album, but I was so engaged by Joni Mitchell's compelling performances and the superb sound, I ended up listening from start to finish. The UltraDisc of Blue has been in constant rotation since arriving, and it's clear to me that Mobile Fidelity's pressing sets the gold standard others will be compared to.
Joni Mitchell's Blue inspired a generation of singer-songwriters
Before rock radio became ultra-commercialized, before our brains were being pounded into submission by cookie-cutter corporate rock bands, you'd still hear songs from albums like Blue coming across the airwaves. Hearing Joni Mitchell's then still-sweet voice singing songs about her often-fractured relationships made us contemplate our own existences, helping us cope with our realities. It's often said that everyone who bought the Velvet Underground's debut album started a band, but I'd be willing to wager that just as many listeners, upon hearing Blue for the first time, contemplated chronicling their own lives and circumstances in song. The influence of Blue can't be understated, and many lists of greatest albums of all time regularly place it in their top ten.² If there's a more perfectly realized distillation of confessional singing and songwriting, I haven't come across it in five decades as a music lover and listener.
Thanks again to Bridget Citro Davis of Mobile Fidelity and Music Direct for her assistance in making this review possible. While $125 isn't cheap for an album, it's the going rate for audiophile one-step type pressings. MoFi's UltraDisc One-Step set of Joni Mitchell's Blue offers the album in its finest incarnation ever, with sound that approaches that of the master tape. That easily makes purchasing it a no-brainer—this set comes very highly recommended!
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
All images courtesy of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
¹ Bridget Davis is the COO and co-owner of Music Direct, Mobile Fidelity, and Fidelity Record Pressing.
² Rolling Stone ranked Blue number three on their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020.
