These came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got them. Here’s what I said about them back then (with some minor editing):
Usually, when an artist has two retrospectives out simultaneously on different labels, it’s due to dueling record companies. In Joni Mitchell’s case, it’s apparently an act of creative corporate collaboration.
Mitchell herself compiled the self-portraits The Beginning Of Survival and Dreamland, the first two in a supposed series of thematic career retrospectives. Survival centres around social, political and cultural concerns expressed in ’80s and ’90s material like Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Sex Kills and Lakota. Dreamland concerns itself with more personal tales of love and life, drawing heavily on earlier (and bigger) hits like Free Man In Paris, Big Yellow Taxi, Help Me, The Circle Game and Both Sides Now. Get the pair and you can get a glimpse of both sides of Mitchell’s musical world.
