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Blue: Pain and Pleasure

Laura Marling celebrates the 50th anniversary of the release of Joni Mitchell's seminal album Blue, telling the story behind the writing and recording of this iconic masterpiece.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the release of Joni Mitchell's seminal album Blue, Laura Marling tells the story behind the writing and recording of the album, and explains why Blue is regarded by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Joni Mitchell鈥檚 masterpiece was conceived and created with raw emotion at its heart and she poured everything she had into the writing and recording of her music. As Joni said at the time, "I couldn鈥檛 look at people without weeping, I was just dripping in earnestness and sincerity. I realised a lot of people were listening to me, so they better find out who they鈥檙e worshipping, let鈥檚 see if they can take it, let鈥檚 get real - so I wrote Blue, which horrified a lot of people. I just revealed human traits. When people see themselves in it the communication is complete."

Laura explains how she first became aware of Blue and describes the enormous impact the album had on her - artistically and personally. Laura will also include contributions from other fans of Joni's iconic work - including Emeli Sande, Beth Orton, Ellie Goulding, James Taylor, Graham Nash and Seal.

A Zinc Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 4

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29 minutes

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