Turbulent Indigo is the fifteenth album by Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

. It was released in 1994, and became one of her most critically acclaimed releases, winning a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Pop Album of the Year.

The album marked her return to Warner Music

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 (formerly WEA) distribution after her previous album, Night Ride Home, was distributed by MCA

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

 for its then-newly purchased subsidiary Geffen Records

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

 (which, prior to the sale to MCA, had distributed through WEA).

The album takes inspiration from the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...

 for Mitchell's self-portrait on the cover. The song "Turbulent Indigo" references Van Gogh, while the song "Magdalene Laundries" recounts the sufferings of Irish women once consigned to Magdalen Asylum

Magdalen Asylum

Magdalene asylums were institutions from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries ostensibly for "fallen women", a term used to imply sexual promiscuity....

s run by the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 and made to work in the asylum's laundries. The song "Not to Blame" was rumored to be about Mitchell's singer-songwriting colleague Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....

 and his then girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah

Daryl Hannah

Daryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...

, although Joni denies this. . The song "Sex Kills" referenced a number of late twentieth century topical issues, including violence, AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

, global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

 and consumerism

Consumerism

Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...

.

, the album has sold 311,000 copies in the US.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Joni Mitchell; except where indicated

1. "Sunny Sunday" – 2:21
2. "Sex Kills" – 3:56
3. "How Do You Stop" – 4:09 (Charlie Midnight, Dan Hartman
   Dan Hartman
   Daniel Earl "Dan" Hartman was an American singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for such songs as: "Free Ride", "I Can Dream About You", "Instant Replay", "Love Sensation", and "Relight My Fire", all of which had world-wide success.-Career:Born in Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg,...
   
   )
4. "Turbulent Indigo" – 3:34
5. "Last Chance Lost" – 3:14
6. "The Magdalene Laundries" – 4:02
7. "Not to Blame" – 4:18
8. "Borderline" – 4:48
9. "Yvette in English" – 5:16 (Mitchell, David Crosby
   David Crosby
   David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
   
   )
10. "The Sire of Sorrow (Job
    Job (Biblical figure)
    Job is the central character of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible. Job is listed as a prophet of God in the Qur'an.- Book of Job :The Book of Job begins with an introduction to Job's character — he is described as a blessed man who lives righteously...
    
    's Sad Song)" – 7:08

Personnel

• Joni Mitchell - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
• Jim Keltner
  Jim Keltner
  James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
  
   - Drums on "Sunny Sunday"
• Larry Klein
  Larry Klein
  Larry Klein is a music producer, songwriter and bass guitar player, commonly known for being the frequent musical collaborator, and ex-husband, of Joni Mitchell....
  
   - Organ, Bass, Producer
• Michael Landau
  Michael Landau
  Michael Landau is a prolific session musician and guitarist who has played on a large number of albums since the early 1980s with artists as varied as Seal, James Taylor, Helen Watson, Richard Marx, Steve Perry, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis...
  
   - Electric Guitar on track 2, 3
• Greg Leisz
  Greg Leisz
  Greg Leisz is an American multi-instrumentalist, playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass.- Biography :Leisz was influenced early on by the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, especially pedal steel player "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow...
  
   - Pedal Steel Guitar
  Pedal steel guitar
  The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
  
   on track 7, 8
• Seal
  Seal (musician)
  Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
  
   - Vocals on "How Do You Stop"
• Wayne Shorter
  Wayne Shorter
  Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
  
   - Soprano Saxophone
  Soprano saxophone
  The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
  
  on tracks: 1, 4, 7, 8
• Carlos Vega - Drums on tracks: 3, 4, 7
• Stewart Smith - Guitar on "How Do You Stop"
• Bill Dillon - Synthesizer on "Yvette in English"
• Charles Valentino - Backing vocals on "Yvette in English"
• Kris Kello - Backing vocals on "Yvette in English"