Naturally, the NYT won't let me read the linked article unless I sign up.  
I would have a hard time not picking Blue as my all time favourite album.

Music from Big Pink is almost interchangeable but Blue is definitely something else.  Great sounding album too I have a reissued HQ180 pressing that is dynamite.
Fabulous album. I have a copy she signed for me when she was staying at her place north of Vancouver on the Sunshine Coast.
Speaking of Joni and Music From Big Pink, a few connections between the two:

1- Both she and The Band are of course from Canada (except for Levon Helm, born and raised in Arkansas).

2- Robbie Robertson appears on her Court And Spark album.

3- Joni is seen (though off stage, behind a curtain) and heard in The Last Waltz.
What a great article.  I dropped everything else this morning and read it from beginning to end.  Then I bookmarked it.
Couldn't read the article, but Joni had a huge impact on songwriting and Blue may be her masterpiece.  She was and is a complicated person, but I guess most great artists are.  I love the album.
See also IMO Ann Powers NPR article: Her Kind of Blue for a parallel look … with another Blue….
My copy of the reissue of Blue sounds excellent!  It is a wonderful album of music, the SQ is superb and the vinyl is very quiet.  Couldn't ask for much more than that.
+1 Ann Power’s article as mentioned by @tomic601.
Ann Power is about as eloquent and insightful an observer of popular music as exists today. Her article comparing the minimalism of both Blue and Kind of Blue, among other insights, is a great read. 
Highly recommended!
Just thought to add some Blue history to this thread
https://www.yahoo.com/news/those-congas-jonis-blue-thats-130047527.html

I'm sure bdp24 can add additional color to this. Just another period of music that will never be matched.
good mentions of other articles, thanks.

here's the link to Ann Powers' NPR article with intelligent observations of Joni Mitchell and Mile's Davis

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/20/1008271419/joni-mitchell-masterpiece-at-50-her-kind-of-blue
rich,

that's another good article, thanks,

I can't find my BLUE LP, it's buried in the ones I inherited. And don't have a CD version!!!!!!!

Just ordered sealed 180g re-issue

Speaking of Blue, I cannot find my LP of Blue Nile's 'Walk Across the Rooftops' either. I have several copies of the CD. For those that don't know, Linn Records decided to show how good their TT's were by issuing their own LP's, re-perfected recording, cutting, mastering ... and I pre-ordered their first LP, 001, which was this one. Wonderful dynamics throughout, I love his voice, the songs and music are interesting, not confessional. I just listened to it over and over on my 6 hr drive up here to Maine.

made offer

https://www.discogs.com/The-Blue-Nile-A-Walk-Across-The-Rooftops/release/6284669



In Maine, I went to a dedicated music store, to buy a CD to listen to on the way home. They did NOT have it in the store. LP Not Available Online

https://www.bullmoose.com/