Joni Mitchell Blue - Wow help me Agoners


I just got this CD and I love the honesty and emotion of it. Her voice is wonderful. I have some of her newer ones, but her voice and her raw emotion are so much better on Blue.

The recording is a little thin and wonder if there is a better version out there? Where do I get it? Last, can you Joni fans tell me which other albums are like Blue. I want to buy more of her stuff, but want the emotion, voice and style of Blue.

I know I should be more familiar with Blue as I am 44, but I just played it for the first time today. Now this is art!
128x128grannyring
I've listened to "Night Ride Home" three times in the last few days. It's my favorite post 1980 Joni Mitchell cd. No wait, it's "Turbulent Indigo" ... No wait ... Aargh, love em both!
I oun everything Joni ever put on "Wax". Funny but different masters put forth a different version of Blue. I have 10 copies of Blue only 3 are the ones to listen too.
I think I would be more accurate to write : Different pressing machines , plates and/or lathes produce different quality "Blue" LPs.

I’m not a big Joni fan, but the 2021 Rhino record reissue of Blue is well done.  The recording is quiet, simple with a great presence of voice.  I have no idea how it compares to the CD, or previous vinyl releases.

The ‘07 Steve Hoffman/Kevin Gray-mastered Reprise 74842 vinyl pressing seems to garner rave reviews.
$80-100+ in good shape.  

An ‘07 Bernie Grundman-mastered (original mastering engineer) Rhino 74795 HDCD can be had for about $20.

The ‘20 Kevin Gray-mastered RTI-pressed, Rhino RH1 74842 vinyl can be had for around $30.

The ‘99 Steve Hoffman-mastered DCC GZS-1132 24k gold CD goes for around $150-200+.

Actually getting a ‘07 SH/KG vinyl seems to have been tricky for some. 
There seems to be folks trying to get the SH/KG cut and either receiving a pressing with :

a) SH/KG on one side, KG on the other, or,
b) KG on both sides

The packaging seems to be the same on both versions, so even if a buyer demanded explicit clarification on a sealed copy, the seller would have to open the shrink to clarify.  

I would want an extremely clean vinyl copy, myself.  Music is too quiet and intense for surface noice.  Price becomes an issue here, as well as the apparent difficulties in obtaining the actual SH/KG mastering.

The ‘22 Grundman-mastered Rhino R1 2038 seems to be slightly cheaper than the ‘20 Gray cut, and also good sound according to several reviews.

The difference in sound quality between the highly-touted SH/KG cut and KG cut seems to be minimal to some.

There are some things to consider when endeavoring to hear this masterpiece in the best possible way.