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Joni Mitchell: Hejira

Joni Mitchell: Hejira

Mobile Fidelity  UDSACD2275

Stereo Hybrid

Pop/Rock


Joni Mitchell


Joni Mitchell Embarks on Open-Ended Journeys and Chronicles Restlessness on Hejira: Expansive, Jazz-Minded Effort Is Ranked the 113th Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone

Joni Mitchell is the only artist who could’ve made Hejira. The legendary singer-songwriter said as much when discussing the album decades after its release. Yet that fact seemed obvious from the moment the gold-certified effort streeted in fall 1976. An adventurous travelogue, probing narrative, and offbeat homage to freedom, Hejira remains an inimitable entry in the catalog of recorded music — a spare, gorgeous, meditative series of sonic vignettes comprised of floating harmonic pop, cool jazz, soft rock, and sensitive vocal elements that beckon feelings of motion, discovery, and self-examination.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition hybrid SACD presents the record ranked the 133rd Greatest of All Time by Rolling Stone with definitive detail, richness, accuracy, and directness. Marking the first time the revered effort has received audiophile treatment on disc, it's one of six iconic 1970s Mitchell records Mobile Fidelity is reissuing on vinyl and SACD.

This collectible reissue reproduces in breathtaking fashion the tones, textures, and craftsmanship that help Hejira function as the equivalent of a liberating trip down an open road with nothing but blue sky, natural landscape, and fresh air in the immediate vicinity. Passages bloom, carry, decay as they do amid an acoustically optimized environment.

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Comment by Downunderman - October 3, 2025 (1 of 1)

Mastered by Rob LoVerde. And a very nice job he has done too.

When you are very familiar with the previous CD versions of an album there is an interesting paradox that sometimes appears to happen when listening to a flat mastering from what appears to be an original analog master tape.

Initially it can seem to be flat sounding and less detailed compared to previous CD incarnations, but as your listening progresses you start to hear detail that you don't remember hearing before.

This seems to be a function of the more etched presentation of CDs and the historical removal of very low level detail in the remastering of CDs with a bit of tweakery to accentuate various aspects of the mix thrown in for good measure.

Once you get your ear in though you realize that the sound of a flat transfer from an analog tape is much more balanced and detailed, but in a way that accentuates the whole, not just particular aspects.

I love this album and think this SACD mastering is very good, whilst also being true to the source. You may be surprised by how different it sounds (at least initially) though.

Here's hoping The Hissing Of Summer Lawns is not too far away.