Joni Mitchell – Blue

My copy had non-fill right when the vocals started on the 1st track.

I can't really accept this on a premium product.

Generally it was a noisy pressing unfortunealy.

Insanely good sounding pressing of this classic album. Punchy dynamics and great clarity.

Hi friends. I noticed some mixed up classifications for French Joni Mitchell LP's, so it brings me here to tell you some things about the French letters as prices codes for albums in order of appearance on the market..
By "purse-memory", as i can assure you i spent my young lad years counting every penny (fucking centimes, yeah!) to buy my Soul Food.. Thoses lovely pieces of plastic were always too expensive... Same old song!

T was for 26 francs et 50 centimes
U was for 30 francs et 50 centimes
B was for 34 francs et 50 centimes
Y was for 37 francs et 50 centimes
A was for 40 francs et 50 centimes

By mid 70's came X, W, K (Imports from faraway countries as US or Japan, boxes, and classy classic recordings)
There always been C, D and V for cheap issues and almost all the other letters for singles but i'm a bit fed up now =)
By the end of the seventies, this lettering was dropped.
By the way, the everlasting 50 centimes as an added greedy bite always puzzled me.
Hope my listing will be of some use. Salutations from the other side !!! TUBYA TUBYA !!!!!!! Jean Pierre Rocka Rolla.

From Steve Hoffman who remastered this release -
"Remember, this version is a very representative facsimile of what the original pristine master tape sounds like. free of treble lift and limiter artifacts. You will need to turn your stereo up a bit louder to catch the dynamics in full swing.
Since I didn't use any compression OR EQ on most of the songs, we just unhooked all of the outboard gear from the mastering console right out of the signal chain for a crystal pure sound and just let her rip.
You should be able to hear the different microphones used on Joni's vocals and the different engineering recording style on several of the songs quite clearly.
This is not a flaw, it's exciting; you get to hear the original Dolby A Joni Mitchell BLUE master tape right on your own stereo with nothing in the way. Enjoy it!"

My first experience with a MOFI One Step, and I do have some things I want to point out, first being the packaging.

Not as lavish or sturdy I would have hoped. The outer slipcase is perfectly fine, but the individual LP sleeves feel very fragile. Look at them the wrong way and they just might fall apart. Thankfully my sleeves aren’t split. I think a high gloss, tip-on gatefold would’ve been much more welcome.

Pressing quality is not exactly the greatest but not bad either. Slight noise that could definitely be negated with cleanings. What really saves this release is the mastering. Definitely the best this record has sounded IMO. I compared it to the 2007 Hoffman/Gray cut and this one edges it slightly. If you have that copy, you’re probably fine as is, but if you love this record as much as me, you’d want the best, and I’d say it’s worth taking a chance on this one.

Glass Bead Records has a copy of the ACETATE pressing of this on their website for a cool $8,000! https://glassbeadrecords.com/products/joni-mitchell-blue-acetate?_pos=1&_sid=8080ed661&_ss=r

Sounds amazing, the only version of this I own.. happy and content to keep on keeping on with this one.

I'm looking at buying this version but just wondering if anyone has an opinion on the pressing?

There should be at the very least one excellent review every month regarding that pressing.

Here's the march 2025 one.

Now go read everything that's already been said, and multiply it by 4: you'll nearly get close to what it really is.

this is such an intimate sounding disc. it's like you're in the room with her. this might be one of the best sounding records in my collection next to my "compact classics" edition of marvin gaye's "let's get it on".