Court and Spark Court and Spark Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It was an immediate commercial and critical success—and remains her most successful album. Released in January 1974, it infuses her folk rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections. It reached No. 2 in the United States and No. 1 in Canada and eventually received a Double Platinum certification by the RIAA, the highest of Mitchell's career. It also reached the Top 20 in the UK and was voted the best album of the year for 1974 in The
Bittersweet and Blue boozers she's ever sung in and tacitly commands you to prick up your ears and listen". John Fordham, in a four-starred review for "The Guardian", praised Herbert's "precociously powerful chemistry of taste and meticulous care for every sound – from a whisper to an exhortation." The album was produced and engineered by Pete Smith and was recorded and mixed at Townhouse Studios in west London between June and July 2004. The album sleeve, incorporating photographs by Uri Weber, was designed by Rummey Design. The album is dedicated to the memory of Tristan Hewins. Bittersweet and Blue Bittersweet and Blue, the