Song to a Seagull

Song to a Seagull (also known as Joni Mitchell) is the debut studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Produced by David Crosby, the album was recorded at Sunset Sound and released in March 1968 by Reprise Records. Production The album was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California . David Crosby was assigned as producer as part of the deal with Reprise Records, following meeting Mitchell in October 1967. Crosby wanted Mitchell to sound pure and natural, so he asked her to sing into the studio grand piano, and set up extra microphones to capture her voice reverberating off the strings; unfortunately the set-up captured too much ambient noise, resulting in excessive tape hiss , which could only be removed post-production at the cost of the high sounds in the audio range , which gives the album a flat feel. Mitchell had written songs that were hits for other artists (e.g., " Both Sides Now " and " Chelsea Morning " by Judy Collins and Dave Van Ronk , "Eastern Rain" by Fairport Convention , "Urge for Going" and " The Circle Game " by Tom Rush ), but none of these songs were selected for inclusion on Song to a Seagull . Release This album was originally released as Joni Mitchell because the LP album covers were printed incorrectly, cutting off part of the Song to a Seagull title (spelled out by birds in flight). The cut-off, as well as the publishers at Reprise Records not noticing that the birds spelled out the album name, caused the eponymous album title. The two sides of the LP were labelled as Part 1 – "I Came to the City", and Part 2 – "Out of the City and Down to the Seaside". On April 8, 2021, Rhino Entertainment , the catalog arm of Warner Music Group , announced that a new mix of the album overseen by Mitchell and mixer Matt Lee would be released on June 25, 2021 as part of a special remaster collection comprising the singer's first four albums. Commenting on the quality of the original mix, Mitchell called it "atrocious" and said it "sounded like it was recorded under a Jello bowl". The remastered collection is part of the ongoing Joni Mitchell Archives project.