Wild Things Run Fast

Infobox Album | Name = Wild Things Run Fast
Type = Album
Artist = Joni Mitchell


Released = October 1982
Recorded = 1981-1982
Genre = Folk jazz, Pop/Rock
Length = 36:05
Label = Geffen Records
Producer = Joni Mitchell
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:66jtear04x07 link]
*Robert Christgau (B) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=joni+mitchell link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/109162 link]
Last album = "Shadows and Light"
(1980)
This album = "Wild Things Run Fast"
(1982)
Next album = "Dog Eat Dog"
(1985)

"Wild Things Run Fast" is Joni Mitchell's 1982 album and her first for Geffen Records. It represents her departure from jazz to a more 80s pop sound, without compromising her integrity as a songwriter. It is a retrospective, hopeful and love-oriented look at life from middle age.

The resulting world tour took Joni through the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. A video of the tour was released in 1983, entitled "Refuge of the Roads". It has recently been released on DVD.

Mitchell claimed that her inspiration for the album came from hearing the music of popular bands such as Steely Dan, Talking Heads and The Police at a discotheque during a trip to the Caribbean in 1981. She said that hearing The Police, especially, affected her sound, saying, "their rhythmic hybrids, and the positioning of the drums, and the sound of the drums, was one of the main calls out to me to make a more rhythmic album". [ [http://jonimitchell.com/biography/bio.cfm?id=237 JoniMitchell.com - Biography (1981-1984 A Solid Love)] ]

The track "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" is on George W. Bush's iPod, though Mitchell commented in an interview that she would much rather he listen to "Dog Eat Dog" instead.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Joni Mitchell; except where indicated

#"Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody" – 5:17 (Mitchell, Alex North, Hy Zaret)
#"Wild Things Run Fast" – 2:12
#"Ladies' Man" – 2:37
#"Moon at the Window" – 3:42
#"Solid Love" – 2:57
#"Be Cool" – 4:12
#"(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" – 2:36 (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)
#"You Dream Flat Tires" – 2:50
#"Man to Man" – 3:42
#"Underneath the Streetlight" – 2:14
#"Love" – 3:46

Personnel

*Joni Mitchell - vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
*Larry Klein - bass
*Michael Landau - guitar
*Steve Lukather - guitar
*John Guerin - drums
*Vinnie Colaiuta - drums
*Larry Williams - Prophet synthesizer, tenor saxophone
*Russell Ferrante - Oberheim synthesizer
*Wayne Shorter - soprano saxophone
*Larry Carlton - guitar on "Ladies' Man"
*Victor Feldman - percussion on "Man to Man"
*Kim Hutchcroft - tenor saxophone on "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care"
*Lionel Ritchie, James Taylor, Charles Valentino, Howard Kinney, John Guerin, Joni Mitchell, Kenny Rankin, Robert De La Garza, Skip Cottrell - backing vocals

References