Back to the Garden


Back to the Garden is a tribute album to Joni Mitchell, released in 1992. It was released on Intrepid Records, after the Canadian chart success of their 1991 Bruce Cockburn tribute, Kick at the Darkness.
The album's first single was Sloan's rendition of "A Case of You", from Mitchell's 1971 album Blue. It was followed up by Squiddly's rap-infused rendition of "Blonde in the Bleachers".

Track listing

  1. "Free Man in Paris" – Big Faith
  2. "This Flight Tonight" – Sara Craig
  3. "Carey" – Universal Honey
  4. "Big Yellow Taxi" – Lorraine Scott
  5. "Black Crow" – Molly Johnson
  6. "The Beat of Black Wings" – Andy Stochansky
  7. "Shades of Scarlett Conquering" – Martha and the Muffins
  8. "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" – Funky Bummer1
  9. "River" – Hugh Marsh, Jon Goldsmith, Rob Piltch and Martin Tielli 2
  10. "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" – Kurt Swinghammer
  11. "Coyote" – Spirit of the West
  12. "Woodstock" – W.O.W.
  13. "Night in the City" – Jenny Whiteley
  14. "A Case of You" – Sloan
  15. "Blonde in the Bleachers" – Squiddly with Maria Del Mar1
  16. "Songs to Aging Children Come" – John Cody and Marti Jones
  17. "Refuge of the Roads" – Laura Hubert and Art Bergmann

Critical response

Chris Dafoe of The Globe and Mail singled out the album's interpretations of "River" and "Coyote" as interesting, but concluded that "this, like Intrepid's earlier Bruce Cockburn tribute, suffers from a surfeit of politeness. Those receiving the tribute are too respectable and those giving the tribute are too respectful "
Neil Randall of the Waterloo Region Record wrote that the album's covers of lesser-known Mitchell songs, including "Black Crow", "The Beat of Black Wings", "Coyote", "Songs to Aging Children Come" and "Refuge of the Roads", stood out much more than the versions of her biggest hits. He concluded that "This is a very worthwhile collection, much better than the Cockburn tribute. The reason, which becomes obvious on first listening, is that Joni Mitchell is a much more varied and talented songwriter than Cockburn. I must admit that I didn't originally like the tribute idea, but Kick at the Darkness partially convinced me and this one fully does. Who's next? Gordon Lightfoot? Robbie Robertson? Neil Young? Paul Anka? Please tell me Guy Lombardo didn't write songs."