In 1991, Joni Mitchell closed out a four-album run with Geffen Records that included her three somewhat cringeworthy 80s releases. The fourth record, though, was a notable improvement.

In fact, 14 albums in, I’m currently ranking Night Ride Home among Mitchell’s top five. This is a beautiful, rich album steeped in nostalgia. And it finds Mitchell back in her comfort zone of piano and acoustic guitar, as the glitzy 80s production gives way to a much more palatable 90s sheen.

Listening to Night Ride Home, I was reminded that I know this album quite well. A high school friend of mine put one of its tracks on a mix tape shortly after it came out and I was impressed enough to buy the album. I spent quite a lot of time with it back then, though I hadn’t revisited it in ages.

Even so, every one of these ten tracks was familiar. And, apart from some unnecessary repetition on several tracks, this is Mitchell’s strongest batch of songs since the early 70s.

Particularly good are ‘Cherokee Louise,’ a poignant track about a childhood friend who was a victim of sexual abuse, ‘Passion Play (When All the Slave are Free),’ ‘The Windfall (Everything For Nothing),’ and ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem,’ which sets Mitchell’s interpretation of the Yeats poem to a haunting musical backdrop.

Continuing her pattern of leading off with her best track, the album’s opener and title cut is a beauty. Mitchell describes a summer drive she took on the streets of Hawaii, painting a vivid picture that puts you right there in the car.