Joni Mitchell’s 15th studio album was her first to win a Grammy (though she had won twice before for performances of individual songs). 1994’s Turbulent Indigo picked up the award for Best Pop Album, besting Madonna, Mariah Carey, Annie Lennox and the Eagles.

This album feels like a throwback to Mitchell’s great 70s work, even if it never hits those highs. It sounds great and features some memorable tracks, especially in its superior first half.

Mitchell tackles thorny issues on this album, including AIDS, gun violence, the environment, and domestic abuse. On the haunting ‘The Magdalene Laundries,’ she explores the asylums run for hundreds of years by the Catholic church where young women were institutionalized for alleged promiscuity.

Her most scathing attack is reserved for former friend Jackson Browne, who had recently been accused of beating his girlfriend Daryl Hannah. Mitchell pins that charge on him then accuses him of causing his first wife’s suicide. That song, ‘Not to Blame,’ is one of the album’s best.

After the weird jazz detours in the late 70s and the regrettable pop efforts of the 80s, it’s nice to see Night Ride Home and Turbulent Indigo return Mitchell to something close to form.