Editing Joni Mitchell (section)

===1972–1975: ''For the Roses'' and ''Court and Spark''===
[[File:Joni Mitchell in 1974.jpg|thumb|right|Mitchell performing at the Anaheim Convention Center in 1974]]
Mitchell decided to return to the live stage after the great success of ''Blue'', and she presented new songs on tour which appeared on her next album, her fifth, ''[[For the Roses]]''. The album was released in October 1972 and immediately zoomed up the charts. She followed with the single, "[[You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio]]", which peaked at No. 25 in the ''Billboard'' charts in February 1973.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/joni-mitchell/chart-history/hsi/|title=Joni Mitchell {{!}} chart history|magazine=Billboard|access-date=June 11, 2019|archive-date=November 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106064334/https://www.billboard.com/music/joni-mitchell/chart-history/hot-100/song/581390|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Court and Spark]]'', released in January 1974, saw Mitchell begin the flirtation with [[jazz]] and [[jazz fusion]] that marked her experimental period ahead. ''Court and Spark'' went to No. 1 on the ''Cashbox'' Album Charts. The LP made Mitchell a widely popular act for perhaps the only time in her career, on the strength of popular tracks such as the rocker "[[Raised on Robbery]]", which was released right before Christmas 1973, and "[[Help Me (Joni Mitchell song)|Help Me]]", which was released in March of the following year, and became Mitchell's only Top 10 single when it peaked at No. 7 in the first week of June. "[[Free Man in Paris]]" was another hit single and staple in her catalogue.

While recording ''Court and Spark'', Mitchell had tried to make a clean break with her earlier folk sound, producing the album herself and employing jazz/pop [[fusion (music)|fusion]] band the [[L.A. Express]] as what she called her first real backing group. In February 1974, her tour with the L.A. Express began, and they received rave notices as they travelled across the United States and Canada during the next two months. A series of shows at L.A.'s [[Universal Amphitheater]] from August 14–17 were recorded for a live album. In November, Mitchell released that album, ''[[Miles of Aisles]]'', a two-record set including all but two songs from the L.A. concerts (one selection each from the [[Berkeley Community Theatre]], on March 2, and the L.A. Music Center, on March 4, were also included in the set). The live album slowly moved up to No. 2, matching ''Court and Spark''{{'}}s chart peak on ''Billboard''. "Big Yellow Taxi", the live version, was also released as a single and did reasonably well (she released another version of the song in 2007).

In January 1975, ''Court and Spark'' received four nominations for Grammy Awards, including [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year]], for which Mitchell was the only woman nominated. She won only the [[Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals]].