Wild Things Run Fast

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(B)[2]
Rolling Stone	[3]

Wild Things Run Fast is the 11th studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Her first of four releases for Geffen Records, it was released in 1982 and represents her departure from jazz to a more 1980s pop sound. This was her first album to work with bassist Larry Klein, whom she married in 1982. Klein would play bass on and co-produce her next four albums.

The resulting world tour took Mitchell through the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. A video of the tour was released in 1983, entitled Refuge of the Roads. The recorded performances were not performed in front of a live audience, but rather recorded live in a studio once the tour had been completed, with applause dubbed-in in post-production. There was also some Super 8 footage taken by Mitchell on the road. It has since 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 discothèque 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".^[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Joni Mitchell, except where noted.

Personnel

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.

• Joni Mitchell – vocals; acoustic guitar on 3,5,9,10,11; electric guitar on 4,6,8; piano on 1; electric piano on 10, cover painting
• Larry Klein – bass, rhythmic arrangements on 2, 7
• Michael Landau – electric guitar on 5,7,8,10
• Steve Lukather – electric guitar on 1,2,9,11
• John Guerin – drums on 1,4,6,9
• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums on 2,3,5,7,8,10,11, rhythmic arrangements on 2, 7
• Don Alias – rhythmic arrangements on 6
• Larry Williams – Prophet synthesizer on 1,2,3; tenor saxophone on 3,7
• Russell Ferrante – Oberheim synthesizer on 4,6,9
• Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone on 4,6,11
• Larry Carlton – guitar on 3
• Victor Feldman – percussion on 9
• Kim Hutchcroft – baritone saxophone on 7
• Lionel Richie – backing vocals on 3,8
• Charles Valentino, Howard Kinney – backing vocals on 3
• James Taylor – backing vocals on 9
• John Guerin, Kenny Rankin, Robert De La Garza, Skip Cottrell – whisper chorus on 6

Technical personnel

• Joni Mitchell – production, mixing
• Larry Klein – mixing
• Henry Lewy – engineering at A&M
• Skip Cottrell – engineering at A&M
• Clyde Kaplan – assistant engineering at A&M
• Jerry Hudgins – engineering at Devonshire Sound
• Larry Hirsch – mixing
• Chase Williams – assistant mixing
• John Golden – vinyl mastering
• Lee Herschberg – CD remastering

References