American Catholics who want to register offense at Joni Mitchell’s new album, “Shine,” had better take a number. Mitchell takes aim at Wall Street, Las Vegas, people who talk on cell phones while driving, polluters, bridezillas, and a clergyman named Pearson—your guess whether it’s the Tulsa, Oklahoma megachurch pastor or the 18th century English theologian.
The album represents Mitchell’s return, after a decade away from songwriting, to protesting human destructiveness. Lest we miss the point, Mitchell has included a reprise of her 1970’s hit “Big Yellow Taxi” (“They tore down paradise and put up a parking lot”).