Joni Mitchell - Hejira (1976)

The finest moment of 'Hejira', one of Joni Mitchell's most enduring '70s recordings, comes via the final track, 'Refuge of the Roads', a song that can induce cosmic bliss when listened to in a state of languid repose.

Mitchell does go to extremes at times with her stream-of-consciousness verbalising, but there's poise and grace in her delivery, and passion and power in the often spare and elegant jazz-tinged music. The late great Jaco Pastorius does some of his most lyrical, tasteful and surprisingly restrained fretless bass playing here.