Since James Blake first release came out through Hemlock Recordings, everything he touched turned into astatine. A gift many including King Midas envy, and a given that makes me wonder if he will ever do anything less than mind-blowing. Appearing on BBC1 yesterday night, some interesting Blake brass tacks surfaced, such as the peak of his debut album “The Wilhelm Scream” being a homage to James Litherland’s “Where To Turn” and a declaration of his love for Joni Mitchell. As if I my love for James Blake wasn’t big enough, he then proceeded to cover one of my favourite tracks by her, the beautiful track “A Case Of You” off the ’71 album Blue. “Joni Mitchell’s album Blue totally destroyed me and then built me back up again. During my second year at university, I listened to it every day for six months. Every diary entry would have read, ‘Got up, made toast, put on Blue.’ But it was music that always stayed in my room – I never listened to it outside. Actually, come to think of it, I never went outside much that year,” James Blake says on the release. His cover of the track is gorgeous; armed with his voice and a piano he delivers a track that makes me weak in the knees. Not many people dare to touch Joni’s work, but I’m glad James did. Enough words wasted on this song, if I may:

Stream: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/James-Blake-A-Case-of-You-Joni-Mitchell-Cover1.mp3″ text=”James Blake – A Case of You (Joni Mitchell Cover)” dl=”0″]