Wild Things Run Fast

Wild Things Run Fast
Studio album by Joni Mitchell
Released	October 1982
Recorded	1981-1982
Genre	Pop rock, Folk Jazz
Length	36:05
Label	Geffen
Producer	Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell chronology
Shadows and Light (1980) Wild Things Run Fast (1982) Dog Eat Dog (1985)

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

Wild Things Run Fast is Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's 11th studio album and her first for Geffen Records. Released in 1982, it 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 songs written and composed by Joni Mitchell, except where noted. 

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Chinese Café / Unchained Melody" (Joni Mitchell / Alex North, Hy Zaret)	5:17
2.	"Wild Things Run Fast"	2:12
3.	"Ladies' Man"	2:37
4.	"Moon at the Window"	3:42
5.	"Solid Love"	2:57

Side two
No.	Title	Length
6.	"Be Cool"	4:12
7.	"(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller)	2:36
8.	"You Dream Flat Tires"	2:50
9.	"Man to Man"	3:42
10.	"Underneath the Streetlight"	2:14
11.	"Love"	3:46

Personnel

• Joni Mitchell - vocals; acoustic guitar on 3,5,9,10,11; electric guitar on 4,6,8; piano on 1; electric piano on 10
• Larry Klein - bass
• 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
• Larry Williams - Prophet synthesizer on 1,2; 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, Joni Mitchell - backing vocals on 9
• John Guerin, Joni Mitchell, Kenny Rankin, Robert De La Garza, Skip Cottrell - whisper chorus on 6

References

1. Ruhlmann, Robert (2011). "Wild Things Run Fast - Joni Mitchell | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
2. Robert Christgau review
3. Rolling Stone review
4. JoniMitchell.com - Biography (1981-1984 A Solid Love)