‘Chalk’ Up a Winner

*** 1/2 JONI MITCHELL. “Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm.” Geffen.

Joni Mitchell has been all but ignored by the buying public in recent years. That’s understandable, considering her reputation as an arrogant singer/songwriter who shows up at benefits to sing arrogant material and then castigate the poor suckers who dare make noise during her pronunciations.

Her last album, 1985’s “Dog Eat Dog,” did reinforce that image, projecting a rather off-putting, self-righteous tone, for all its well-intended topicality. But the new “Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm” is a far more graceful effort--a welcome compromise between the old and new Jonis that generously balances her compulsion to make relevant statements with the kind of romantic statements she’s long been adored for.

After all, there’s never anything more topical than love. That agenda is most meaningfully explored here in the duet with Don Henley, “Snakes and Ladders,” which traces a relationship from its hormone-controlled teen meeting in a shopping mall through a status-seeking yuppie marriage through a messy divorce.

Mitchell offers a few other nifty romantic short stories, including the LP’s only fast-paced number, “Dancin’ Clown.” This near-rocker (!) has Billy Idol and Tom Petty playing a pair of street toughs ogling a passing girl, with Idol’s growls and his guitarist Steve Stevens’ heavy-metal licks working surprising wonders against Mitchell’s mellow surroundings.

Then, of course, come the message songs, with American Indians and Vietnam vets being given obvious--if not unmoving--treatments. The most successfully ambitious number, “The Reoccurring Dream,” includes aural snippets from TV commercials to punctuate a message on advertising imagery’s stranglehold on real-life dreams.

Not that Mitchell isn’t above a little advertising of sorts herself; with the prominently placed vocals of Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson and Wendy & Lisa joining Idol, Petty and Henley on the guest list, the LP seems overloaded with superstar names.

If that move seems more calculated than Mitchell might wish to admit, all those gentle (except for Idol’s) voices fit exquisitely into the genteel, sophisticated sound, anchored by the synthesizers and bass of husband/co-producer Larry Klein (and, new to the team, French export Manu Katche, whose drums and percussion seem to be on every high-class, high-tech album these days).

Like recent efforts by Paul Simon, Steve Winwood and other grown-up Grammy faves, “Chalk Mark” sounds like a comeback in that it’s content-heavy enough for the active listener and soft and pleasant enough to suffice as an after-dinner mint for more passive consumers. Combine the fact that she’s writing commercial love songs again with the fact that it is her most satisfying effort in ages, and the resulting LP sounds far less likely to slip away unnoticed in the pop rainstorm.