Stephen Stills: Bass and Guitar on "Carey"
James Taylor: Guitar on "California", "All I Want", "A Case Of You"
Sneaky Pete: Pedal Steel on "California", "This Flight Tonight"
Russ Kunkel: Drums on "California", "Carey", "A Case Of You"
HDCD Edition with same barcode as standard edition.
4-way (lyric) fold-out.
Images
Number:648766 THUMBNAIL Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Joni Mitchell - Blue - Front Cover
Number:648767 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Joni Mitchell - Blue - HDCD - Back Cover - (HDCD logo bottom left)
Number:648768 Uploaded By:Magic Marmalade Description: Joni Mitchell - Blue - Front Cover - HDCD "Newly Remastered..." Sticker on Jewel Case
I think the remastered sticker on the case is probably the easiest way to tell, along with the HDCD logo. For a couple of Joni's other albums, there are other ways - her first album would have shown the title as JONI MITCHELL on the spines, the newer one should show SONG TO A SEAGULL (always her intended title); and MILES OF AISLES had the cover artwork properly finished - artist and title typeset instead of reproduced "as was", and the photo of Joni's knees being airbrushed into the surrounding painting (apparently some personnel changes at Elektra/Asylum when the album was first released resulted in the cover not being fully completed).
I have been hesitant about submitting this for a while, in case it was the same one as submitted earlier... but I found another copy in a charity shop the other day which I examined (didn't buy it), and found that they are two separate editions...
...Only the HDCD logo on the bottom right (OOps, labelled the pic wrongly, I will learn my left from right one day!) of the back of the case reveals the difference, there is no logo on the disc label, or in the CD inlay, and as they oddly have the same barcode, this is the only way of identifying which is which, without examining the matrix (And my recall of such differences is mot so good that I could remember it when looking at the copy in the charity shop, or this one).
Also, as far as I can see there is no SACD release yet, or Blue-Ray, so outside of the vinyl, I think this is the best quality edition of the album available currently.