Macy Gray and 20 Riverside Episode 96

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Episode 83 Ani Difranco & Ruthie Foster

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Episode 19 Rickie Lee Jones & Los Lobos

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CD Review Rickie Lee Jones - Balm in Gilead

Artist: Rickiee Lee Jones

Album: Balm in Gillead

Worth Buying: You bet!

The music of Rickie Lee Jones has been in my blood for a long time. Ever since her first album. And to a small extent I will compare my

relationship to her music in the same way that I compare my relationship to the Star Wars Movies.......Stay with me, this will all make sense in a moment.

I remember sitting in the theater back in the late 70's when the first Star Wars Movie came out. I remember that opening scene where princess Leah's ship flys overhead shotting at as yet unseen pursuer and everyone in the theater went "wow"!......only to be followed by the Imperial battle cruiser that was 10 times larger...and everyone in the theater went "WOW"!

Since then, this money scene has been topped over and over again. But this was the first time movie goers had seen anything this visually impressive in a very long time. Every Star Wars film that has followed has tried to top itself visually too, and while I have enjoyed the films that followed, none of it (even if it is technically superiour) will really ever make me feel the way I did sitting in that theater back in the 70's.

And this brings me to Rickee Lee Jones. Her first (self titled) album will always be one of the most important albums of my life.....Maybe it was just the timing, the time that it was released in, the age that I was at.....who knows. But each song on that album transported me into it's own seperate story and world, and still does everytime I listen to it.

No matter how good of an album Rickee Lee Jones follows up with, I don't think there will ever be one that does what that first album does for me. it's not at all fair to her as an artist. It just is what it is.

This brings me to her latest release Balm in Gilliad and it's one of her strongest releases since. "The Evening of My Best Day".

In fact with this album I had another revelation about her music..... Occassionly Rickie Lee Jones has stepped outside of her Genre. There was Ghosty Head her experiment with more electronic sounding music and her garage rock concept album "The Sermon on Exposition Blvd".....But for the most part she has been best described as a pop/jazz singer songwriter hybred (A description that would also fit what Norah Jones is doing now).

....And then it occoured to me. Back in the early 60's there was brief musical movent called the Brill Building sound. The Brill building sound has been described as a maturation of the music of the 50's and was typified by songs like "Stand By Me" and "Will You Still Love Me

Tomorrow". This movement came to a sudden and unexpected end with the 60's British invasion. But it occoured to me that the music of Rickee Lee Jones (this album included) is what the Brill building sound might have evolved into had it continued.

No where is this better typified than with her duet with Ben Harper entitled Old Enough. This song transports us into an earlier era without sounding nostalgic in a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink," kind of way.

Another song that does this very well is the Blue Ghazel. This chugging blues/jazz instrumental number, transported me into the backstreets and pool halls of another era without ever coming off as being deliberately or cleverly retro.

Songs like The Moon is made of Gold, sounds like like a lost song from the 40's beaming out of a magic radio from the Twilight Zone. As it turns out, the song is written by her Father and was originally written as lullaby for her.Film placement supervisor had better take note of this song as this track just seems to be a natural fit for an upcoming Disney or Pixar movie.

So many of the songs on this album have that aforementioned transporter effect (no Star Trek puns intended). The music transports into a different time but without coming off as old school, retro, or nostalgic. In fact, from this point onward I think that I will describe the majority of Miss Jones's catalog as music from an alternate reality wherein the Brill Building sound flourished and grew.

What about the packaging? The CD comes in a standard Jewel Case with lyrics booklet that is beautifully illustrated with photos (most of them taken by Rickie Lee Jones Herself)

TJR 03/23/10

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Music Worth Buying 02/09/09 - The Bird And The Bee

 

 

 

 

 

Artist: The Bird And The Bee

Album: Rayguns are not just the Future

Worth Buying? You betcha!

You might be interested in this album if you are a fan of: The Carpenters, Alt Pop, Jazz, Electronica, & Fun music.

 

Tell me more: When I first heard the Bird and the Bee’s last album I said: Imagine a more electronic and edgier version of Carpenters. With their latest release "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future" I find that this still holds true but now the elements of Jazz are more predominant than in the last album. Also gone is the humorous use of the “F” word. But what also remains is more of the same sweet, lush, catchy pop that dominated the last album. Within the 3 listens I was already hooked. For too long the word "Pop" has been maligned by pre manufactured "fake" artists who are just figureheads for a record label production team. Albums like this one remind us that Pop music is sweet delicious music from talented individuals who want to make the music smile at you.

What about the packaging? Unfortunately I only got to experience this album as digital download. If you want to describe the CD the packaging for the rest of us, Drop me a line and I will update this entry.  

 

 



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Music Worth Buying - 10/27/08 Randy Newman

Artist: Randy Newman

Album: Harps And Angels

Worth Buying: Yes, every song is good.

Tell Me More: So many are the artists whose work I've heard about, but whose music I've never really heard (aside from their radio hits). Such was the case for me with Randy Newman. I was certainly aware of his reputation as a singer songwriter. I had read about his incisive and unaplogetic sense of wit and satire. I was also aware of his other very lucrative 2nd career as one of Hollywoods top songwriters.

But in spite of this (and like a lot of other people) for the longest time, my only exposure to Randy Newman as a singer songwriter was through the 3 songs that radio used to play: It's Money That Matters, I Love L.A., and of course the infamous Short People. I am happy to say that that has changed with Harps and Angels, his first album in ten years. Now that I've heard this album, I am sorry that it took me this long to actually delve past his radio hits.

There is a line in one his songs (A Piece Of The Pie) where he comments on the current growing divide between the rich and the poor. In it he has the frankness and humor to say. The rich are geting richer...I should know. Given that he has this lucrative career as one of Hollywood's top tune smiths, Harps and Angels is not music that he needs to do. It's the music that he wants to do. And that's just one of the many things that makes this album so special.

Stylistically most of the songs on the album borrow a lot of from dixieland and jazz but this is just the stylistic foundation upon which the songs are built. Elements of blues, pop and musical theater pop in and out to serve the stories that these songs tell. Randy Newman is 65 years old, and lyrically these songs say and express more than I hear from most of the youngsters out there. This is a man who will not go quietly and who can balance wit, anger, sarcasm and honest sentimentality (sometimes in the same song) with a level of craft that more of those aforementioned youngsters out there could stand to learn a little bit more about. No where is this attention to craft more on display than on the deceptively simple Losing You. This song is the only song on the album that sounds like it could have fit in with whatever recent Disney/Pixar film that me might be currently writing for without any changes. It's a real gem of a song that deals with regret and loss in a very honest and real way. Since anyone can relate to these feelings the song is smart enough to never be to specific. Is he singing about a lost love that he foolishly let slip from his grasp? or is he singing about a love who passed away? The songs brilliance lies in it's ability to be reinterpreted in numerous ways. On the other side of the coin, there is no way anyone could mis-interpret the lyics to the song Korean Parents, Where he basically lays it on the line about the current American work ethic.

What about the packaging? The CD comes in a standard Jewell case but the jewell case does come in a slipcover which is nice since they use additional artwork for the slipcase. There is also a nice lyrics booklet for all the songs which is essential to catch all the nuances that lyrics like this contain.

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CD Format

What if I am not ready to buy the whole album? Try downloading Losing You. I would be hard pressed to find a better song, so honest in it's feeling about regret and loss that you wont find yourself identifing with it on some level or another.