Sermon On Exposition Boulevard - Rickie Lee Jones Album Review

Rickie Lee Jones

Album Review

Fifty three year old Rickie Lee Jones' chart history reads like this: one hit single Chuck E's In Love in 1979 and 5 UK chart albums between 1979 and 1989.

Now the 2 - time Grammy winner returns with a new album, debuting on New West Records. Historically her music has been an eccentric mix of R&B, beat jazz, and folk. Now comes something, well, different. With a title like The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard, you probably expect some religious connotations, and you'd be right. The song titles also imply it's a modern day 'concept' album.

It's taken nearly two years to surface having been recorded in summer 2005, in California. Its inspiration came from reading Lee Cantelon's book The Words, a modern rendering of the words of Christ. Apparently, many of the songs on the finished CD are first-time improvisations, intended to capture the spirit of community and collaboration that seemed to spring from the text. That's the arty view.

From a purely commercial angle, this album is a none-starter, though her huge fan-base will lap it up. Most songs are Jones collaborations, leaving three solo efforts from the 13 songs, so it's not purely a Jones project. Opener Nobody Knows is a cluttered and lacklustre beginning, with little direction as Jones struggles to keep any kind of quality in the singing department. Fairing little better, Gethsemane, ambles along, though there is a sweetness about it, with Falling Up proving to be a steady riff - laden ambler. Musically Lamp Of The Body respectfully possesses great etherealness and Jones adds a better vocal account, just. On better form, It Hurts might even get some serious airplay, as the heavy content lifts into a pleasant and accessible form.

Perking things up even further, Tried To Be Man proves to be the best with a steady rhythm section from Joey Maramba and Jay Bellerose and sublime lead guitar by Peter Atanasoff. Even better is Circle In The Sand (a single maybe, to push the album? ) breaks her self-indulgence.

Donkey Ride is an acoustic - led hippy excursion (finger cymbals and all that), and the album's serious low-point. You could almost dismiss the next couple of songs as fillers. Road To Emmaus is another hippyfied effort: an instrumental that meanders into nothing of any particular importance. However, she does end on a deeply emotional highpoint, an awkward stripped ballad, where she exudes all the 'pain' she can muster.

She's been a cult artist for a long time now, and that's where she's probably destined to remain, principally due to some complex arrangements, and mostly un-inspiring songs. As an idea it has to be applauded, but the results aren't dazzling.

Elly Roberts