Elly Roberts reviews
Rickie Lee Jones: Sermon On Exposition Boulevard
Distributed by
New West Records
- February 2007
- Rating: 4/10
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.
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
