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In Reply to: Re: Rickie Lee Jones revisited posted by mwheelerk on February 16, 2007 at 18:33:28:
I think I conveyed, in a couple of my posts, that I was not disappointed in the music of this SACD. It's a very interesting concept, and a few of the tracks, are excellent. There are some that are quite esoteric, and, as you say, quite a departure. And, it's not the WORST sounding SACD I've come across.But the "Pop Pop" and "Naked Songs" discs are about as good as it gets for pop music, which, generally speaking, is shoddily recorded. And so, this latest SACD was a bit deflating for me.
I am not, per se, a RLJ expert. But the material on her early records is excellent. But I think lots of folks overlook her "career" as an interpreter of classic popular songs. "Pop Pop" is a superlative collection of classic popular American songs. Another disc I forgot to mention earlier is "It's Like This" -- a kind of follow-up to "Pop," which also features covers. The selection of material on these two recordings is splendid, with compositions spanning artists from Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Winwood to Charlie Chaplin and Carolyn Leigh (an astonishingly good lyric writer that should be MUCH better known) and Hoagy Carmicheal and Gershwin.
Lovers of the craft of songwriting and great lyrics will find lots in these recordings to appreciate -- and RLJ's vocal performances are offbeat, disarming, and slyly masterful.
And, not to beat the same old drum, but the sonics on all three of these recordings is exemplary. And again, if I had to choose, I would say the live recording (featuring some of her very best original material) trumps the two studio recordings in this regard, but only by a smidge.
Follow Ups:
her underappreciated Traffic from Paradise is very well-recorded; clearly more produced than either of the forementioned RLJ minimalist recordings, but well done in the Suzanne Vega Nine Objects kind of recording.Still one of my favorite pieces to test new stuff is her cover of Marty Balin's (Jefferson Airplane) Comin' Back To Me, the last song on Pop Pop. Although misplaced (although not nearly as misplaced as Love Junkyard) on that jazz/popular classics collection, it has guitar overtones and harmonics that are beautiful and so well recorded.
Traffic from Paradise??? Hmmm, may have to check this one out as well.
Try Pirates. Her productions are impecable in terms of sound, imaging, quality of music, etc. The new album has various gems that I can't get out of my head. But it's a bit uneven and the sound quality is a bit muffled towards the first third of the disc (?). Too bad since it's an SACD. It would be great to see her older albums released in SACD.
Maybe I'll take a trip back and check out cover titles again. I have gone back more than once and "rediscovered" stuff.
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