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At the risk of becoming a BORE on this topic, I nonetheless feel duty bound to, evangelically, sing the praies of an RLJ performance I had the good fortune to witness on PBS's SOUNDSTAGE in high def video.Before I even comment on the music, let me say that this is one of the best-directed televised concerts I have ever seen -- wonderfully intimate camera work, great staging, fabulous lighting. It is phtographed and edited with great restraint and taste, yet, at the same time, it provides just the right amount of visual novelty and color -- as a chef mixes just the right amount of salt and spice into a stew. Jones and her comrades become palpable presences in your living room, and I don't think it's possible to convey RLJ's unvarnished artistic honesty and force more tellingly.
As for the music, it's a collection of Jones's best known compsitions, along with a choice selection from her latest SACD. "Tried to be a Man," "Falling Up" and "Nobody Knows My Name" are included. Watching the performance, I began to see Jones more and more as a kind of females version of another unvarnished, stunningly honest singer/songerwriter: Neil Young.
Of course, Young fans unfamiliar with RLJ will consider this excessive praise. But, respectfully, I would urge them to see this performance for themselves.
Finally, the on-stage performance of Jones and her band of fellows eclipses anything I have heard on her recordings -- which I have given high praise on this forum, for what it's worth.
It's hard to compare a televised performance with an actual live performance. Even so, I would be willing to rank this televised performance with the best of the best I have personally witnessed. It was, in a word, a revelation.
Follow Ups:
I was lucky enough to see Rickie two weeks ago here in Cambridge, MA. I have the new album but haven't had a chance to watch the DVD. This was my third time seeing her. As always, she is a masterful performer and musician. With all due respect and allowance for taste, I hardly think Neil Young on his best day could summon the musicianship that Rickie has.Anwyay, I had mixed feelings about both the album and the show. My basic reservation is that while I appreciate Rickie trying to pair these particular songs with a spare, rootsy folk/rock kind of band, I don't think the particular band she has really does her justice. Live, she was regularly giving them rhythm cues during show (clapping her hands to get them back on board). Peter Atanasoff is probably a decent musician, but she also had a guy named Junior who played well enough, but diddled endlessly with delays and sequencers which was more distracting than additive to the songs.
At the end of the show, my first reaction was "how brave." To take such risks lyrically, thematically and musically. But that's RLJ in a nutshell. I did very much enjoy the show, because even with warts, Rickie is in a league with an elite group.
What I did miss was the interplay with more sophisticated and capable musicians that marked her Berklee concert here a few years ago. She interspersed some of her older songs, but played some of them solo or with just Atanasoff. That was an interesting change, but it suggest that she feels her cuurent band has a limited scope and purpose. Fair enough.
And for those who might not have been watching her for decades: Joni Mitchell and Lauro Nyro gave birth to the highly personal, female singer-songwriter genre in the late '60s (can you name one before them?). Rickie, Bonnie Raitt and a few others took it from there. Without them, you might not have Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Ani DiFranco and who knows who else. Listen to all of them and you'll hear bits of Nyro, Mitchell and Jones, for sure. One man's opinion, at least.
Hi Halfnote,Is this available online to view or on DVD?
I had the pleasure of seeing RLJ on her Naked Songs tour, she was pretty maxed out. And at the Jazz Cafe, I was about 12 feet away from her and she was a darling.
One of my favourite artists, however, still struggling with the new album.
Another fave is Margo Timmins, live in March doing an acoustic set at the Union Chapel. Can't wait
cheers
Don't know about the DVD. I would guess, no, since this PBS SOUNDSTAGE presentation is apparently coordinated with the very recent release of SERMONS. Also, this was a hi-def video presentation, and there are precious few DVD releases in hi-def of any kind. But, in all honesty, I don't know.The new record keeps growing on me. The three selections in the PBS performance happened to be the 3 "cuts" (archaic expression, I know) I found most engaging -- probably the most accessible of the compositions on the disc.
I have never heard of Margo Timmins, though. Thanks for the reference. I will google her.
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