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Elly Roberts reviews
New West Records
- February 2007
- Rating: 4/10
Fifty three year old Rickie Lee Jones chart history reads like this: one hit single Chuck Es 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 OnExposition Boulevard, you probably expect some religious connotations,and youd be right. The song titles also imply its a modern day conceptalbum.
Its taken nearly two years to surface having been recorded in summer 2005, in California. Its inspiration came from reading Lee Cantelons book TheWords, a modern rendering of the words of Christ. Apparently, many ofthe songs on the finished CD are first-time improvisations, intended to capturethe spirit of community and collaboration that seemed to spring from the text.Thats the arty view.
From a purely commercial angle, this album is a none-starter, though her hugefan-base will lap it up. Most songs are Jones collaborations, leaving threesolo efforts from the 13 songs, so its not purely a Jones project. OpenerNobody Knows is a cluttered and lacklustre beginning, with littledirection as Jones struggles to keep any kind of quality in the singingdepartment. Fairing little better, Gethsemane, ambles along, though thereis a sweetness about it, with Falling Up proving to be a steady riff -laden ambler.
Musically Lamp Of The Body respectfully possesses great etherealnessand Jones adds a better vocal account, just. On better form, It Hurtsmight even get some serious airplay, as the heavy content lifts into apleasant and accessible form.
Perking things up even further, Tried To Be Man proves to be the bestwith a steady rhythm section from Joey Maramba and Jay Bellerose and sublimelead guitar by Peter Atanasoff. Even better is Circle In The Sand (asingle maybe, to push the album? ) breaks her self-indulgence.
Donkey Ride is an acoustic-led hippy excursion (finger cymbals and allthat),and the albums serious low-point. You could almost dismiss the nextcouple 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 strippedballad, where she exudes all the pain she can muster.
Shes been a cult artist for a long time now, and thats where shes probablydestined to remain, principally due to some complex arrangements, and mostlyun-inspiring songs.
As an idea it has to be applauded, but the results arent dazzling.
Weblink:rickieleejones.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Nobody Knows My Name
2. Gethsemane
3. Falling Up
4. Lamp Of The Body
5. It Hurts
6. Where I Like It Best
7. Tried To Be A Man
8. Circle In The Sand
9. Donkey Ride
10. Seventh day
11. Elvis Cadillac
12. Road To Emmaus
13. I Was There
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.