Alleluiah !

Gutenberg had to invent moveable type to revolutionize mass communication and biblical awareness, it took another 450 years for Edison and Marconi to take it to the next level. Today we instantly transmit our thoughts and sounds almost by reflex.

This oblique historic reference adds some technical context to the release of a new CD offering by one of our greatest artists, Rickie Lee Jones the sermon on exposition boulevard.

This welcome release is exactly the  kind of music that has kept me alive for so many years. And its release in the dead of winter will certainly bring a contemplative warmth to the dark chill of the season and world events. 

This latest work of inspiration and improvisation certainly ranks with the finest releases of this artist and others of our generation. Personal comparisons are drawn to Mingus by Joni Mitchell, Horses, by Patti Smith, New York Tendaberry, by Laura Nyro, Slow Train Comin', by Bob Dylan, and Graceland or Rythm of the Saints by Paul Simon. Favorable comparisons have already been made elsewhere to Astral Weeks, by Van Morrison and musically to The Velvet Underground.

Though one could easily be skeptical of the subject matter (as I was initially) this project takes a more democratic approach to religion. In asking the most pertinent and difficult question "How can you pray in a world like this?" the answer is returned so easily "You are the prayer". We begin to see religion as accessable, something to be used as a tool that could fit comfortably in our hands rather than a weapon. We are also reminded that we can have fun (as we "drive around heaven in our Elvis Cadillac") and that tragiclly sad events can have happy endings - I find it comforting to know, for instance, that "Janis Joplin's got a job on the corner in a bar - so I guess we're doin' alright."

This new project born of vision, determination, magic, and stunning artistry found its inspiration in Lee Cantelon's book The Words, and grew from what was supposed to be a reading or two by Ricki Lee for Lee's low tech recording to a full scale project fronted by Rickie Lee. The CD, which is largely improvisational, does an excellent job of maintaining continuity throughout while still providing an ample supply of surprises, grooves, and an overall mystic consciousness - it even has a single Falling Up, an instrumental Road To Emmaus, a DVD, and features guitarist Peter Atanasoff playing a garage sale guitar.

That Rickie Lee should be cut form the same determined, rarified, and stylistic commercially fringed cloth as Tom Waits and the above mentioned artists, means drawing varying amounts of criticism, praise, interpretation, and indifference at any given time. It also helps put her in my top list of favorite performers. 

This one is a classic.



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