Rickie Lee Jones – Balm in Gilead

Rickie Lee Jones – Balm in Gilead (2009)

A perplexing, iconoclastic talent; responsible for one of the best and most heartbreaking albums of the eighties, or maybe any decade in “Pirates“, Rickie Lee Jones does exactly as she pleases with zero regard for the vulgar business of commerce. “Balm in Gilead” continues the return to form that began with “The Evening of My Best Day” and the gospel(s) inflected “Sermon on Exposition Boulevarde”. As usual with Rickie Lee, the tunes make themselves known slowly, fingerclicks, sketchy chord progressions gradually revealing their hooks. Pop? Jazz? Soul? Country? What the hell am I talking about! Genius. Rickie Lee Jones is one of the last of an old fashioned kind of artist, the type whose talent gave them no choice, the type that dedicated their life to their music. Comparisons are very rarely fair, but Rickie Lee Jones as singular as she is, gives Van Morrison, at his best, a run for his money.

Here is a version of “My Funny Valentine” – stoned, immaculate as somebody once said….