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"...The Vice is Nice..."
I can remember when every London Hi-Fi store you went into in the late Eighties had two discs to demonstrate what the new fangled format of CD was capable of - and both were debuts. One was Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" from 1982 and the other was "Rickie Lee Jones" - her beautifully produced self-titled debut from 1979. Yet for such audiophile titles both have remained 'un-remastered' in singular form for the average Joe to buy with ease for decades since. For Steely Dan's Donald Fagen you have to buy the hugely irritating and disappointing MVI Trilogy Box Set and for Rickie you have to go to Japan. And that's where this superb SHM-CD reissue comes in...
Japan-Only released 12 June 2012 - "Rickie Lee Jones" by RICKIE LEE JONES on Warner Brothers WPCR-14508 (Barcode 4943674118373) is a straightforward reissue/new remaster of the 1979 album on the SHM-CD format. This Super High Materials CD is housed in Mini LP Card Sleeve Repro Artwork with Obi strip - it breaks down as follows (42:15 minutes):
1. Chuck E.'s In Love [Side 1]
2. On Saturday Afternoons In 1963
3. Night Train
4. Young Blood
5. Easy Money
6. The Last Chance Texaco
7. Danny's All Star Joint [Side 2]
8. Coolsville
9. Weasel And The White Boys Cool
10. Company
11. After Hours (Twelve Bars Past Goodnight)
Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Rickie Lee Jones" - released March 1979 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3296 and June 1979 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56628
A SHM-CD doesn't require a special CD player to play it on (compatible on all) nor does it need audiophile kit to hear the benefits. It's a new form of the format that picks up the nuances of the transfer better (top quality make). I own about 15 of them and they're uniformly superb. The 5" repro sleeve is typical of Japanese quality - beautifully rendered (quite what they mean by 'Light Mellow 2012' on the outer sticker is anybody's guess). The black and white 20-page booklet inside has the lyrics in English and Japanese and little else by way of credits (who remastered what and where) - but a nice touch is a repro of the $2 Warner Brothers deal inner bag that came with original vinyl copies. The CD has the Warner Brothers cream-coloured label of the time and a protective plastic to hold the slightly heavier SHM-CD in the $2 inner bag (lovely attention to detail...as there always is with these Japanese reissues). But the big news is the sound...
Fans will know that outside of Rhino's 3CD career overhaul "Duchess Of Coolsville" in 2005 (which had 6 of the 11 tracks here) - her staggeringly accomplished debut has never been fully remastered as an album for CD until now. It did receive a coveted Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remaster in 2012 - but only on vinyl. Here you get the full album and the sonic results are brills - as lovely and as warm a remaster as you could have hoped for. For sure there is hiss on some tracks but its not been dampened or Pro-tooled out of existence in the transfer. Key tracks like "Night Train", "Danny's All Star Joint" and "Easy Money" (represented on the "Duchess" set by a Previously Unreleased 'Demo' Version) has never seen a remaster since the advent of CD - and they shine like audio gold here.
Right from the opening seconds of acoustic guitars, drums whacks and clicking fingers of "Chuck E.'s In Love" - you can hear the clarity of musicians like guitarists Buzzy Feiten and Fred Tackett, keyboard whizz kid Neil Larsen, Willie Weeks on Bass and Jeff Pocaro (of Toto) with Victor Feldman on Drums (Michael McDonald does his backing vocals magic here and there too). Produced by Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman and mastered by Lee Herschberg - the audio was always going to be something special and this beautiful remaster on SHM-CD brings that out.
Not to be swamped in audiophile for the sake of it - the music is amazingly touching too - the best examples of which are "Night Train", "Company" and "The Last Chance Texaco". "I remember you too clearly...but I'll survive another day..." she pines on the gorgeous and affecting "Company" featuring truly beautiful string arrangements by Johnny Mandel. Its here you also hear her other secret weapon - those off the cuff streetwise lyrics that have depth and sass - flirty one minute - then aching the next - like a female Tom Waits. The squeaking of the acoustic guitar strings on "Night Train" sound amazing (even if the beginning of the track is a little hissy) - and I still get bowled over by those "broken like valiums and chumps in the rain that cry and quiver..." lyrics. The double-bass intro to "Easy Money" slides into definite Tom Waits "Blue Valentyne" territory where "A couple Jills with their eyes on a couple of bills..." and although it doesn't say so in the liner notes but I'd swear that's Dr. John on the slinky New Orleans keys with Victor Feldman on Vibes.
Funky genius comes in the brilliant Side 2 opener "Danny's All-Star Joint" sounding like Paul Simon's "Stranded In A Limousine" - a stunning mixture of brass and scat like lyrics that amaze. "Coolsville" is admittedly hissy (but it was on the original recording) but it still sounds awesome. "The Last Chance Texaco" features "sleepy diesel eyes" and a floating synth note that ominously backs up the big acoustic chords - it's fabulously accomplished stuff and lyrically grates at a raw nerve in us all about emotional success. Things get hip and street funk with "Coolsville" and the brilliant "Weasel & The White Boys Cool" where Sal is selling 'articles' to his people downtown. Two tracks were recorded Live on 22 December 1978 - the lovely piano and "years may go by" strings of "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963" and the final cut "After Hours" where she croons about "America" and how some of its citizens may have lost their way but are still hopeful dreamers.
Rickie Lee Jones won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1979 and her follow-up albums "Pirates" (1981) and "The Magazine" (1984) articulates even more stunning emotional soundtracks - opting for longer songs and richer arrangements. But this is where her jukebox first went 'doyt doyt'.
You could of course argue that you simply buy the "Duchess Of Coolsville" triple CD anthology and get a lot more bang for your bucks - but this is one of those occasions where only the 'whole' album will suffice. It doesn't just sound good - it is 'all' good...
The Light Mellow 2012 Japanese SHM-CD Reissue Series
for RICKIE LEE JONES
1. "Rickie Lee Jones" (1979), Warner Brothers Japan WPCR-14508 – use Barcode 4943674118373 to locate the right issue
2. "Pirates" (1981), Warner Brothers Japan WPCR-14509 - use Barcode 4943674118397 to locate the right issue
3. "The Magazine" (1983), Warner Brothers Japan WPCR-14510 - use Barcode 4943674118403 to locate the right issue
