Rickie Lee Jones – Pirates (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Silver Label) VINYL LP REVIEW

July 31, 2012

EXCUSE ME IF I come up a bit short on this review. You see, the thing is, Iโ€™m a late convert to Rickie Lee Jones, and I love her to death, but for the life of me, canโ€™t really figure her โ€“ or her art โ€“ out.
Pirates was her second album, released in 1981, and itโ€™s widely rumoured to be โ€œaboutโ€ her breakup with Tom Waits, as much as music can ever be โ€œaboutโ€ anything, really. I disliked โ€˜Chuck Eโ€™s In Loveโ€™ (or at least, I disliked having to endure it endlessly flogged on the radio) and, consequently, wasnโ€™t even slightly interested in hearing the more sensitive sequel. And in a way, Iโ€™m glad I didnโ€™t, because, if anything, her music has improved with age.
Musically, itโ€™s a complex brew – although itโ€™s more like a fine wine than a beer โ€“ and thereโ€™s an absolutely stellar supporting cast to hand, including Steely Danโ€™s Donald Fagen, saxophonists David Sanbourn and Tom Scott, bassist Chuck Rainey, trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Steve Gadd. Studio pros all, their skills turn Jonesโ€™ filmic scenarios into highly stylised musical watercolours full of subtle hues.
Itโ€™s no surprise that Pirates ended up on the โ€˜Mofiโ€™ list of albums to bless with their special vinyl magic, and it sounds just as good as it should. While the CD issue of this album sounds okay, I always thought there was something missing in the translation โ€“ that the complexity of these arrangements didnโ€™t quite work when boiled down to bits and bytes. On vinyl it sounds lush and refined and all the latent emotionality of Jonesโ€™ voice comes through, despite the fact that most of the time on this album, her instrument sounds delicate, bending to the music rather than beaming The Voice.
Itโ€™s an amazing album that, like I said, after all these years Iโ€™m still coming to terms with, and the original master recording sounds just great on this โ€˜Mofiโ€™ edition. GARY STEEL
Sound = 4.5/5
Music = 4.5/5

Gary Steelโ€™s admittedly less than highly specโ€™d gear includes: Pro-ject Xpression II turntable, Ortofon cartridge, Pro-Ject Phono Box II, Rotel RC-1550 preamp, Yamaha CD-S2000 Super Audio CD Player, and Martin Logan Powered Hybrid Electrostatic Loudspeakers.
* The vinyl of Rickie Lee Jonesโ€™ Pirates is available from Southbound Records, a fabulous vinyl-dominated store located at 69 Mt Eden Rd, Auckland.

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Steel has been penning his pungent prose for 40 years for publications too numerous to mention, most of them consigned to the annals of history. He is Witchdoctor's Editor-In-Chief/Music and Film Editor. He has strong opinions and remains unrepentant. Steel's full bio can be found here

3 Comments

  1. Do you know if Magazine has or will be given this treatment? It’s my favourite RLJ!

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