Piratesby Rickie Lee Jones

What an album!! Lyrics are impressionist style, you can feel like you are on the street corner with her or partying with her on her block, you can be immediately transported through her wonderful lyrics, like a painting with great depth. The music is a leap forward for Jones on her sophomore album, combining more jazz than her debut, bringing in funk, folk, and rock, as well, into a beautiful tapestry! Some songs like "Living it up" can have 2 or 3 melodies, unexpected twists and turns that somehow feel effortless, brining in Donald Fagen to play keys on "Pirates" immediately brings a Steely Dan feel to the title track, but Jones' vocal firmly roots it in her style and never feels like a Steely Dan imitation. There is an overall feel of meloncholy to most of the record, but "Woody and Dutch" is such a joyous and groovy song, that despite all the sadness of documenting her break up with Tom Wits that came earlier on the album, this song just makes one want to jump up and dance! In my opinion, this is Rickie Lee's greatest achievement, finding her in her greatest voice, with very deep and introspective lyrics of love and loss, and understanding her break-up with Waits, issues with substance abuse, heroin, and some pf her most jazz influenced and varying melodies. This work, Pirates, is an album for the ages, sounds as great, if not better than it did in 1981.