The 1981 Listening Post - Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates

Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates 

#302

July 15 1981

Rickie Lee Jones

Pirates

Genre: Singer Songwriter

4 out of 5

Highlights:

We Belong Together

Woody and Dutch on a Slow Train to Peking

A Lucky Guy

I don’t know anything about Jones save for “Chuck E.’s In Love” but, Pirates opens with such confidence. “We Belong Together” is haunting and acts as a harbinger for what’s to come. 

And what’s to come is a female Springsteen circa 1974. “Woody and Dutch on a Slow Train to Peking” could have come out of the Boss on his Wild, Innocent record. And that’s what this record is filled with. 

The only downside is that it shimmies and grooves but it doesn’t rock. It’s lower west side and I want it to be more lower east side. And the title track echoes her big hit in a big way.

It gets a little too jazzy towards the end but, you know what? E Street Shuffle was never a fave of mine anyway. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/pirates/1420446638

The 1984 Listening Post - Rickie Lee Jones - The Magazine

Rickie Lee Jones - The Magazine

#238

September 12 1984

Rickie Lee Jones

The Magazine

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

It Must Be Love

Sure. Pleasant. Like Laura Nyro I find the songs dull and wanting. And I keep wanting to sing “Chuck E’s in Love”. 

Now here’s the thing. I did NOT know, until just this minute when I looked up the song that ChuckE’s In Love was written by Rickie Lee Jones. So, I guess that speaks to a signature writer’s style? But I listened to this album on the plane from Canada and had no access to look up Jone’s history or any info on this album so…kudos to her for having a style and also, she’s boring. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-magazine/1422756935