REVIEW: Rickie Lee Jones, Ghostyhead (Reprise)

- Joe Silva

Having ridden the fence betwixt pop recognition and jazz verite, Jones' records have always appeared to be keeping one eye trained on each camp. Now, with her first proper album since she and Walter Becker co-birthed the super Flying Cowboys, she's traced a line from her urban coffee house leanings of old down to the corner where the hip hoppers live.

Pieced together over four months with the help of H.O.R.D.E. acquaintance Rick Boston earlier this year, Jones' voice, languid and cunning as ever, moves across a modern vista that's big on rhythms and wispy melodies. But unlike Dame Bowie and the chieftains of Bono-Mart, there's not the clumsy marriage here of standard inclinations and the brave new world. Much like the smooth and groove environs of the Wu-Tang nation, Rickie sets her vocals atop a lush, funky backdrops that goes for the vibe instead of the jugular.

All of this is a lot more...ahem..tricky than it may at first seem. Much of these new reflexes in the hands of more traditional musicians tend to become a somewhat heavily smothered canvas, but Jones manages to still steer through a heavy rhythmic undertow, smart peripheral ambiences, and her sometimes dense lyrics , and still appear to sound low fat. She can even manage to inject a flourish of honest scat without it seeming at all out of place.

This all makes for adventurous, if only occasionally less than engaging, listening. With many artists veering on the electronic highway, Jones stands a fair chance of being a point of distinction considering the mammoth appeal and singularity of her voice. While Boston helped her find a comfort zone in her new sandbox, Becker was probably more successful in having Rickie remain more tunefully objective. But while it may meander a touch, Ghostyhead more often than not does keep your gaze fixed upon its atmosphere. As the lady muses: "And you walk through the funhouse, yeah/Those sonic faces hit you like a bus/ Till you're knocked down by Doppler waves of trust".