PureX
Veteran Member
Rickie Lee Jones has recently published an album that really has people talking. And they're not just talking about the music, they're talking about theology, and religion, and spirituality, too.
The album is called "The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard". Here's part of a review from iTunes:
"Consulting theologians and Bible scholars during the 1990s, photographer, writer, graphic artist, and everyday mystic Lee Cantelon (aka Pennyhead) assembled a small book presenting the words of Jesus Christ (just Jesus' words, not the stuff surrounding them) in a fitting translation called The Words. He did it for the purpose of presenting those words to people who were not "religious" - people who were put off by organized religion or even offended by it. In 2005, using artist Marc Chiat's studio (on Exposition Boulevard) as the recording space, he invited a number of musicians to begin assembling backing tracks for a spoken word rendition of his book. Rickie Lee Jones was invited to participate in the summer of 2006, and in a matter of moments she changed the entire nature of the project. Jones claimed she could not read the words with authority, but asked if she could sing them. She was left alone in the room with a microphone and, without the text, completely improvised the words from her heart. There were two tracks taken from those sessions, the opening cut "Nobody Knows My Name", and "Where I Like It Best". Those two cuts appear here unchanged from the original recordings made on Exposition Boulevard, as are two others ("I Was Here" and "Donkey Ride") recorded later. The rest were done using the same basic principal, with The Words as the inspiration. The end result is easily the most arresting recording of Rickie Lee Jones' labyrinthine career. "
".... Is this 'Christian' music? Not in any CCM sense. It's punk rock, it's shimmering L.A. back-court street rock, it's back porch rock, garage rock, and just plain rock. But Jones is trying in her way to offer proof of the inspiration she found in Cantelon's book, and to relate the humanity of the one called Jesus Christ as an actual person, who is in and around every one of us, no matter how broken, poor, angry, violent, deceitful, happy, or wealthy. There is no new agey overtone to this set. And besides all that it rocks and rolls and swings and strolls. ... And there is no Christian-ese; probably some fundamentalists who want their God held above street level, up in the heavens, will find this offensive but that's too damn bad. The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard feels raw and immediate, and most of all, it rings true. ... The songs on this record feel like they come from the street in order to go back there, not to witness or testify, but simply to be there as a witness to life in the process of spending itself."
"The Jesus of this record isn't a Christian; he warns people (as he did in the bible) to be wary of the religious. ..."
"... She (Rickie Lee Jones) is speaking to Christ in reverie, in a love song of a different kind, but a true love song nonetheless ... What's amazing is how easy to believe she is. She is speaking in her own kinds of tongues, here, and we are all richer for it. This is the least polished and crafted recording of Rickie Lee Jones' career, and it stands alone in her catalog. It's a ragged kid in ripped blue jeans singing her heart out to you without drama or falsity. How can it be anything less than a masterpiece?"
(I don't know who wrote this review.)
Here is her web site, with more information and some samples, and of course you can always sample at iTunes.
I'm just curious what you all think of this.
The album is called "The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard". Here's part of a review from iTunes:
"Consulting theologians and Bible scholars during the 1990s, photographer, writer, graphic artist, and everyday mystic Lee Cantelon (aka Pennyhead) assembled a small book presenting the words of Jesus Christ (just Jesus' words, not the stuff surrounding them) in a fitting translation called The Words. He did it for the purpose of presenting those words to people who were not "religious" - people who were put off by organized religion or even offended by it. In 2005, using artist Marc Chiat's studio (on Exposition Boulevard) as the recording space, he invited a number of musicians to begin assembling backing tracks for a spoken word rendition of his book. Rickie Lee Jones was invited to participate in the summer of 2006, and in a matter of moments she changed the entire nature of the project. Jones claimed she could not read the words with authority, but asked if she could sing them. She was left alone in the room with a microphone and, without the text, completely improvised the words from her heart. There were two tracks taken from those sessions, the opening cut "Nobody Knows My Name", and "Where I Like It Best". Those two cuts appear here unchanged from the original recordings made on Exposition Boulevard, as are two others ("I Was Here" and "Donkey Ride") recorded later. The rest were done using the same basic principal, with The Words as the inspiration. The end result is easily the most arresting recording of Rickie Lee Jones' labyrinthine career. "
".... Is this 'Christian' music? Not in any CCM sense. It's punk rock, it's shimmering L.A. back-court street rock, it's back porch rock, garage rock, and just plain rock. But Jones is trying in her way to offer proof of the inspiration she found in Cantelon's book, and to relate the humanity of the one called Jesus Christ as an actual person, who is in and around every one of us, no matter how broken, poor, angry, violent, deceitful, happy, or wealthy. There is no new agey overtone to this set. And besides all that it rocks and rolls and swings and strolls. ... And there is no Christian-ese; probably some fundamentalists who want their God held above street level, up in the heavens, will find this offensive but that's too damn bad. The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard feels raw and immediate, and most of all, it rings true. ... The songs on this record feel like they come from the street in order to go back there, not to witness or testify, but simply to be there as a witness to life in the process of spending itself."
"The Jesus of this record isn't a Christian; he warns people (as he did in the bible) to be wary of the religious. ..."
"... She (Rickie Lee Jones) is speaking to Christ in reverie, in a love song of a different kind, but a true love song nonetheless ... What's amazing is how easy to believe she is. She is speaking in her own kinds of tongues, here, and we are all richer for it. This is the least polished and crafted recording of Rickie Lee Jones' career, and it stands alone in her catalog. It's a ragged kid in ripped blue jeans singing her heart out to you without drama or falsity. How can it be anything less than a masterpiece?"
(I don't know who wrote this review.)
Here is her web site, with more information and some samples, and of course you can always sample at iTunes.
I'm just curious what you all think of this.