Rickie Lee Jones
The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard
Release Date: Feb 6, 2007
Genre(s): Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Record label: New West
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Album Review: The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard by Rickie Lee Jones
Fantastic, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 9/10
The Jesus of this record isn't a Christian; he warns people (as he did in the Bible) to be wary of the religious. It's very much a Los Angeles album, but it translates in heart to Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Miami, Baltimore, or anywhere else. On "Elvis Cadillac," the hallucinatory Elvis, or perhaps Jesus, is writing a letter to his father about all that has transpired and how he wishes he could just sing his song; it's strange and winding and faltering and beautiful.
Opinion: Great
On her New West debut, Rickie Lee Jones hasn't only recorded a collection of songs unlike anything she's done before, it's quite possible that The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard is unlike anything anyone has recorded, ever. Jones and her collaborators, wordsmith Lee Cantelon and guitarist Peter Atanasoff, put Jesus Christ's words into a modern-day context and set them to music. Inspiration came from The Words, Cantelon's portrayal of Christ's teachings in a way anyone can understand.