!hype 2007 2008-09-22

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

This CD is the most welcome CD of Rickie in so many years. This CD in it's right time (WHICH IS NOW - October 2008) would be a rock staple. I've been listening it to it since early spring of 2007 - SO WAKE UP RADIO, WAKE UP!! It even contains a few pop gems; but her introspective album is one of her most daring, thematically and musically. This is a very intimate, immediate CD. You feel like you are listening to her in your bedroom one on one at times. Telling you - "you" personally a story just for "you" to hear.

It is not like her other super grand productions, but it is just as brilliant and genius, if not more so. It is a soul experience. It moves you. Rickie is at an absolute apex; a very high point, an extreme time of realism in her creativity - she is most possibly at the highest level of her craft. It's evident and history making. The producers did an amazing job as well along with the musicians. They really can't be looked over, their perfect performances along with Rickie truly show a chemistry that can't be ignored or thought of as chance. There is a connection here. On a first listen I was already seduced, but after repeated listens you become part of the journey, part of the realization.

I love every song on this CD - but there are some grand standouts but don't let that discount any of the others. You'll see in time, every song will write itself on your soul. Plant a memory with the music in your psyche.

People with excellent music systems will like the lo-fi/hi-fi realism. It is recorded in a way to capture true performance as it is. Live performances in a studio setting. In headphones the CD sounds real cool. As a musician and engineer, I appreciate the unique 2 and 3 dimensional sound, that just demonstrates this was a very well thought out recording and production as real as it is.

I have never been repeatedly awed when listening to a record like this except for a few instances (Prince, Sly & The Family Stone and Rolling Stones) where the artist becomes so intimate you "feel" the performance. The execution of this CD was superb and really is way beyond anything that has come out by any artist in terms of something quintessential in decades.

The gems I love are first and foremost "Seventh Day" (a song seemed to be dedicated to her daughter, you can tell how much Rickie loves her - what a lucky child, this song is full of so much love and respect), "I Was There", and "Nobody Knows My Name". Although every song on this CD is a gem, it will take repeated listens to see the true beauty of each work. Some CDs hit instantly, this is like the finest of wines, you acquire the flavor and then become captured by it's essence it's aroma - if I could compare. It is a work of art, merit and spirit. A recording of the most highest honor and immediacy. I highly recommend this album. It will be one of the most unique and most rewarding listening experiences in your collection that you will cherish more and more in time. It is a classic, a manifesto undiscovered by the masses, but no less powerful or relevant.

This is an album that is a mystical experience. I think this is a great CD to listen to in the dark with many candles or by a fireplace, open the windows and hope for a light breeze, sit back - and do what you do - and enjoy one of the greatest albums ever made. Repeated listens will reward the listener and seduce you back time after time. Close your eyes and LISTEN, FEEL and EXPERIENCE. As usual Rickie's lyrics are so unique, so deep, so right on.

A cool CD as well to play while driving by the ocean California Pacific Coast Highway 1 on a cloudy day with the waves cresting with whitecaps. Just a wonderful vibe and message, and the music is just so right. When driving while listening to her music becomes like a mystical ritual, a religious experience. It's a connection. A light. Rickie's performances are so heartfelt and personal. Check it out.

Gregory J. Bolduc 2008-09-04

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Loved Rickie's music up until Flying Cowboys. Ever since it just gotten darker and darker. Tryed to listening to Exposition but it was torture. I'm not looking for pop music but am fully aware of how she can produce much more upbeat Jazzy influenced material. May she find these uplifting sounds once again.

Anthony Rupert 2007-11-06

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

The origin of Rickie Lee Jones' latest album The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard comes from writer Lee Cantelon's interpretations of Biblical passages. And while Cantelon still shares co-writer credits for much of this album's tracks, Rickie still does a great job of turning them into her own songs.

Very few of the songs actually seem to carry a spiritual vibe, however; the only ones that really seem to are "Gethsemane", "I Was There" and "Seventh Day". But those are still great songs, and there are plenty more standouts like "Circle in the Sand", "Nobody Knows My Name" and "Falling Up". Rickie also still has a unique way with her lyrics, as illustrated by "Elvis Cadillac" (which shows remembrance of deceased musicians) and "Donkey Ride". And "Road to Emmaus" is a nice instrumental.

Rickie has always had an unconventional style (lyrics AND vocals), so if you're not a fan of hers, you'll probably say that she can't sing. Even so, "Tried to Be a Man" is hard for me to get into. But everything else on here makes this a sermon worth listening to, so in the words of track 6, having this CD in my player is where I like it best.

Anthony Rupert

C. B. Waldron 2007-10-24

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

I own every Rikkie disc and I find some of them less than spectacular, yet still fun to listen to.
This disc is everything Rikkie stands for: passion, creativity, edginess, raw emotion, more questions than answers and slightly inaccessable. You need to work a bit for this artist and her muse. I've purchased Joni Mitchell cds that I have pronounced "not so good" until I lived with them a bit. Ten listenings later they never left my cd tray. If you were looking for "Chuck E's in Love" you are a few years too late. The very best artists challenge themselves and you to walk down complicated roads - their lives. Joni, Gabriel, Dylan, Neil Young, Lou Reed and countless others have bared their souls so that critics, both pundit and professional, can dismiss their work and call them washed up, one hit wonders. That's just insulting. We are all entitled to our opinions and here's mine.

Seermon is absolutely brilliant and easily one of my two favorite Rikkie discs (Pirates being the other). This music grabbed me on the first listen. The lyrics are personal and passionate. The instrumentation is fresh, sparkling and very acoustic - a departure from the laid-back jazz/blues of recent discs. I will put this with Tonight's the Night, New York and Don Juan on my top shelf. One last comment: Do you haters not listen to a few snippets before buying or do just assume that it will be another clone of your favorite artist's last effort. Better stick with more predictable artists (read: boring).

M. Brasuell 2007-10-15

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I certainly do not understand the low ratings on this cd. I guess everyone wants Rickie to make the same music over and over and over. I applaud this ambitious and challenging record. I guess it must make people feel important to spew garbarge about a record without listening to it. I was hesitant to buy it at first because of these reviews, and what a mistake it was to wait. This is beautiful and hypnotic music. Certainly one of the best cds this year.