Pirates

Sound DNA

• Rock
• Art Rock

• polished
• wistful
• urban

About

<i>Pirates</i> found Rickie Lee Jones following up her 1979 GRAMMY®-winning debut by building on her love of jazz, R&B, and pop and her uncanny ability to spin literate little yarns inside songs. Her sweeping metaphors here use wild-eyed character sketches to show yearnings of lost love, often between flawed dreamers. They're sometimes based loosely around Jones’ own breakup with Tom Waits, particularly on the beautiful “We Belong Together.” You can see rain-speckled night sidewalks reflecting neon bar signs or be-bop journeymen junkies searching for “Stax and Sun.” But what casts the longest shadow is "Skeletons," a (true) story about cops who mistakenly shoot a man escorting his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth; Jones' graceful croon and airy piano accompaniment betray a sadness as profound as any you’ll likely ever hear in a song. Jones’s voice often bears a childlike whimsy, though she’s very much her own temple of beat cool. Wrapped in Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker’s perfectly spacious and cinematic production, rich with strings and horns, this album’s a masterpiece.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits