The Evening of My Best Day

1	Ugly Man
2	A Second Chance
3	Bitchenostrophy
4	Little Mysteries
5	Lap Dog
6	Tell Somebody
7	(Repeal the Patriot Acts NOW)
8	Sailor Song
9	A Tree on Allenford
10	It Takes You There
11	Mink Coat at the Bus Stop
12	The Evening of My Best Day
13	A Face in the Crowd

Barnes & Noble

Early in her career, Rickie Lee Jones was content to stay shielded in her personal bohemia, skipping and finger-popping through jazzy, airy tales of what was going down in the land of cheap red wine and clove cigarettes. But as she's matured, her storytelling has evolved, reaching something of an apex on this alternately biting and poignant disc, which touches frequently -- and movingly -- on, for lack of a better term, "the real world." There's no mistaking the subject matter of "Ugly Man," an acerbic look at the string-pullers in both the halls of Washington and the boardrooms of media conglomerates. Similarly, "Tell Somebody," one of the album's more straightforward tunes, prods the listener to ask for answers, but doesn't lapse into post-hippie demagoguery. Jones has broadened her musical palette as well -- with notable help from guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Steve Berlin. "Bitchenostrophy" slinks into a surprisingly deep and sensual funk groove, topped only lightly with Jones's trademark beatnik slur. The backing band grinds out a convincingly bluesy backdrop for the clever, tweaking lyrics of "Mink Coat at the Bus Stop," then contributes to the orchestrated cinematic sweep needed to buoy the bucolic "A Tree on Allenford." Six years was a long time to wait for a disc of new material, but from the sound of it, Rickie Lee Jones didn't waste a single minute in its creation. David Sprague

All Music Guide

On her first offering of new, self-penned material in six years, Rickie Lee Jones offers songs from the font of the well. No covers, no live tracks, just an honest to goodness studio offering of fine songs that underscore Jones reputation as the most wonderful kind of idiosyncratic songwriter. And she owes George W. Bush for it -- she began writing again in frustrated and indignant response to Bush's hotly contended election to the highest office in the land -- one listen to "Tell Somebody (Repeal The Patriot Act)," a jumping gospel and soul tune, is all the proof one needs. But The Evening Of My Best Day is not merely a political album, it is one of poetics and grace, threaded through with jazz, folk, blues, R&B, and rock, all siphoned through Jones' vocal and lyrical strainer. With production help from the gifted guitarist David Kalish (who worked on her masterpiece, Pirates), Jones has crafted an utterly compelling, even riveting, selection of tunes that go from bright to opaque, to dark and back again by album's end. Her choice of studio musicians and backing vocalists is impeccable as well. Players like Fender Rhodes king Neil Larsen, Bill Frisell, Kenny Wollesen, and backing vocalist Grant Lee Phillips, whose Fender gives "Bitchenostrophy," a jazz tune, a gorgeous Brazilian samba lilt. David Hidalgo's acoustic guitar, in commingling with Kalish's electric, stand in juxtaposition with Rene Camacho's acoustic bass and a small string section, to offer a modern day folk tale with a melody that seems to come out of the ether of time. On "It Tasks You There," Jones employs Nels Cline on electric guitar with Kalish playing dobro in a gorgeously textured exhortation against materialism and toward a practical spiritual awakening that is highlighted by backing vocals from Syd Straw and Phillips. Jones' singing is more disciplined than ever before, giving her sometimes visionary lyrics the edge they need to get over -- such as on the bluesed-out "Mink Coat At The Bus Stop," with a bridge that seems like it was grafted from another song yet fits airtight, like a worn and beloved leather glove lined with silk. On the title track, Jones addresses the period of her creative drought and how she was perceived and ridiculed by those on the outside. But it's a song of tenderness and empathy, utterly without avarice or anger -- just empathy, and forgiveness. In many ways, The Evening Of My Best Day is a revisiting of the scope, textures, and vision of Pirates. But it is not a look back. Where that recording addressed romantic love, this one addresses love for the human race with all its quirks and shortcomings, from the point of view of one who lives there everyday. It is alternately intimate and cinematic -- in an indie film way -- and it is breathtakingly, unapologetically and unmistakably moving and true and elegant. And does it ever swing. Thom Jurek

Entertainment Weekly

These are pop's most artful anti-Bush statements to date. (A-) Larry Blumenfeld