The Evening of My Best Day

Rickie Lee Jones

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 2003)
• Original Release Date: October 7, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: V2 North America
• ASIN: B0000C8AU2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,898 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ugly Man

2. A Second Chance

3. Bitchenostrophy

4. Little Mysteries

5. Lap Dog

6. Tell Somebody (Repeal The Patriot Acts Now)

7. Sailor Song

8. A Tree On Allenford

9. It Takes You There

10. Mink Coat At The Bus Stop

11. The Evening of My Best Day

12. A Face In The Crowd

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT - her best since"Pirates", October 7, 2003

By	Karl Miller "kemspeaks" (Phoenixville, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It feels like forever since a release of original music from Rickie Lee Jones ("Ghostyhead", some 6 years ago and now impossible to find thanks to record company politics). Her long awaited return is also one of the best new releases of the year - and her best work since the one-two punch of her incredible debut and the follow up masterpiece "Pirates" (for my money, one of the 5 best albums ever recorded).
Slinky soul ballads, finger snapping jazz grooves and a voice that is weathered and childlike (sometimes on the very same note) are all over this project. Rickie has reunited with David Kalish (one of the featured performers on "Pirates") and he brings out everything you love about her music - and helps her add a ray of sunshine that's been missing since The Magazine's "Juke Box Fury".
No matter what you love about Rickie's music (and there is much to love about her), you are going to find it here. For fans of her acoustic ballader stylings, the title track is bound to be a new favorite. Full of sunny, hopeful lyrics and sweet guitar strumming, "Evening Of..." is classic Rickie.
"Little Mysteries" is the kind of R&B influenced track that reminds you how special Rickie is. The seductiveness of this song is outweighed only by its subject matter - Rickie's take on the 2000 presidential election (a subject that reappears on a number of songs - Rickie was never overtly political in her music, but her feelings about the Patriot Act and the Bush adminstration are a centerpiece of this project).
"Lap Dog" takes Rickie deeper into blues territory, and it is an area where she needs to concentrate - as always, this woman owns whatever musical genre she chooses to dip her toes into. Her voice carries this tune so well, it generates a huge "awe" factor.
"Ugly Man" is poetic improvisational jazz (and another swipe at George W.) - and shows why Rickie Lee deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Shirley Horn and Betty Carter (and possibly Cassandra Wilson)as one of America's great jazz chantrueses. Her voice blends so well with the instrumentation of this song.
"Sailor Song" is a folk-like Celtic voyage, "A Second Chance" is dirgelike in a "Skeletons" styled manner, and "A Face In the Crowd" is unlike anything you ever heard - remember how your ears stood up and paid attention as "We Belong Together" kept shifting rhythms, keys and beat - you get the same feeling from this song.
These songs are going to sound incredible live - anyone who has ever caught one of Rickie's shows knows how important live performances are to getting a true sense of how brilliant an artist she truly is (even if she is ALWAYS late).
This is a very special project by a one-of-a-kind artist. Hooray for refinding the muse - and showing us once again that talent can shine through.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More great work from RLJ, November 16, 2003

By	Addison Phillips (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rickie Lee Jones has produced some outstanding music over the years, including the frequently mentioned Pirates and Flying Cowboys. In recent years she's also made a number of interesting and experimental albums, including the not-nearly-as-approchable "Ghostyhead" and some other work such as "Pop-Pop", a set of Jazz standards covers (before it was really hip to do that).

Her work is always idiosyncratic and exploratory, not mainstream. For years Flying Cowboys has been, in my opinion, the apothosis of her work. I eagerly anticipated this new CD....

And it doesn't disappoint. There are some moments of "stock RLJ" and the disc is not as unified a vision as many of the earlier albums, but there are no clunker songs here at all. Some of the work is etherial and not pop music, but it is all subtle, well-crafted, and beautiful work.

In a fit of irony, Amazon was selling this album with the new Edie Brickell disc "Volcano" (RLJ made an overseas disc called "Girl at Her Volcano" some years ago now) and playing the two back to back is just mean to Ms. Brickell, who's work is well produced, even, and entirely slick next to the entirely self-visionary Rickie Lee Jones.

I've seen Pirates or Flying Cowboys recognized by diverse artists over the years. This album should inspire a whole new generation.

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous and unexpected return to form, October 27, 2003

By	William Miller (Ocala, Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Prior to this 2003 work, Rickie Lee Jones had released a total of three truly great albums. The eponymous debut, Pirates, and Flying Cowboys were landmark recordings and belong in the cd collection of anyone with an appreciation of jazz, blues, or rock. The problem is, the last of these recordings was released almost 15 years ago, the first a decade before that. While Ms. Jones has certainly released some nice discs since then, I had given up on the idea that she had another masterpiece in her. Apparently, she just needed the wrong man in the Oval Office to get the muse back.
This cd is a beauty. There is not a bad track on it. If you are reading this, you know what she is capable of, and she hit the proverbial home run. It will undoubtedly have a lofty spot on my best of the year list.
Wow, I guess there is something I am thankful to our current president for.