Traffic From Paradise
Traffic from Paradiseis cause for celebration, for it contains flashes of Rickie Lee Jones' old alchemy, which turned beat poetry into pop hooks. Few melodies are as captivating as the one Jones sings against the skeletal acoustic guitar and bass backdrop of ""Stewart's Coat.'' On the uptempo, swing-folk ""Jolie Jolie,'' another nothing-held-back love song, her mumbly voice bends notes and smears them like a muted jazz trumpet. On her version of David Bowie's ""Rebel Rebel," she brings out the wounded insecurity lurking in the heart of every nonconformist.Traffic from Paradiseis only the second album of original songs from Jones in 10 years, and the singer credits Leo Kottke for jumpstarting her stalled interested in songwriting. Kottke cowrote two of the new album's songs and plays guitar on six of them.--Geoffrey Himes