Album Reviews

Calling Ricki Lee Jones’s Pop Pop an “enduring” audiophile classic would be an understatement, though getting a copy on vinyl has been difficult until now.

Germany’s Alto-Analogue issued it on 180g vinyl, cut by Bernie Grundman (who is the original mastering engineer of record for the 1991 release) back in the vinyl-starved late 1990s. Some copies made there way back to America, though I picked mine up in Germany.

There was supposed to be an American issue of it as well, also cut by Bernie Grundman but licensing and/or contractual issues prevented it. I have a test pressing and it sounds as good as the Alto issue.

Good Buy, another European label issued it as well on 180g vinyl but from who knows what source? It’s difficult to make this recording sound bad and the Good Buy pressing isn’t bad but it sounds down a generation or three or perhaps sourced from digital. Nice black backdrops but deteriorated harmonic structures, a lack of air and an overall flat drabness overtake it, especially when compared to Bernie’s cut and even moreso compared to this double 33 1/3 edition from ORG cut by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman.

So what’s the attraction here aside from an absolutely superb, intimately set acoustic recording? Well there’s Robben Ford’s prisitine nylon stringed guitar and standup bass chores handled by either jazz great Charlie Haden or John Leftwich among other instrumental treats, but of course there’s Ricki Lee miked up close and personal, delivering her idiosyncratic phrasing, slurring and pronounced nasality.

If you’re not a fan, this could make you one. I found Ricki Lee acceptance through this record, though seeing her live recently converted from for acceptance to belief.

The A&R work here is superb, navigating between old standards like “My One and Only Love,” arranged to sound as if performed at a Parisian bistro, “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most,” which many listeners will be familiar with from Ella’s almost breezy take on her Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie album, and the melancholic “I’ll Be Seeing You” and new ones like Marty Balin’s gorgeous “Comin’ Back to Me” and an unlikely but successful reworking of Jimi’s “Up From The Skies.” Ricki Lee’s take of Bobby Timmons’ “Dat Dere” with the late Joe Henderson on sax is another treat.

The ORG issue, spread over two 180g LPs and the BG cut Alto sound different but both are excellent. After a vacuum cleaning and demagnetization a comparison showed the ORG Gray/Hoffman cut was warmer, fuller and richer-sounding, while Grundman’s was cleaner, tighter and more detailed, with faster transients. Depending on your system, Bernie’s cut will sound just right or a bit lean; Gray/Hoffman’s to-die-for rich and creamy or, a bit overbaked overall and bloated in the bass.

I have to say that because I’m running Wilson MAXX3s, big Musical Fidelity kW solid state amps, not known for their sweetness and warmth and using a Lyra Titan i cartridge, also not known for its sweetness and warmth, yet the ORG issue is almost a bit much in the bass on my system. The operative word is “almost.” It only gets to be too much if you crank it up higher than appropriate. Otherwise, played back at an appropriate level the sound will have you melting.

It’s about time this Ricki Lee Classic from 1991 became available on vinyl in America. Spread out over four sides, Ricki Lee’s vocals breathe naturally and her sibilants are sweetly rendered, producing three-dimensional realism that is sure to sweep you off your feet, even if you’re already sitting!

An expensive, but worthwhile reissue that remains a musically vital audiophile classic.