Taga Jones le Poignard

A beautiful and deeply felt tribute to the legendary French chanson , captures at the nadir of his fame and the zenith of his talent, eschewing glitz and glamour to create the most mature and focused album of his career. 's maudlin, theatrical approach fits like a glove, and with the invaluable assistance of arranger , he fully inhabits the songs' world-weary romanticism.

This is one of the rare instances where the Back 2 Back Hits concept fulfills its potential. Not only did EMF and Jesus Jones explore a watered-down Madchester and dance-pop hybrid, but they both only had one true hit single, followed by a couple of near-hits that made a slight impression on the charts and in the pre-Nirvana alt-rock consciousness.

No doubt to the consternation of Warner Bros. Records, Rickie Lee Jones took more than three years to follow up her second (and second Top Five, gold-selling) album, Pirates (1981) with The Magazine. (In the interim, the label issued the mini-album of live tracks and outtakes Girl at Her Volcano [1983].) But from the evidence of the finished product, she might have been better advised to take a little longer. Her self-titled first album was a delightful collection of folk-jazz-pop, sparked by the hit single "Chuck E.'s in Love," but it also pointed toward the moodier and more ambitious Pirates. On The Magazine, Jones seems to be rewriting both albums at once…

Rickie Lee Jones released her auspicious self-titled debut album in 1979 and its equally impressive follow-up, Pirates, in 1981. By the spring of 1983, she apparently was not close to having a third full-length collection of all original songs ready, so Girl at Her Volcano appeared instead…