Rickie Lee Jones

This 1979 debut introduced Ricky Lee Jones's sassy jazz pop and childlike folksy songs to a world about to shed the comforts of the 1970s. While the first song unveils her obsession for Chuck E. Weiss, the second song (used in the soundtrack to the teen camp film Little Darlings) nails what it feels like to come of age.

It isn't just the skeptic in me who suspects that, despite the critical brouhaha, this young singer-songwriter's attractions are more sexual than musical or literary. It's also the male--"Stick It Into Coolsville," eh? But the critic knows that there are only three or four of her songs--including "Coolsville"--that I'd enjoy hearing again. (Grade - B-)