Although 1991's Pop Pop was a formidable update of standards from "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" to "Dat Dere"--you had to love Robben Ford's nylon string guitar work--and It's Like This (2000) was more classic rock-oriented, The Devil You Know cuts deeper, and its haunting qualities become more and more beautiful as Jones' approach sets in.
Produced by Ben Harper, The Devil You Know contains the quiet, minimalist production that made his debut album unique, and he and Jones are in sync with their restraint and power on this one. Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break a Heart" sounds like a prayer, while the slide playing on Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe" adds greatly to a song you might not have wished to hear again. I feel that way about "The Weight," which brings nothing new to the Band's original or even Aretha Franklin's funky recast.
"St. James Infirmary" is a strange choice and yet Jones read it beautifully, with a sort of frozen horror that plays off what sounds like tack piano. One of the best tracks is Ted Anderson's "Seems Like a Long Time," which graced Brewer & Shipley's Tarkio early in 1971 and later that year, Rod Stewart's grand Every Picture Tells a Story. Back then, one couldn't help but sense the weariness of "You know what it's like/to wish peacetime would come" in Anderson's lyric as it related to the Vietnam war and it's no less striking now; funny how one can write a song about "the crazy times we're living in" and no matter which era the song is representing, it rings true.
While The Devil You Know might have benefitted from another creepy, edgy cover like "Sympathy for the Devil," the album is near-perfect late night listening. Perhaps the most challenging track ought to come first. Jones sounds absolutely tortured on this version, going into a cracked falsetto on occasion, as it's anything but a remake by numbers.
How good is her "Sympathy for the Devil"? I played it on KAOS last week as I filled in on the Catch a Wave show. Got a phone call from a woman who sounded genuinely mad.
"This is an awful version," she said. "You're going to make someone sick by playing this," adding that, "it used to be a nice song."
"It's great writing," I argued. "But it never was a nice song."