LYLE Lovett swings back with an on-form album that banishes all memories of the dreadful movie-themed Smile, released earlier this year.

Lovett, mildly quirky country singer and spinner of vaguely odd musical short stories, kicks off his first collection of new songs in seven years with a dust-kicking, fiddle-driven song, Cute As A Bug, then slips into a slower, jazzy feel for the title track. The jazz mood continues for You Were Always There, but is banished for the delightfully sprightly San Antonio Girl, dashed off western swing style.

Gospel has always been a favoured musical form and here Lovett ends with two hand-clapping anthems, I'm Going To Wait and I'm Going To The Place. How cheering to learn that Lyle is back to his old ways on an album that jumps with vitality.

Rickie Lee Jones has always been a frustrating artist, shifting from sublimely good to hardly there at all. There hasn't been any new material for six years since Ghostyhead, her experimental trip-hop affair. Here, she has been galvanised by her opposition to President Bush, an antipathy which finds musical fruit in the opening Ugly Man and the stand-out track, Tell Somebody (Repeal The Patriot Act), which has gospel echoes.

This album takes work as initially Rickie's voice, by turns a world-weary snarl and the squeak of a lost girl, seems lost among the richly textured music, which shines with Steely Dan-style jazz polish. But gradually she emerges, finding her place in the layers. There is so much going on and each play reveals something new.

Updated: 09:29 Thursday, November 20, 2003