And just what, you may ask, has he been doing for the past fifteen years? Besides a number of classical scores for theater pieces, he has produced quite a few alternative mainstays such as REM, the Butthole Surfers, and the Mission UK. Not exactly a classic rock fan, is he? "Well, you know, when you've been in the best rock band in the world, you don't really want to rehash it all with someone else. I've moved on."

Moved he has. His presence is immediately evident on the opening track "Skotoseme" (Kill Me), a driving rhythm behind a schizophrenic rap. The first thing you notice is the lack of guitars, not only on this song, but the whole album. "Well there's no room for it," says Jones, "With the way she sings, where would you put it?" True enough. Diamanda Galas can hit and sustain notes that most guitarists need a rack full of digital doohickies to emulate. "Plus it gives me a lot of space to fool around with. That's what was so great about Zeppelin, when Jimmy would be playing one of his solos, Bonzo and I would do whatever we wanted. It's kind of like that here." In fact, the only other instrument besides bass and drums (provided by Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello fame), is a Hammond organ played by Diamanda herself. "An interesting thing," he mentions, "is that she was approached by a guitar magazine because they felt that she had performed the best guitar solo of the year with her voice."

A note of warning for men, however. I did a lot of leg crossing throughout the listening of this CD. If Lorenna Bobbit had any doubts before that infamous flick of the wrist, these songs would have pushed her over the edge. Jones laughs, "Yeah, well there's that. When we first started speaking, I asked her, 'What do you want to do?' and she responded, 'Oh love songs. Homicidal love songs'. So I thought, oh that sounds interesting." Tracks like "I Want You" and "The Sporting Life" certainly are a long way away from Robert Plant's machismo. In "The Sporting Life", a threesome of harpies descend upon a man for "the way he looked at me", have their way with him utilizing a variety of hardware, string him up, and kill him. "She's reacting to all the sexism that goes on in rock and roll, for which Zeppelin was also guilty of. Though not, I don't think, to the degree people say we were." So is she really that angry? "Oh, she was just having fun. Sort of going to the other extreme. As far as I can tell, she loves men, women, children; anyone with a heart."

Some tunes to look out for are "Hex", "Tony", and the incredible "Last Man Down", an amazing blues drenched song in which Diamanda plays the part of a wailing AIDS victim, a topic which has consumed her interest for about a decade. It is here that the collaboration of two styles melds perfectly. I can't wait to hear it live.

Since we are talking on the eve of the long awaited "MTV UnLedded", I have to ask, "Are you involved with that?"

He responds without flinching, "No I'm not."

"So is that your decision or..."

"Well," pause, "I wasn't approached, really." Oops! Hearing my hesitation, he continues, "But that's okay, I've got this. We'll be touring for a while, so that'll be enough to keep me awake." And I believe him too. This is the first tour he's done in fifteen years, so he must feel that this work is something special. "Oh yeah. And since it's not binding, I can go off do whatever I want when we're done. If we decide we want to do it again later on, we'll talk." Sort of an open marriage? "Yeah," he says, "that's a good term." Though judging by "Do You Take This Man", I'd think twice before any nuptual agreement with her. "Well," he laughs, " we had fun. Besides the important thing is not to compromise. And I don't think either one of us has. Plus it'll be fun to get out of the studio and tour for a while."

Welcome back, Mr. Jones.