NDII is a something in between a song cycle and a concept album, with most of the tunes strung together by the fantastic percussion work of occasional JJ collaborator Sue Hadjopoulos. Song titles like "Hell of a Town," "Stranger Than You" and "Glamour and Pain" should get you in a New York state of mind. If not, the bolting lyric "get out of my goddamn way" rings clearer than any subway platform announcement. Tales of little sisters getting tattoos and staying out all night, steam rising from manhole covers, a return to the tragic fire at the Happyland Social Club, and pushy, paranoid straphangers. Yep, that’s the New York I remember.

The album title would have you expect that JJ is returning to the musical scene of his best-selling release, the pop show tune-inspired Night and Day from 1982. It’s not exactly a call and response, though those with good ears will recognize lyric snippets from songs on the original album and the familiar "Stepping Out" piano fill in "Glamour and Pain." Songs traipse across genres from his catchy, complex pop songs to an ill-fated aria in one number and back again. There is a string quartet (hey, it’s a classical release right?), some guest vocalists including Marianne Faithfull, and the return of bassist Graham Maby to a JJ record.

I wouldn’t put this on the flip side of a tape with, say, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea or NYC Ghosts & Flowers, but that shouldn’t stop you from listening to these New York Stories, the latest from one of pop’s most clever stylists.