Norah Jones "Not Too Late"

Norah Jones "Not Too Late" (2007)

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mp3 / 320kbps / 53mb

Label: Blue Note
Producer: Lee Alexander
Projected Release Date: 30 January 2007
Tracks: 13 (check: Amazon)


snorah jones records are a few of those records which dont sound like your average radio would play, but they get tonnes of commercial success. why? its easy-listening guaranteed, and that "smooth, sultry" female vocals. thats right - when all else fails, get "smooth, sultry" female vocals. and your record will sell like hotcakes marketed by the mcdonalds corporation. and just as long as you keep it less 'texan', that is - as we've learnt, from the flop 'feels like home'.

this time around, lee alexander fills in the producer's chair, yet again. - so you almost know where exactly the guitars are gonna be panned at and how the piano is gonna be mic'd up even before you hit that play button on your ipod. its almost expected arif mardin (producer, "feels like home", rip) wasnt even the execs' minds again. with the damage arif did on the previous record, this album feels like damage-control. and interestingly enough, the first single (like the "come away with me" record), again does a good job at hiding the most obvious influence throughout both this album and the previous one he did: blatant country blues.

that said, the first single "thinking about you" is penned by Wax Poetic's main man Ilhan Ersahin, and while it's brilliant, i cannot say its anything that is unexpected from a norah jones record. meh, some might call it consistency, i call it being safe. but then again, if ms jones wanted to be different, she wouldve called for teenage popstars collaborations, anyway.

with song titles like "rosie's lullaby", the album just begs to be pigeonholed. we know it: sunday afternoon cafes, single 29 year old girls' dream sex soundtrack, traditional music elitists, part of the cd collection of music graduates (they wont actually play this record, they just own a copy), depressed upper-middle class 30 year olds, math nerds... hmm, that's quite a fan base right there, the label shouldnt worry too much.

we cant blame ms jones for only being able to write bedroom / cafe songs and knowing to use the wurlitzer in only one way. some people are not multi-talented enough like that, but when she does something, you know its good. and you gotta give credit to her that she's actually had a hand in writing some of these songs, this time around. but i really dont know if she's gonna get much new recruits in the nj fan club. hardcore fans will might even say the "come away with me" record is better (and the second album sucks all around) and the grammy people will have to think really hard whether to give out one of those gramophones again to norah. decisions, desicions. if i had to draft a mini-theory from the pattern we see here, it'd be; if you go "new york", your album goes worldwide; and if you mess around in "texas" too much, your album will stay in texas. we know from there where this is heading then.

expect a rejuvenation of the term 'snorah jones' in the media in the coming weeks. here we go.