CD Reviews

Norah Jones

Not Too Late | Blue Note

By JON GARELICK | February 6, 2007

3.0 Stars

HONESTLY: Whatever her shortcomings, Norah Jones still makes most of the competition sound phony.

No, Norah Jones hasn’t turned into Lucinda Williams. But less honorable folks have sold a gazillion CDs. Her Blue Note debut matched her warm, pitch-perfect singing with jazz-dipped acoustic arrangements, Jesse Harris’s smart comfort-food songwriting, and Arif Mardin’s honest, no-frills production. The voice was small, the ballad tempos were relentless, but it’s never a bad idea to release an album as likable as 2002’s Come Away with Me the February after an international disaster. (Just ask a Beatle.) Not Too Late may lack the sure-fire singles of the debut, but, writing all her own songs for the first time (some with her boyfriend/bassist/producer Lee Alexander), she reveals a cheatin’ heart, a taste for political satire, and even a bit of goth. The music has more bite too: the oom-pah, banjo, and talking plunger-mute trombone of “Sinkin’ Soon”; spot-on country shuffles with brushes and apposite electric guitar solos (by Adam Levy); a soul-horn arrangement (“Thinking About You”); a couple of waltzes; the occasional strummed-and-plucked cellos; her own burbling Wurlitzer piano. And who’d have thought Norah Jones would write a line like “Got blood on his shoes and mud on his brim”? Too good to hate, not exciting enough to love, she still makes most of what’s out there sound like phony baloney.

Topics: CD Reviews , Norah Jones, Norah Jones, The Beatles, More

| More

Friends' Activity

Popular

Most Viewed

See more deals

view all

[ 02/19 ] The Addams Family @ Shubert Theatre

[ 02/19 ] American Lamb Jam Tour @ Charles Hotel

[ 02/19 ] Boston Ballet in "Simply Sublime" @ Opera House

More Information

Norah Jones, Songs from Not Too Late

ARTICLES BY JON GARELICK

DOMINIQUE EADE AT SCULLERS | February 10, 2012
"I'm discontented with homes that I've rented/so I have invented my own," sang Dominque Eade slowly, over a simple bass accompaniment.

CAN THE CHARLES RIVER ESPLANADE BE TRANSFORMED INTO THE WORLD'S BEST PARK? | February 17, 2012
What if — in place of the current three-story Museum of Science parking garage overlooking the Charles River — there loomed a giant Ferris wheel, on the order of the London Eye?

TIM BERNE COMPOSES HIMSELF | February 07, 2012
It's been almost exactly four years since Tim Berne's last visit to Boston— March 2008, to be precise, with jazz-prog guitarist David Torn's band Prezens.

JASON MORAN AT JORDAN HALL | February 03, 2012
I have to admit, I was not sanguine at the beginning of this highly anticipated concert by pianist and composer Jason Moran.

MARISSA AND CHARLES LICATA AT SCULLERS | February 02, 2012
I can't remember the last time I saw a costume change in the middle of a jazz show — if ever — but violinist Marissa Licata's performance with her father, saxophonist Charles Licata, and their band held all kinds of surprises.