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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Norah, 4 Feb 2007
Having fallen in love with Norah's first album (`Come Away With Me') as soon as I heard it, but feeling slightly less warm toward her second (`Feels Like Home'), I was a little worried that I may start to feel decidedly chilly toward this latest album. And I suppose it is music to chill to. It is probably true to say that `Not Too Late', while keeping stylistically close to its predecessors, is not so easy to get into. There are not too many tracks here that you would think will make it on to many radio stations' playlists, or that strike you as material for single release in the way that, say `Sunrise' or `Come Away With Me' did. Wait a minute, what am I thinking? In this age of downloads, singles may not matter too much anyway.
`Not Too Late' can be regarded as unobtrusive background music, but it's actually a very intimate and intricate piece of work. Unobtrusive because the music is often deceptively one-paced and, admittedly, some tracks, notably `Thinking About You' and `Be My Somebody', would have benefitted from a punchier instrumental delivery. For the most part, the band delivers the goods beautifully complementing Norah's velvety voice.
Lyrically, this is a wonderful album. The themes of friendship, love and betrayal in `Wish I Could', `Not My Friend' and `The Sun Doesn't Like You' are complemented by the world-weary cynicism of `My Dear Country', almost like a Randy Newman song. In fact, there are so many good songs here that there must be a queue of artists waiting to cover them. `Not My Friend' is almost tailor-made for Chris Smither in my opinion, and the country-tinged `Wake Me Up' and `Be My Somebody' will surely feature in other artists' repertoires.
This may indeed be Norah's least accessible album, but that should not deter those who enjoyed her first two. There are no tracks that particularly stand head and shoulders above the others, but for my money, this is her most accomplished album so far.
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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Norah Jones' best album so far! , 17 April 2007
On her third album, Norah Jones - a favourite artist of both the critics and the public - makes it clear that she does not intend to cash in on her previous mega success by churning out ready made, radio friendly songs.
The young chanteuse, whose delightful debut album mostly featured other people's songs, has developed into a first-class songwriter. Here, she wrote or co-wrote every song on the album. She moves away from being simply a crooner to present herself as a musician in quest of art for art's sake.
She expands her stylistic range, mixing country music roots (with some steel-guitar and country-style waltzes) while keeping her easy jazz-influenced style that is so appealing.
Lyrically, the songs are now more downbeat, including political comments criticizing the state of the world (and the people running it.) Love remains a major topic though, fluctuating between the regret of lost love and the celebration of its presence.
The album under review is more laid-back than her previous recordings and the sound is mostly acoustic, including stand-up bass and, sometimes, some cellos. Only some light electric guitars and keyboards are audible here and there. With Norah Jones playing as much guitar as she plays piano, the guitars are more prevalent.
After early producer Arif Mardin's passing, Jones recorded "Not Too Late" with her collaborator, bassist Lee Alexander. Norah Jones's music is now stripped to its core, which also contributes to the slight changes in the overall sound.
Sonically, the recording captures the intimacy of the music and enhances its laid-back feeling.
On the first track, "I Wish I Could", cellos make their appearance along with Jesse Harris' acoustic guitar. "Sinkin' Soon", maybe the CD highlight, is like a cross between cabaret and the early Duke Ellington orchestra, with the banjo and the muted trombone. "My Dear Country" is the outright political song on the CD, expressing frustration at the result of an election while still celebrating what the country has to offer. On "Thinking about You" (a broken love song issued as a single), Norah Jones plays a Wurlitzer electric piano whilst the horn section brings echoes of Memphis soul. That lyrical theme continues on the countryish following track "Wake Me Up". "Little Room" is a positive, straight-out love song that evokes a country singer-songwriter's style. The CD ends with the title track, a wonderfully intimate-sounding piano ballad about trying to rebuild a relationship. It's another gem.
Norah Jones' third album "Not Too Late" is, in my opinion, her best yet. Her vocals sound wonderfully relaxed throughout the album. This album has topped the US Billboard 100 album charts, just like her two previous outings so it is good too see that she can be more adventurous and remain commercially successful.
Norah Jones has definitely not let stardom go to her head musically. She makes no artistic compromises on "Not Too Late", and has now grown to be an even more impressive artist.
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25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's all you would expect...whatever side of the fence you're on, 12 Feb 2007
I think it's safe to say that there isn't a person alive who won't know what to expect from Norah Jones' latest studio album Not Too Late. Yes, even those of you who are deaf will probably know exactly what you are going to get with Norah Jones.
This isn't, however, necessarily a bad thing in some senses. Jones rarely surprises us but then again she rarely disappoints; she may not do a whole lot different but what she does do is normally more than adequate. This collection is no different, despite what some reviewers would have you believe. In fact the only real difference is that Jones claims co-writing credits on all 13 tracks here and it's this that marks the real change in direction. Lyrically this album is a lot more cynical and uneasy than her previous efforts. It's also more substantial in parts as a result with both Election Day and Wish I Could treading the war/George W Bush ground that so many seem to do these days (although it should be pointed out that Jones seems to go to extraordinary lengths to not offend anyone in either song).
Highlight include Thinkin' About You, a song so delightful that you cannot help but fall under it's spell, the blues-driven Sinkin' Soon and Wake Me Up, although the latter does remind you a lot of Sunrise from her last album (a song which I consider to be her finest).
In the final analysis the choice is yours. If you liked her first two "solo" albums (we're not counting the Little Willies here) then you'll probably enjoy this one greatly too. If, like me, you can to many extents take or leave Norah Jones then you'll have the same opinion of this one. It's soft, warm and rustic music that will quite happily play in the background as you carry on with your life, occasionally beckoning you over to turn up the volume for the odd track before easing back into it's familiar groove and leaving you to carry on doing the housework.
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