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Track Listings
| 1. Wish I Could |
| 2. Sinkin' Soon |
| 3. The Sun Doesn't Like You |
| 4. Until The End |
| 5. Not My Friend |
| 6. Thinking About You |
| 7. Broken |
| 8. My Dear Country |
| 9. Wake Me Up |
| 10. Be My Somebody |
| 11. Little Room |
| 12. Rosie's Lullaby |
| 13. Not Too Late |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Though pundits predicted a change of direction for the third Norah Jones album, fans of earlier works will be pleased to learn that Not Too Late maintains the chanteuse's subtle mantra of tasteful, insouciant songs tinged with jazz, folk, country and blues. The album differs in that the majority of tracks this time around were written by Norah herself (and long-term collaborator Lee Alexander); that said, musical support comes from her regular coterie (guitarist Jesse Harris, drummer Andy Borger and singer Daru Oda amongst others), as well as esteemed guests such as Kronos Quartet cellist Jeff Ziegler, Larry Goldings and singer-songwriter M Ward. Patient, simple ballads, calm jazz/folk chords and quiet instrumental embellishments are still what Norah does best and there are plenty here, enhanced of course by her timeless, honeyed vocals. With the notable exception of the idiosyncratic, politically-charged waltz "Sinkin' Soon" (featuring vocals from M. Ward), Not Too Late lopes along with typical restraint and candour, making for another collection of soothing, weightless tunes. --Paul Sullivan
Review
Norah Jones tends to polarise opinion among music listeners. Depending on your point of view, she is either the heavenly-voiced queen of sophisticated, chilled-out modern jazz or a bland, soulless dinner party soundtrack for people who don't really like music, little more than a canny selector of cover versions with a famous sire in the shape of legendary sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar.
To someone who has historically erred towards the latter camp, Not Too Late comes as a pleasant surprise. Ms Jones, though scarcely original and sometimes laid-back to the point of supine disinterest, has delivered an album of range and quality which goes some way towards establishing her as more than just a proficient interpreter of the work of others.
Not Too Late's 13 tracks, all either written or co-written by the artist herself, meander engagingly across a variety of styles, although the vibe is predictably mellow throughout. 'My Dear Country' sounds like a modern-day Billie Holiday, 'Broken' employs brooding strings to winning effect and the title track is a simple, elegant piano-led ballad which is pretty without lurching into the cloying sentimentality of the Texan's earlier recordings.
Musically, the album is tastefully understated, with occasional lap steel and banjo adding country-folk textures and an exuberantly sleazy trumpet solo lending real character to the gambolling New Orleans-style stomp of 'Sinkin'Soon'. On the downside, Jones's crystalline, silk glove of a voice remains angelic yet anonymous, and her lyrics, while hinting at political protest on 'My Dear Country' seem unlikely to rival Dylan or Cohen for poetic gravitas in the foreseeable future.
Overall, although the album still contains a little too much inconsequential mid-tempo crooning to inspire a full conversion of the sceptics, Jones has nevertheless made an encouraging step forward in her artistic development, expanding her palette just enough to become more interesting without taking the risk of alienating the conservative coffee-table hordes who made her name. This music won't change the world, but neither does it deserve to be cast from it as some of the singer's most venomous detractors unjustly suggest. --Chris White
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Norah,
By
This review is from: Not Too Late (Audio CD)
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.
27 of 33 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,
By
This review is from: Not Too Late (Audio CD)
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.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not too great,
By
This review is from: Not Too Late (Audio CD)
Although this isn't a bad album, it isn't that good either. Norah Jones doesn't challenge herself and just makes the same music as her previous albums. If you are a fan of her back catalogue you'll probably love this as it is more of the same, if you looking for something new and different stay clear of this.
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