Having heard Norah Jones' debut album (its a bit hard not to have had a listen one way or another after all the hype) I decided to but her second one. So with high hopes I did so.
Her Debut titled “Come Away With Me” was, in opinion pretty damn good. It made her a star, a millionaire (i assume) and Grammy award winner. I seem to remember opening the paper to see a picture of her with her arms full of so many grammy awards that they looked like she was about to drop them all. So you can imagine that after hearing this much-hyped debut album, i had very high hopes for her second one. “Feels Like Home” was released less than 2 years after “Come Away With Me and it still holds her original style combining jazz with country and a slight bit of pop on some songs.
“Feels Like Home” has shown how she has matured musically and has experimented a bit more. It is more upbeat than 'Come away with me' which was more of a slow, chilled sounding album with faster tempo’s. She has also had the help of the input from others such as Jesse Harris, Dolly Parton and some backup singers - a noticable difference
to the debut which was predominantly her own voice alone.
Sunrise 10/10
This is one of the ones which is more like Norah Jones on the first album. She sings about two people who are in love and spend each day together. It is a jazz-style song with a piano and an acoustic guitar in the background. It is one of my favourite songs on the whole cd and is a very strong opening track. It has a really nice, chilled sound to it.
What Am I To You 10/10
This songs about the one she loves telling lies to her and is another strong follow-up to the previous song. It has more of a country feel to it and again, the guitar and piano accompany Norah’s voice to create another perfect song.
Those sweet words 8/10 This one's not as great as the previous two, but still another good song. It is another jazz-inspired track and Norah Jones' sounds stunning with the beautiful melody of the piano.
Carnival Town 4/10
It all starts to go downhill a bit here, and this is probably one of my least favourites on teh whole cd, although having said that, it isnt absolutely dreadful or anything. It is a much simpler song than the previous ones, and her voice is accompanied my a guitar and strings, as Norah’s sings her rather sad-sounding song about a woman under the spell of a man.
In the morning 9/10
Thankfully the album picks up again a little bit here as Norah Jones sings the story of a bad relationship as a friend tries to help her get over her thoughts about him. It is a lot more upbeat than what we have heard so far on the cd, and although I didnt really like it after listening to it the first time, it definitely grew on my and has now become one of my favourites.
Be here to love me 2/10
Again, just when you think the album is about to get going with a great string of brilliant songs, the ideal is blown to smithereens... ok thats probably putting it a bit dramatically, but you get the point. This is a depressing, song, that i just dont like.
Creepin’ In 7/10
This on features Dolly Parton and so you can probably guess that it is another country-sounding one. Their voices sound pretty good together and although i prefer Norah's more jazz influenced music, this country one has begun to grow on me.
Toes 4/10
Weird idea for a song, about... guess what. Although it hasnt got a bad tune, it has a weird guitar bit on the middle, which i dont like and the lyrics are not exactly conventional, which could be considered a good thing... Bring back her style from the first album in my opinion.
Humble Me 5/10
A little better than the last one, but quite similar sounding i thought. In my opinion they should have spread out the good songs so that they more rubbish ones werent bunged together. These songs make for a bit of a bad patch on the cd.
Above Ground 3/10
Again... still going through a bit of a bad patch. Good new though is that her voice sounds great. The tune though leaves a lot to be desired and it just hasnt grown on me and i dont think it will without a miracle.
The Long Way Home 5/10
By this point in the album im starting to think I had wasted my money. With this string of below average songs it seems like the whole abum is a filler and she should have stuck to the original more jazz influenced style of the debut cd. This country stuff is beginning to not really be my thing at all, and im starting to realise that it never really was. What has happened to her? Another poor song.
The Prettiest Thing 10/10
Thank goodness. She's back. This is a slow, sexier song that the string of previous bad ones in that little phase that seems to be almost forgotten after hearing this song. Thankfully she seems to have rescued herself. Her voise sounds beautiful, much more like the Norah that we know from the debut.
Don’t Miss You At All 10/10
Again, she has brought us a wonderful song, where her voice, the tune, the lyrics and instruments sound perfect and match up to the standards that were set by her debut. It ends the album brilliantly.
Overall, I think that had i heard more of the cd before buying it, i probably wouldnt have bought it at all. It starts and end really well, but the chunk in the middle is just too country for me and made up of poor songs.
It can be bought from the usual places like WHSmiths and Virgin, and of course from CDWOW for 8.99... probably the cheapest from there.
Thanks for the read Missarty :P
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With Feels Like Home, the follow-up to her eight times Grammy winning debut, Come Away ... more
With Me, easy listening's 24 year-old poster girl Norah Jones has a staggering weight of expectation to live up to. However, anyone expecting to be wowed from the s...
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Jun 15th, 2004
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