Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
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Free Music Notes for Come Away With Me
Free Music Review: If I had to pick one CD to take on a desert island, Come Away With Me would be it.
Hit: 5 Stars
Norah Jones' debut album Come Away With Me is as comforting as a steaming cup of coffee on a cold morning; just let yourself slip into the dreamy rhythms and feel the tension melt away. Opening with Don't Know Why, Norah's piano gently underscores the snare brushes and bass. Seven Years has the nostalgic reminiscence of an old-time music box, while Hank Williams' Cold, Cold Heart is given a bouncy, playful beat and Norah's delivery sounds as though she's wearing something between a Mona Lisa smile and a Cheshire grin, despite the lyrics. Come Away With Me is the standout track; mellow and slow, it's a sensual, late-night slow jam, a last dance before the band packs up. Norah is at her most poetic and open here.
Turn Me On finds Norah channeling her earlier blues persona with Peter Malick (New York City) with a growled, husky delivery and bluesy piano riffs. Lonestar is an old-fashioned country ballad that could reflect Norah's home state of Texas. I've Got To See You Again is an erotic Latin-charged ballad, with prowling snare brushes and smoky tango chords. Norah's layered harmony is used to great effect, and the song reminded me of Sway. Also deserving particular merit is Norah's enchanting, sexy cover of The Nearness of You. Simplicity itself, it's just Norah and her piano evoking images of Casablanca and classic 1940s romance.
Nightingale opens with steel-string guitar and sounded like a 1960s Joan Baez folksong. What Am I To You slides back into a slow country waltz.
The strengths of Norah's first (and in my opinion, her best) album lay in her effortless bridging between various genres including jazz, folk, and country. The majority of the songs are original, penned by Jones and her band, and she inhabits them with a maturity and grace far beyond her years. This may be my favorite album to unwind to; it's guaranteed to wash away the tensions and worries of the outside world.
Free Music Review: Simply beautiful!
Hit: 5 Stars
Now all these negative reviews are given mostly because some individuals jump on any artist who gets enough hype, and then becomes confused with what was the big deal. People have different tastes so you can't expect an artist to be well received by EVERYONE. But the truth was Norah herself didn't expect to receive this much attention. It's just that the praise and awards given to her was based on her giving music another outlook instead of the way it seemed it was going. Every year after the next, music became more commercial and less about ACTUAL talent. But then came Norah with her mellow, beautiful sound that's not easy to place in one specific genre. And that's a good thing! For people who are are not sure to get this album, you should be told that this is not for everyone. It has a country/folk/jazz vibe that not everyone can get into. And unless you really LISTEN to the album and not just hear it, the whole album will sound the same to you. It's not an album you can jump up and dance or groove to. It's more of a smooth album that you can relax to and listen while you try to get in a calm mood. It's mostly slower pace, but the truth is that our pace of life is so fast today that we need somethings to take things down. And that's what this album does.
It's not easy to get into. But if you do you'll realize that maybe all the praise she got was well deserved. This album is simply beautiful!
Note: Previously I gave this album 4-stars. But after listening to it again I realized that this album is now one of my favorites, and it's deserving of 5-stars. There's so many great songs on it. It doesn't stop with "Don't Know Why". "Cold Cold Heart", "Come Away With Me", "Painter Song", "Lonestar", "The Nearness of You", "I've Got to See You Again", "Feelin' the Same Way" are definite standouts. I know I listed almost all of the songs but this album is that good! They all continue to stick out in my mind. She has just gained a devoted fan.
Free Music Review: Come away with Norah
Hit: 5 Stars
"Come Away With Me" brings to mind smoky, dim-lit, late-night jazz clubs, with a single talented singer on the stage. That singer is Grammy-winner Norah Jones, with her bluesy jazz music and soft, smooth vocals. Only a few minutes of Norah's singing will win you over."Come" starts on a melancholy note, with Norah mourning at abandoning her chance to be with the unnamed love of "Don't Know Why." The sweetly innocent "Seven Years," the slightly seductive "Cold Cold Heart," the whisper and shimmer of the title track, the reflective melancholy of "Shoot The Moon" ("Now the fall is here again/ You can't begin to give in/It's all over"), the low-key sensual "Turn Me On," the lonely-cowboy lullaby "Lonestar" continue the mood of ups and downs; at the end, Jones sings quietly that "With no reprise/The sun will rise/The long day is over," and finishes up with the beautiful "Nearness of You."
The simplicity of "Come Away With Me" is part of its beauty. Jones' voice is genuinely, honestly beautiful, sweet and soft and rich. There's little if any enhancement of her vocals, adding to the feeling that you're listening to her directly, not to songs recorded in a studio.
And the music is meant as a backdrop for her singing: simple acoustic and electric guitars, bass and drums, sometimes an organ, and most importantly, piano. Mostly jazz, but laced with tinges of country music, this is a hard-to-classify hybrid. The songs tend to be sweetly evocative, sometimes sensual and sometimes sad, sometimes romantic and sometimes just sweet ("It's not the pale moon that excites me/That thrills and delights me, oh no/It's just the nearness of you").
The beautifully sweet, cozy feel of "Come Away With Me" is one that is hard to find anywhere else. Play this album from beginning to end, and find someone to hold close to you in a candlelit room.
Free Music Review: "Come Away With Me".....I would!
Hit: 5 Stars
A buddy, affectionately known as 'That Ricky Guy,' discovered that I had never heard of Norah Jones. Well, he thought so much of this unique and gifted song stylist (and of me, for some reason) that he gifted me with a copy of this CD. I pay attention to Ricky's musical evaluations because he is the only still-living person I know who was actually there at Carnegie Hall in 1961 to witness Judy Garland's Ultimate Triumph (though he was probably on his mama's knee), and he said Norah Jones is good. He's right. He's definitely right!It's human nature for us, hearing a singer for the first time, to make the inevitable comparisons....and I did just that listening to Norah. There were touches of Peggy Lee, I thought...certainly Rita Coolidge...Blossom Dearie, though the voice isn't that fragile...some of Nina Simone's subtle emotion. And of course she's a jazz singer, but there sure is a touch of country in that delivery of hers, maybe even a gentle hint of smokey coffee-house folk singers. But finally it dawns on you that Norah Jones, this young girl with a talent far older than she herself, has seduced you....reeled you right in with her OWN individual brand of musical magic.
Just as I didn't know Norah until this evening, many of the songs were also new to me....but I'm sure will become old friends. I especially loved "One Flight Down," and the title song she wrote herself, as well as "Nightingale" and "The Long Day Is Over." Of course my favorites were the two familiar standards, "Cold, Cold Heart" and "The Nearness Of You" (let's face it....I'm basically stuck back there in time wanting more details of Garland's encores from my friend Rick) but I really do think Ms. Jones would be doing herself (and us) a great service if she borrowed a page from Diana Krall and recorded an entire album of the old classics. She has the genuine talent to give new life to old chestnuts...and she should!
Free Music Review: UNDERSTATED - BUT POWERFUL
Hit: 5 Stars
After the first time I listened to this disc I wrote it off as being monotonous and I put it aside. Then for some reason two months later I decided to try it again. This time I put the headphones on and received the full scope of this engaging work of art. Norah has a quality in her voice which can not be described. She reaches in and grabs you and keeps you there. She has little Joni Mitchell, a little Carole King and a little Karen Carpenter in her vocal delivery. She is smooth, soulful, bluesy and an instantly recognizeable one of a kind.
Her music is universal. She could have hit big in the 40's, the 70's or any decade with these exact same recordings. The songs transcend time and music genres.
At first the album may seem to have a limited musical focus. Though after careful inspection of each song it becomes evident that there is a focus in several delightful diections. Some songs focus on the guitar, some the keyboard others percussion and some on Norah's voice itself.
Her rendition of Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart" is flawless and original. The song includes an irresistible bass line. Norah's vocal is bluesy and strong. The keyboard adds a wandering mood about it. Patsy Cline or kd lang would have also done justice to this tune. "Seven Years" speaks with a youthful innocense. The lyric is especially strong it gives an optimistic feel of youth and music. The guitar solo in the Norah Jones penned "Come Away With Me" is superb, while "I've Got To See You Again" adds a certain mystery to the listeners ears. "Lone Star" is my favorite track on the album. It has a great combination of jazz influenced drum rhythms, laid back guitar chords and a smooth bass. This country flavored tune is done in Norah's impeccable but original style.
Norah wrote three of the songs on the album and band member Jesse Harris also wrote several of the tunes.