If she asked me, I would. (Come Away With Me - Norah Jones)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
Date:	20/03/04 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Soothing songs, Excellent production and sound, Amazing voice

Disadvantages: Too same-y for some, People may be put off by the 'Jazz' tag.

Every now and again, an album comes along that everyone has to have or seems to own. When I was first really getting into music "Brothers in Arms" was one such album and through school there were two or three more. Even afterwards, away from peer pressure, they still appeared from time to time. You know the ones - Guns and Roses' first album, Automatic for the People by R.E.M. or Play by Moby to name a few.

'Come Away with Me' by Norah Jones is another such album, and despite being bought as a present for my parents, it's something I play myself quite often.

Norah Jones was born on 30th March 1979 and is the daughter of sitar "legend" Ravi Shanker. As tends to be the case for children with musical parents, she has taken up music herself and is quite an all-rounder by contributing in many ways to the album as singer, piano, songwriter and producer.

It's quite a difficult album to categorise; many people instantly pick up on the jazz overtones of the music which is pretty distinctive and unsurprising given her background, but this only serves as a base on which to layer other influences.

Each of the fourteen tracks on the album instantly gives off that jazz vibe when you first listen to it, but as you pay closer attention to the music then the other aspects shine through. One song might have a country influence and feel to it, and you might feel a bit surprised at how well this jazz/country blend actually sounds until the next song which might introduce a touch of pop or blues or folk to the jazz and this will sound equally as good.

With the album having quite a few different writers on board, it might be surprising to some that the album has a continuity of sound and level of consistency throughout, although when you learn that the majority of songs were contributed by Lee Alexander, Jesse Harris (both members of Norah's band) and Norah herself then this is less of a surprise. Th
e album still manages to sound fresh through out, and despite the simplicity of the feel of the music (jazz mixed with one or two other influences), it doesn't sound formulaic.

Keeping everything together is veteran producer Arif Mardin who has previously worked with such big hitters as Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles amongst others. The production is excellent and the sound is very acoustic and almost live-sounding which is a style which suits this kind of music very well indeed. Putting the album on and sitting with your eyes closed, you'd almost swear that Norah and her band were in the room with you.

A review of the album wouldn't be complete without mentioning Norah's voice. Many people have their own interpretations of how it sounds, and it seems that they all seem to describe the same thing without actually agreeing on anything which indicates there is something in her voice that you cannot put your finger on. My personal take is that her voice is like melted chocolate with just a touch of sultry sexiness to give it a unique angle.

Overall, this is an excellent album, especially to sit down and relax to. The vocals just wash over you and the music is an excellent accompaniment to help you ease the stress away and not care about anything which has been troubling you. What I found most surprising is that, given the tempo and sound of the album, it stands up well as both an album you would listen to properly and one you would put on as background music. I tend to use it as the latter when I'm working at home, but it does get a proper airing every now and again.

While this is obviously not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it is an extremely strong album with a sound which gives off the impression that Norah Jones is a lot older or mature than she really is. The obvious advantage of it being a soothing, quiet album is also its biggest disadvantage in that the album could get very same-y for those who li
ke a bit of variety in their music.

If you are in any doubt, I'd borrow this from one of your friends first (one of them is bound to have it!), but it's an album that most people should enjoy.

Recommended if you like soothing jazz-like music and female vocalists, if not, then try before you buy!

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