2008 Woodie Awards
Only background music
by Andrea Ramsay
Issue date: 2/13/07 Section: Mosaic
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Norah Jones
Bluenote Records
Rating: 2 stars
She entranced the music scene with her sultry, sexy tone when she released her first album and kept them interested with the second. But, unfortunately for Norah Jones, that voice is the only thing keeping her third album "Not Too Late" afloat.
So what went wrong with Jones' third album, the only one in which she wrote or co-wrote every song?
"Not Too Late" lacks the unforgettable lyrics of her previous two records. Lyrics such as those of "Turn Me On" or "Don't Know Why," which lodge themselves into your mind and refuse to budge. "Not Too Late" is simply missing the words to back up that irresistible voice.
It is clear, however, that Jones has attempted to add some meat to her lyrics with more self-revealing or politically-progressive songs. For example, "My Dear Country" speaks of the horrors of elections and in "Sinkin' Soon," Jones makes a reference to Bush and his failing administration by saying "We drifted from the shore / With a captain who's too proud to say / That he dropped the oar."
Yet, the monotonous mid-tempo manner in which every song was recorded makes them so indistinctive that it is hard to tell where one ends and another begins. The instrumentals are simple and forgettable, and when she begins her awkward, chummy, skip-down-a-dirt-road whistling sequence in "Little Room," it's hard not to hang your head in embarrassment.
While the simplicity of her songs have the potential to create a relaxing album fit for background music in the local coffee shop, it's not really good for anything else. There is absolutely nothing that would grab one's attention, causing him or her to look up from the Sunday paper to catch what was playing.
The lack of spark may be attributed to Jones writing or collaborating all the lyrics or that it was recorded in a home studio with producer, bassist and boyfriend Lee Alexander. Whatever it was, "Not Too Late" lacked the chemistry that propelled her other work.
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