Not Too Late

Norah Jones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 30, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note
• ASIN: B000KCHZK6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (373 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,338 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #74 in Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk > Singer-Songwriters

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Although the music of Norah Jones continues to blend pop, soul, folk, and country with a seasoning of jazz, her third album for Blue Note is the first where she's written (or collaborated on) all the material. Beneath the smooth surface lie darker strains on the album-opening "Wish I Could" (about a boyfriend lost to war), intimations of mortality in "The Sun Doesn't Like You," and the post-election horrors of "My Dear Country." The last seems to channel the inspiration of Brecht/Weill, while the equally bleak "Sinkin' Soon" is set to a jaunty Dixieland rag. Throughout, Jones's vocal intimacy and melodic warmth remain as disarmingly understated as ever. The soulful "Thinking of You," the countryish "Wake Me Up," and the syncopated "Be My Somebody" reflect the captivating style of her previous work. Although too much in the same midtempo mode becomes a dreamy lull, cut by cut, Jones's voice is irresistible. --Don McLeese

Product Description

Album Details

1. "Wish I Could" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitars; Julia Kent: pizzicato cello; Jeffery Ziegler: bowed cello

2. "Sinkin' Soon" (Lee Alexander-Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, piano; Daru Oda: vocals; M. Ward: vocals; Jesse Harris: guitjo; Kevin Breit: mandolin; J. Walter Hawkes: trombone; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums, slit drum, pots and pans

3. "The Sun Doesn't Like You" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, piano; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitar; Adam Levy: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums; Paul Bryan: Chamberlain keyboards

4. "Until The End" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer, piano; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitar; Adam Levy: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums; Larry Goldings: Hammond B-3 organ

5. "Not My Friend" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals; Jesse Harris: acoustic guitars; Adam Levy: backwards electric guitars; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: marimba, cymbals

6. "Thinking About You" (Norah Jones-Ilhan Ersahin): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer; Chuck Mackinnon: trumpet; Rob Suddith: tenor sax; Lee Alexander: bass; Tony Mason: drums; Devin Greenwood: Hammond B-3 organ

7. "Broken" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, electric guitar; Julia Kent: outro cellos; Lee Alexander: pizzicato, bowed basses

8. "My Dear Country" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, piano; J. Walter Hawkes: trombones; Jose Davilla: tuba; Bill McHenry: tenor sax; Larry Goldings: Hammond B-3 organ

9. "Wake Me Up" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, acoustic guitars; Lee Alexander: bass, lap steel; Andy Borger: drums

10. "Be My Somebody" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer; Richard Julian: vocals; Tony Scherr: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums; Larry Goldings: Hammond B-3 organ

11. "Little Room" (Norah Jones): Norah Jones: vocals, acoustic guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Daru Oda: whistle

12. "Rosie's Lullaby" (Norah Jones-Daru Oda): Norah Jones: vocals, Wurlitzer; Daru Oda: vocals; Adam Levy: electric guitar, vocal; Robbie McIntosh: electric guitar; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums

13. "Not Too Late" (Norah Jones-Lee Alexander): Norah Jones: vocals, piano, Mellotron; Lee Alexander: bass; Andy Borger: drums

Produced by Lee Alexander

Norah Jones Photos (by Danny Clinch)

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See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Languid and dreamy, a dash of smoky, sultry cabaret...., March 4, 2007

By 

Amskeating - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Too Late (Audio CD)

While the first two albums were dominated by covers, "Not Too Late" is all solo or co-written original material.

It's not startling, as these songs continue her pop-meets-country with a dash of smoky cabaret style. Nor is it exactly revelatory. Firstly her life, apart from the fame, has been remarkably normal and uneventful and lyrically the new material is mostly observational. ("I have a wonderful boyfriend. So how am I going to write a tortured break-up song? My life is really good and I don't want to ruin it just for a good song.").

Still, there are a few pointed lines about misplaced love and even some mild political commentary in "My Dear Country".

The album has its share of strong tracks, like the Dylanesque "Wish I Could", with its unexpected half-note elisions, or the trad-jazzy Tom Waits-like "Sinkin' Soon", or the haunting, whimsical, cello-darkened "Broken".

The mood is mostly dreamy, lazy country-rockers, quirky waltzes, a little earthy bluesiness and bits of laid-back funk, and there's even a demurely delivered anti-Bush song.

Jones's voice, always more characterful than the easy-listening tag ever implied, sometimes shifts to a strange place between Madeleine Peyroux's or Diane Krall's jazzy smokiness and the sultry, jazz/soul balladry a la Billie Holiday..

But Norah's and partner Lee Alexander's tunes need to improve if the singer isn't to retreat to covering classics again, as she almost certainly will. It's pretty music (though the sugary " Little Room" gets to tooth-twinge point), beautifully performed.
But Norah Jones has more to offer than this, and the needs of the EMI boardroom probably won't help her find it.

59 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovingly crafted and sweetly sung., March 11, 2007

By 

gizgoogmai (London, England UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Too Late (Audio CD)

Norah Jones's first two albums sold some 17 million and 10 million copies respectively, the kind of diminishing returns that even the flintiest of record company accountants can accept.

Whether that level can be sustained with "Not Too Late" remains to be seen, but the subtle changes to her style here seem like a shrewd attempt to expand artistically without disturbing her core audience, most of whom will still be in the long, deep sleep triggered by her previous albums, anyway.

That lullaby effect continues here - there's even a song called "Rosie's Lullaby" - but it's what's happening at the fringes of the record that's most interesting: things like the unusually intimate string arrangement created by The Kronos Quartet for "Broken", and the New Orleans rumba-rock undercarriage to "Be My Somebody", and its snaking slide-guitar break with the faintest of scorched edges.

There are still plenty of languid cabaret shuffles, piano ballads and neutered blues, but few are as effective as "Sinkin' Soon", where Norah's joined by the simpatico M Ward on a stalking cakewalk of banjo, piano and sleazy muted trumpet.


The highlights of this album, in my opinion , are: "Sinkin' Soon", "Be My Somebody", "Broken".

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The smooth-singing siren tiptoes toward a slightly younger demographic., March 22, 2007

By 

peterhoof (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Too Late (Audio CD)

Studio album number three from Norah Jones is sweet, beautiful, a little bit sad, a little bit happy, immaculately played and exquisitely sung in that gorgeous voice: a warm and charming collection of songs in the styles with which Jones has become associated - blues, jazz, folk, country, soul.
And it's also just a little bit dull.

You don't come to a Norah Jones album expecting visceral death-metal thrills, but even so, sometimes her music would be more satisfying if she would take us on a few more ups and downs, let her voice crackle with emotion.
The tender, soulful ballad "Until the End" would have been the perfect opportunity to do this, but the moment when she grabs hold of a phrase and runs with it: it never happens.

Still, there's plenty to admire here, not least the restrained musicianship, and the tender, timeless songs themselves, all written or co-written by Jones.
But mostly there's that voice - strikingly pure, utterly flawless.