Not Too Late

Norah Jones

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 30, 2007)
• Original Release Date: January 30, 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000KRN07S
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,417 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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

Deluxe DVD content includes:

1. "Thinking About You" (Music Video)

2. "Until The End" (Music Video)

3. "Sinkin' Soon" (Music Video)

4. Interview with Norah

5. "Thinking About You" (behind the scenes at the video shoot)

6. "Sinkin' Soon" (behind the scenes at the video shoot)

PLUS two live bonus tracks from Rehearsals.com filmed in Burbank, CA, in November 2006.

Norah Jones Photos (by Danny Clinch)

More from Norah Jones

Come Away with Me

Feels Like Home

The Little Willies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Mere Grammy Guzzler, March 13, 2007

By	Rudy Palma "The Writing Fiend" (NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Like her 2004 sophomore effort, "Feels Like Home," Norah Jones' latest maintains the sound that brought her national acclaim while still furthering her artistic endeavors.

"Not Too Late" proves she is not given to relying on a cash- cow formula; she not only continues to add inflections of country like last time around, but she eschews the American songbook in favor of a uniformly original array of songs -- all of which she co-wrote. This aids the record's warm, intimate atmosphere, which glimmers and glows despite the absence of the late legendary producer, Arif Mardin.

The slinky blues of "Thinking About You" is the ideal lead single. With its plaintive melody, organic jazz horns and restrained yet expressive vocals, it is musical chocolate cake. "Sinkin' Soon," meanwhile, is the most perplexing track. With its curious lyrics ("Like the oyster crack in the stew/The honey in the tea/Like the wheel of cheese high in the sky/We're gonna be sinkin' soon), the song sways and jerks with Jesse Harris (writer of her monster hit "Don't Know Why") on banjo and drummer Andy Borger working pots and pans. It continues the theme of fame's fickle nature that began with "Carnival Town" on her last LP.

In spite of her popularity with white collar right-wingers, Jones is not afraid to infuse her music with passionate liberal beliefs. With its lush, nervous mix of pianos and guitars, "Wish I Could" is the story of a lonely war widow and even lonelier other woman ("She says love in the time of war's not fair/He was my man but they didn't care/I don't tell her that I once loved you too"), while "Broken" finds a soldier irrevocably hardened by war ("He's got blood on his shoes and mud on his brim/Did he do it to himself or was it done to him?").

"My Dear Country," with a cabaretlike interlude, waxes on a terrifying election and a "deranged" politician without naming names:

"I cherish you my dear country/I love all the things that you've given me/And most of all that I am free/To have a song that I can sing/On election day."

The soothing "Wake Me Up" appropriately follows with its resigned, world-weary attitude, bringing in sounds of the heartland that continue in "Rosie's Lullaby" and the fun-loving "Be My Somebody," the latter marked by cheeky lyrics: "Last night was a record to be broken/It broke all over the kitchen floor."

"Little Room" attempts to shed her fuddy-duddy image with sexual undertones, while "Not My Friend" finds her safe in her own company -- not content to maintain a relationship with someone who wishes her unhappiness.

"The Sun Doesn't Like You" and "Until the End" are full of grace and character, and "Not Too Late" closes the disc with spare piano/vocal simplicity. Its optimistic message provides a perfect conclusion and its overwhelmingly pristine melody makes it an instant classic.

If "Come Away With Me" was rich, delicious comfort food, "Not Too Late" is more complex and sophisticated. Making artistic leaps and bounds, Jones proves that she is not a Grammy guzzler laughing all the way to the bank -- she is an artist's artist.

This limited-edition version contains a DVD jam-packed with goodies, most notably the eye-popping video for "Sinkin' Soon," while iTunes has an exclusive alternate version of the aforementioned track available.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Norah In General, March 16, 2007

By	D. Ohnemus (Soldotna, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album is another solid performance from one of my favorites.
I have listened to it many many times and I like it better as listen to it more. Once again we have the voice and the piano. There are a few new moves she shows us but nothing heart stopping.
At the end of the day I don't think most of us care what she sings frankly, her voice is addicting and is like a drug to us. Oh you say you wish she would sing something different and stretch her talent and grow and yada yada but most of us would listen to her no matter what she sings because you become so addicted to the voice and sound that it doesn't really matter if she is singing an old country song like Cold Cold Heart, an early rockabilly like Love Me (from the Little Willies) a Bob Dylan number or somthing of her own composition. In the end it is just the soothing that we want and that is what she does. Her music is sometimes interesting, sometimes a little boring but always soothing. Even if she is talking about a broken heart and lost love she is making us feel like with her voice to hang on to we can make it.
So I love her and listen to whatever she puts out. I am not enough of a music expert to judge her artistically, I like what I like and if it sounds good to me I say it is good. Norah..you are as good as it gets.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love the CD..but the DVD wasn't worth it., February 18, 2007

By	Sarah "Shopping Addict" (MN) - See all my reviews

I love the CD. It's one of my new favorites! However, I paid extra to get the DVD and I wished I hadn't. It's nothing too exciting. Has some music videos and interviews, but not worth the extra money.