Norah Jones - The Fall

Is Norah Jones boring? I didn't used to think so, now I'm not so sure. She recently released her fourth studio album The Fall. Whose title could be referring to the fall of man, or the autumnal season -- either way it just seems like we've heard it all before. Don't get me wrong the music isn't awful, and the quality of song-writing is still superior to most sultry bluesmen, but it just sounds too familiar. It's like eating a turkey sandwich every day for lunch; when you first have it it's awesome and then it just starts becoming habit and eventually you can predict exactly how it's going to taste no matter how you mix and match the condiments. It's still that 'ol familiar turkey sandwich. Yes, I'm saying Norah Jones is a turkey sandwich. She exploded onto the music landscape with Come Away With Me (2002) that sold millions of copies and made her a mountain of cash, and now seven years later she's still going strong. No controversy...no pop culture stories to really distract from her career...she's dabbled in acting...she's "branched out", etc.

All of this leads us back to The Fall. This is Ms. Jones mixing it up and ordering that same turkey sandwich with everything. She totally changed bands (adding an exceptional list of musicians to back her up: Jacquire King (producer for Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse, and Tom Waits) drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer), Lyle Workman, (Bourgois Tagg), and Peter Aanasoff (Rickie Lee Jones, Tito and Tarantula). Ms. Jones even tried to rock the boat with the cover art, which features a portrait by photographer Autumn de Wilde. All of these changes only makes Norah Jones sound slightly revamped, not entirely new and different. Her powerfully restrained voice is still at the forefront of every song. There are a few more up-tempo songs than people are used to, which is refreshing, but only because it's not heard as often on past albums. Now, she'll most likely go on to make numerous more albums that will all be quite good, but I'd really enjoy her stepping out of her comfort zone even more to at least try and do something really daring and exciting. Even if she fell flat, and was critically panned, at least it wouldn't be boring like eating the same turkey sandwich every day.

It's Gonna Be