By Ben Bowers
Staff Writer

If ever there was a tough act to follow, Norah Jones, after winning eight Grammies for her début album Come Away with Me (including best new album, best new artist, and best new song), found herself between a rock and a hard place as expectations and anticipation levels for her second album rose to a boiling point.

Now finally released, it is obvious that Feels like Home, though intelligent and unique, could not fill the golden shoes left behind by its Grammy-clad older sibling, and thus is destined to be remembered in the shadow of greatness.

With that verdict stated and out of the way, one mustn’t rush too quickly through the sentencing portion of the trial. Jones still sticks to her trademark formula in her new album, using light down tempo guitar and piano melodies overlaid by her soft country tinged vocals on tracks such as “Sunrise,” the cover of Tom Wait’s “The Long Way Home,” and “Creepin’ In.” The only noticeable change between her two albums involves a slight shift in influence between her former jazz-driven sound heard on Come Away with Me, to a more blues oriented sound found on Feels like Home. This change fits well on tracks such as “Carnival Town” and “The Prettiest Thing,” but sadly tends to make the album somewhat repetitive overall as much of the unique elegance of Come Away with Me’s light jazz piano has been exchanged for droning blues guitar chords.

The album however does receive some help from a variety of guest artists including Dolly Parton, Levon Helm, Jesse Harris, Robert Burger and Tony Scherr, all of whom add solidity and name recognition where Norah cannot to the blues-based tone of the album.

Though Feels like Home may not be Norah Jones’ best work to date, it is still a solid album that possesses a maturity well beyond Jones’ 25 years and shows off the variety of style she is capable of. I give the album three out of five stars and suggest that anyone interested in seeing the modern face of blues give it a try.



Respond to this article