Predictable And Funny, Ted Helps Seth MacFarlane Make The Leap To (Almost) Live-Action Films!

The Good: Very funny, Decent acting, Excellent effects.
The Bad: Painfully predictable plot, Reused jokes.
The Basics: Ted is funny, but remarkably predictable, especially for fans of Seth MacFarlane’s wildly popular Family Guy.


When Seth MacFarlane alluded to a movie project in the opening scrawl to It’s A Trap! (reviewed here!) to a movie project he wanted to get released to pursue, I was a bit skeptical. After all, outside the three main animated projects MacFarlane has created and executive produced, the only other work of his I’d seen was Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade Of Cartoon Comedy (reviewed here!) and it was atrocious. In fact, the idea that MacFarlane could be a one-trick pony or might not be able to create sustained larger projects is not a particularly audacious one. Unfortunately, despite how entertaining Ted is, it only helps to reinforce the idea that the career of Seth MacFarlane may well have jumped the shark.

Fans of Family Guy, the very fans Seth MacFarlane is counting on to support Ted will recognize several jokes – like Ted complaining about the way pop singers sang vowels in the 1990s – from Family Guy. That there is an explicit reference to MacFarlane’s breakout animated series in the movie is similarly unfortunate, as is Seth MacFarlane voicing the title character. MacFarlane is a talented vocal actor, but the truth is he has pretty much shot his wad through Family Guy and American Dad!. With the distinctly different voices of Brian, Peter and Stewie Griffin and Quagmire coming from the same source (along with the similar voice of Carter Pewtershmidt and others), Ted might have worked better had Seth MacFarlane let someone else voice Ted.

All of that aside, Ted is a fairly innovative and fun concept for a comedy film. And Seth MacFarlane directed Ted at the right time in movie history; computer generated effects make the extraordinary premise look and feel entirely plausible. The basic premise is ridiculously simple: the main human character (John Bennett) has a sentient teddy bear (Ted) as a best friend. The film hinges entirely upon the virtual character interacting with the live-action characters absolutely seamlessly. In many ways, Ted is the film that Robert Zemeckis wanted to make with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Any other issues with the writing and characters aside, Ted is arguably the best use of a computer-generated character in years. The effects are flawless and Mark Wahlberg, who does the lion’s share of acting opposite the virtual character, performs incredibly well, interacting with Ted as if the bear was actually there. As simplistic as it might seem, the ability to act well with entities that are not present and get things like eyelines and comedic timing right is a skill that very few performers get right, but Wahlberg does!

Opening with a childhood wish, John Bennett as a child is granted a talking teddy bear who becomes a real friend who will never leave him. John reveal Ted to his parents and overnight, the talking teddy bear becomes an instant celebrity. Years later, though, Ted is just a burnout who lives with John, who struggles at the rental car place where he hopes to become manager someday. John has been in a relationship with Lori for four years and when John fails to propose to her, she gives him an ultimatum. She wants Ted to move out so they can begin their life together for real.

John tries to push Ted away, which he has a vested interest in as Lori’s boss, Rex, hits on her relentlessly, but even as Ted gets a job at a grocery store, he pulls at John to continue their symbiotic relationship. On an important date night, Ted calls John to come visit him to meet their childhood hero, Sam Jones (who played Flash Gordon). That night effectively trashes the relationship between John and Lori, but in the ensuing fall-out, John pushes Ted away. On his own, Ted falls to the mercy of a man for whom Ted was a childhood hero and when Ted is kidnapped, he desperately calls upon John and Lori to save him.

Ted is basically a long collection of drug, poop, and sex jokes delivered during a fairly uncomplicated relationship struggle. The plot is very much a typical romantic comedy plot where the romantic interest does not like the best friend. Outside the CG character, there is nothing more sophisticated to Ted than that. As such, the plot progression is painfully predictable and MacFarlane telegraphs all of his moves, from having Giovanni Ribisi’s creepy Donny showing up early in the movie and John folding up his contact information to Frank responding to Ted being aggressively honest. That does not make Ted bad, it is just unsophisticated and more obvious than it is audacious.

Seth MacFarlane assembles what would otherwise be an impressive cast for Ted. For fans of MacFarlane’s other works, this is just an assemblage of the usual suspects. Mila Kunis, Alex Borstein, John Viener, and Patrick Warburton are instantly recognizable to fans of Family Guy who have watched all the many hours of DVD bonus features from the series. In fact, Ted makes tongue-in-cheek references to doing just that by presenting a fake DVD commentary from Ted Danson for the Cheers DVD set in the film (“Are there dicks in gay porn?” has become a pretty much instantaneous catch phrase around my house since my wife and I watched the film). The less-obvious performers from Family Guy are joined by Mark Wahlberg who joins the ensemble exceptionally well. Wahlberg is funny as John and he and Mila Kunis have great on-screen chemistry as Kunis plays Lori.

Ultimately, Ted is good geek date night material, but it is not much more than entertaining. It does what it sets out to do very well, but nothing more.

For other works with Giovanni Ribisi, please check out my reviews of:
Avatar
Public Enemies
Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow
Friends
Lost In Translation

7/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Norah Jones's DVD Extra Convinces Me She's Not Too Late

The Good: Excellent voice, decent lyrics, good music, Music videos on DVD
The Bad: Much of the music still blends together, SHORT!
The Basics: Norah Jones lives up to her potential on a decent album accompanied by fun, quirky music videos and live performances.


It has recently come to my attention that there are whole legions of people who like to listen to music that they don't have to think about. As much as it baffles me, there are - apparently - hordes of people for whom listening to music is not so much an experience that is designed to inspire the imagination, please the listener or hear something that is expressed poetically to music. It seems these people judge music by how unobtrusive it is; they use it solely for background noise. Music is not so much an experience as a somewhat more voluminous white noise used to keep . . . I don't know, the voices in one's head at bay. It beats me. I don't listen to music that way.

As a result, up until now, artist Norah Jones has been something of a disappointment to me. I've never disputed that she has a great voice. I've not even ever suggested that her music is not easy to listen to. However, I recall being disappointed in her debut Come Away With Me because the songs had lyrics that were so simple as to be obvious, singsongy and unimpressive. With her sophomore album, Feels Like Home, I found the lyrics somewhat better and the music more full, but also less focused and strangely less diverse in its sound. The music was great for elevator music, but it didn't impress me as inspiring more. With Norah Jones's latest album, Not Too Late, I finally have the Norah Jones experience I've been looking for.

On Not Too Late, Jones wrote or co-wrote all thirteen tracks on the album, which clocks in at 45:23. Despite the brevity of the album, Jones added a DVD to this package that gives it some added value. Not Too Late appears to be very much Norah Jones's musical vision as she co-wrote the songs, sings primary vocals on each track and on most she plays the piano as well. On two tracks, she plays the Wurlitzer and she even gives the electric and acoustic guitars a chance with success.

This album finds Jones fairly firmly in the vocal jazz range, veering away from the ambiguous pop-rock, folksy, vocal compilations of her earlier albums. No, here she comes into her own and her alto voice is amazingly smoky and delightful to listen to. She has excellent range, though she sticks mostly in the alto range this time around. Songs like "Until The End," where she croons beautifully as a master of modulation within her pitch, remind the listener why she was considered an up and coming talent at all. Her voice is reminiscent of early Carole King and on this endeavor there is a sophistication to her abilities that comes right through.

The emphasis on Jones's voice makes her voice the primary musical instrument on this album and it is wisely produced to be front and center on each track. Never buried by the instrumentals, Jones's voice rings forth wondrously. As she opens "Not My Friend" with the soft cry out of "Help me breathe / Help me believe . . ." her voice rings bell-like over the soft piano and it is her voice that dominates and captivates the listener.

There's a freshness, a spontaneity to her voice on this album that is impossible to articulate fully. On Not Too Late, Jones's sense of timing and rhythm comes together to keep the album flowing better than on prior endeavors. The result is nothing close to the narcolepsy that her prior works may have inspired. Instead, here the vocals are sharp and distinctive.

It may be that her voice is so strong because she is so confident about what she is singing. Having co-written all of the songs, Jones is saying something that she wants to say. Most of the songs are musings on the world around the album's narrator, varying from daydreaming about a lover ("Thinking About You") to loss and a breakup ("Wake Me Up") to forcing creativity ("Little Room"). Thematically, this is a broad album and that's a plus.

Here Jones reaches a level of lyrical quality that surpasses her prior works quite easily. She writes with a level of sophistication that is anything but singsong in nature. She has a jazz artist's sense of rhythm and timing and here she has stories to tell and things to say. She beautifully articulates the state of voting when she sings ". . . fear's the only thing I saw / And three days later was clear to all / That nothing is as scary as Election Day / But the day after is darker / And darker and darker it goes / Who knows maybe the plans will change / Who knows maybe he's not deranged" ("My Dear Country"). This is a far cry from the simplicity of the lyrics from her his "Don't Know Why."

But even her obvious single efforts on this album, like "Thinking About You," are better written. Jones muses on musing and she does it wonderfully with lines like "So when you sail across the ocean waters / And you reach the other side safely / Could you smile a little smile for me / 'Cuz I'll be thinking about you" ("Thinking About You").

Moreover, the arrangement is wonderful. Jones follows the soft, sleepy song "Not My Friend" with the louder, more full-sounding "Thinking About You." The songs flow well with a sense of what works best back to back to back making the album a solid listening experience. I just find myself wishing it were longer.

The DVD makes up some for that. Featuring videos for three of the tracks, an interview with Norah Jones where she talks about the genesis of several of the songs and the music videos, the DVD is a treat for those who are glad to see Jones come into her own. Her videos for "Thinking About You" and "Sinkin' Soon" are beautifully creative and Jones seems to be having fun in the behind the scenes featurette on them. As well, there are live performances that hold up well over multiple viewings.

Not Too Late is a great album for those previously disappointed with Norah Jones and great for anyone who wants to listen to some decent piano-driven vocal jazz with a richer sound.

The best track is the politically involved "My Dear Country," the weak link is the somewhat less distinctive "Broken."

For other works by Norah Jones, please visit my reviews of:
. . .Little Broken Hearts
The Fall
Feels Like Home
Come Away With Me

7/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the music reviews I have written.

© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Norah Jones Wants To Be A Pop Star (But Does Not Commit To It) On . . . Little Broken Hearts

The Good: Moments of voice, Moments of music
The Bad: No hooks, No lyrical standouts, Much more produced than prior works, Short.
The Basics: Ultimately, the real weakness of Norah Jones’s . . . Little Broken Hearts is that, after eight listens, I neither remember nor care about any of the tracks.


One of the dangers, I believe, of being a music reviewer in the way that I am is that familiarity breeds acceptance far more than contempt when it comes to music. I listen to each album I review at least eight times. This makes it so I am not bowled over by the initial listen (like many, many, music reviewers) and I can usually pick out elements beyond the surface listen to discuss in a work. I know that this insistence on multiple listens has weakened my resolve toward loathing some works that I had initially adverse reaction to – Britney Spears’s Femme Fatale (reviewed here!) comes instantly to mind as an example for that. So, more often than not, when I listen to an album over and over and over again, I start to like it more simply because it is more familiar than a shockingly new experience.

The opposite is the case with . . . Little Broken Hearts, the latest album by Norah Jones. Actually, it might not, technically, be “the opposite.” The fundamental problem with . . . Little Broken Hearts is that it is largely indistinct and lacks any real message which, fortunately, most of Jones’s earlier endeavors have possessed. Instead, . . . Little Broken Hearts is a mostly banal pop album with one or two more jazz-centered tracks thrown in, apparently to pay tribute to the fans who bought her early works (they stand out on . . . Little Broken Hearts like disco tracks on a rap album would). Instead of breeding familiarity and acceptance, multiple listens of . . . Little Broken Hearts made the album into an auditory sludge that made me care less about Norah Jones than I have since I first heard her first radio-played single.

With a dozen tracks clocking out at 45:01, is a more collaborative Norah Jones work than some of her prior ones. The songs were co-written by Norah Jones and Brian Burton, as opposed to being a solo series of Norah Jones’s personal expressions. Uncharacteristically, there are tracks (“After The Fall,” “Travelin’ On”) where Norah Jones only sings; she plays no instruments on those songs. She more than makes up for it on other songs. On . . . Little Broken Hearts, Norah Jones plays Rhodes, guitar, piano, bass, Wurlitzer, organ, acoustic guitar . . . and electric guitar. On . . . Little Broken Hearts, Norah Jones is aiming for more of a pop-rock sound and her use of the electric guitar takes her there, though none of the songs actually have a hook or distinctive enough lyrics to land that ambition. The album is produced by Danger Mouse, so how much . . . Little Broken Hearts is actually the musical and thematic vision of Norah Jones remains something of a mystery.

Vocally, . . . Little Broken Hearts is a mostly familiar Norah Jones experience. Jones has decent range and sticks to the alto and soprano registers for the most part with a smoky style to her voice. She sings her songs with a universal slowness and deliberation that make the vocals seem much more practiced than emotive. . . . Little Broken Hearts is entirely lacking in vocal surprises. However, there are more points on . . . Little Broken Hearts where the vocals sound produced – enhanced by effects and reverb and her own backing vocals – than on her prior works. This leads to a somewhat diluted and inconsistent quality level for the vocal presentation.

The instrumental accompaniment on . . . Little Broken Hearts is similarly produced and unremarkable. “Say Goodbye” is a very basic guitar, bass, drums pop track and it foreshadows much of the album. The contrasts are stark, like “She’s 22,” which is a classic-sounding Norah Jones jazz-pop song. Despite the variety of instruments, there are no songs that have a memorable pop tune that one might find themselves humming after listening to the album.

Repetition is the word for the lyrics on . . . Little Broken Hearts. Intended to be a concept album about her own breakup, Norah Jones seems to have been bored through the writing of . . . Little Broken Hearts. More often than not, she simply repeats a line or two ad nauseam in a narcoleptic fashion – “I’m folding my hand” (“Good Morning”), “Take it back” (“Take It Back”), “Out on the road” (“Out On The Road”), and the word “happy” pops up more than nine times in the song “She’s 22.”

. . . Little Broken Hearts is hampered by particularly lame rhyme schemes. Jones seems pretty lazy with her writing when she writes “Words spoken silently, I could never understand / How breath delivers such poison to someone too weak to stand / And dust can turn into mud out on the sea / In the sea” (“Take It Back”). Far too frequently, Jones rhymes the same words with themselves on this album and that is, sadly unimaginative.

The only lyrical intrigue comes on the final song where Norah Jones describes a dream in decent visual terms. When she sings, “And the night is oh so clear / The clouds will never reappear / But the moon is out of place / And all the treesare looking strange / And feeling the warmth of your breath against my skin . Now I hope this isn’t only just a dream” (“All A Dream”), she paints a mental picture and emotional landscape well. But more often than not, the lyrics and vocals are produced to be on par with the instrumentals, which overwhelm them and make this album far less distinct in the statements Jones and Burton want to make.

. . . Little Broken Hearts is different from other Norah Jones albums. Her fans might actually be excited to hear the different direction she goes in with . . . Little Broken Hearts; but those who have a broad musical palate will find this to be very familiar in the way it sounds. It is a very typical, if somewhat unimaginative and underachieving, pop album that could have been made by any of a thousand musical artists.

The best song might be “All A Dream” and the low point is the repetitive “Miriam.”

For other works by Norah Jones, please visit my reviews of:
The Fall
Feels Like Home
Come Away With Me

3.5/10

For other music reviews, check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Soft, Without Distinction: Come Away With Me Is The Surprise Disappointment Of Norah Jones!

The Good: Great vocals, Competent piano performances
The Bad: Average lyrics, Repetitive sound, Lack of passion
The Basics: After years of waiting, I finally listened to Come Away With Me and was impressed by Norah Jones's vocals, if not her lyrics or sleepy musical accompaniment.


When I first heard Norah Jones' song "Don't Know Why" it was three months after I had been in Media Play, talking with an associate about wanting to hear new artists. He recommended Come Away With Me by Norah Jones which was on sale that week for $6.00. $6.00! He said it was the best six dollars I would ever spend on a new talent. I hemmed and hawed and bought something else that day instead. When I heard "Don't Know Why" on the radio, sounding so different from anything else on the pop-rock stations at the time, I kicked myself.

I felt like I had missed a major deal and figured at some point I would end up paying much more to get the same material. But, I waited. The album did not chart a second single, despite the Grammies it won. So, I waited. It was just recently I picked up Come Away With Me to give it a spin. The bottomline would have to be that I'm ultimately glad I did not spend the $6.00 then or the more later.

This is not to say Come Away With Me is not a good album. It is. Norah Jones has a great voice. She has a soft, smoky, sound that is easy on the ears and creates a dreamy quality that is pleasant to listen to time and again. And while the lyrics she sings are very simple ("I waited 'til I saw the sun / I don't know why I didn't come / I left you by the house of fun / I don't know why I didn't come . . .") they are easy to listen to. There's a dreamy singsong quality that evokes a smoky club late at night in Norah Jones' music.

The majority of the songs are simply Jones at her piano, creating a unified sound throughout the album. Jones is talented and competent both vocally and at the piano, even if neither the instrumental arrangements nor the vocals are terribly complicated.

And therein lies the rub of Come Away With Me. There is a pop-jazz sound on all fourteen tracks that gives the album a cohesive quality that is easy to listen to. But it is more hypnotic than intriguing, sleepy as opposed to sexy, inspiring narcolepsy more than slow dancing. The sound is different from anything in the pop-rock sphere, but it is probably passe for the jazz sphere.

The album is short, as well. While there are fourteen tracks, the average length is three minutes, making for a short listening experience. And because the songs drift from one track to another with such a similar vocal and musical sound, there is little to say as one somnambulistically journeys through this listening experience.

It's a shame to write such a review, but the truth is the album is best for falling asleep to. There is nothing as dynamic on Come Away With Me as any of Fiona Apple's songs and Apple at least writes most of her own material. Norah Jones's debut has fourteen tracks, of which she is the author or co-author of only three. So while this album reveals potential - certainly in voice - it does not live up to all it could be.

The best song is Come Away With Me, which Norah Jones wrote, the weakest track is "Painter Song," mostly because by the time the listener gets to the track, we've already heard so many similar sleepy tracks that it just feels old.

For other works by Norah Jones (or similar artists), please visit my reviews of:
The Fall
Feels Like Home
Introducing . . . Joss Stone - Joss Stone

5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Abandoning Reason For Madness...Or, At Least, Jazz For Pop: The Fall By Norah Jones.

The Good: Rich pop instrumental accompaniment, Decent-enough vocals
The Bad: Overproduced, Short, Unmemorable lyrics
The Basics: A decent pop album, The Fall is a departure from Norah Jones which takes her career into much more average territory.


Continuing with the idea that you can't please everyone, I think it's time to acknowledge two things: 1. Musical artists are not bound by any law, rule or more that demands that they must work in the musical genre we first hear them in for the length of their careers, and 2. Just because a musical artist branches out and tries to jump into a different genre does not mean their foray into that new genre will be successful for them. To wit, Norah Jones began her mainstream musical career in a pretty boring, jazz vocal niche that was repetitive, somewhat bland with the instrumental accompaniment and decidedly underproduced. But since that first album, she has been building her departure, becoming more and more produced with each album and venturing more into bluegrass and energetic country sounds while maintaining her strong vocal roots.

No more. With The Fall, Norah Jones creates a full-on pop-rock album and . . . it's good. The Fall is good, in an inoffensive and unmemorable and very typical pop way. But those who were initially drawn to Norah Jones based upon her smooth, quiet vocals and atypical sound will find nothing on here to bring them back to the album after the initial album. Only "December" sounds like Jones's prior works - though "You've Ruined Me" might not quite sound like one of her prior songs, it sounds like the natural progression of what she was singing and playing before. But those looking for something that screams "Norah Jones" and "familiar" will not find it with The Fall.

With thirteen songs taking up 45:47, The Fall is a new direction for Norah Jones, but it is arguably the direction she wants most to take. Jones wrote eight of the thirteen songs and co-wrote the other five, and she provides all of the lead vocals on the album. As well, Jones plays her piano and keyboards on almost every track. However, Norah Jones is not given any production credit on the album, but considering how involved she is in every other aspect of production on The Fall, it seems reasonable that she is happy with the musical direction for the work.

That said, the musical direction on The Fall is alarming for those used to Norah Jones being synonymous with "mellow." This album is anything but, as is evident from the first single. When one puts The Fall in, they are overwhelmed by the guitars on "Chasing Pirates" which is an unabashed rock and roll song (yes, coming from Norah Jones!) with almost no piano evident to the ear. This trend continues throughout the album with "Even Though" standing out for the presence of the dominant drumming; percussion plays a much bigger role on The Fall than on any of Norah Jones's earlier albums. The guitars are strong on "It's Gonna Be" and Jones establishes herself as an adequate pop rock star.

The problem is, there is so little superlative with The Fall that the novelty of Norah Jones performing in a pop-rock fashion quickly wears off and the listener is left with a few painful truths. The first is, this is an unremarkable pop-rock album. None of the songs stand out, so while I found "Tell Your Mama" fun and I grooved to it each time I listened to this album, I could not recall a single melody. None of the songs have a memorable tune. Second, Jones is already repeating herself on the album. "I Wouldn't Need You" sounds remarkably similar to "Even Though" and there is little real musical diversity within the album. It is very typical pop.

As for Norah Jones's vocal talents, they do manage to come through on several of the songs, though on the more energetic songs like "Even Though" and "It's Gonna Be," Jones is competing for the listener's ear with the instrumental accompaniment. Jones has a beautiful soprano voice which comes through on only a handful of tracks, most notably the moody "Light As A Feather" and "December." But while "Young Blood" stands out for the vocal quality which made Jones famous and illustrates that she can be very articulate when singing at a decent tempo, The Fall is generally devoid of interesting vocals or ones that show off Jones's full vocal range. Instead, she stays high pitched on most every song and whatever register she is in when she starts tends to be where she finishes, with few exceptions.

On the plus side, Jones does seem like she has something to sing about as she sings about love and relationships on The Fall. Her poetry is generally good with some decent imagery and she continues in her trend of presenting musical storysongs. When she sings "I'll pretend my heart's not on fire / If you steal my true love's name / Broke down subway in this city of spires / Tape your picture over his in the frame / We'll imagine we're sleeping revolvers / Shotgun wedding in a strange SoHo / Our chambers hold silvery collars / Gun down werewolves wherever we go" ("Young Blood"), the listener has a strong sense of place and time and with Jones's vocals, the ability to "see" the story in one's mind's eye comes alive. Norah Jones has a creative and wry streak to her, even if some of her songs are more mellow or depressing.

That said, Norah Jones is not a flawless lyricist and those who liked her earlier works might be disappointed when she does not grow past her earlier, simplified rhyme schemes. With her lines "December come to me / I hope I can see / You not just in dreams . . . December won't you come / Back with snow even sun / Don't say that it's done" ("December"), the listener cringes at the lyrical simplicity and the overall sense of repetition, as if Jones had to include something for her initial fan base. But those early songs, like "December" do suffer on the originality front for having very stale rhymes.

The Fall suffers more from the lyrics being unmemorable or unoriginal more than them being unrefined or just plain bad. Even when the rhymes are unmemorable, sometimes Jones creates something with a decent nerical quality. "Waiting" has her musing with singsong rhymes like "Sinking embers glow / Melting icy snow / I am waiting here, / Waiting for you to come home / And I watch them burn / When will I ever learn / If I wait it doesn't mean / You will return," but she makes it work. But between the songs about love and the songs about waiting for love, this is very much a typical Norah Jones and a very typical pop album. While it is good for what it is, most listeners will want more.

The best song is "Young Blood," the low point is the unmemorable "Back To Manhattan."

For other, similar, works, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Feels Like Home - Norah Jones
Painted Desert Serenade - Joshua Kadison
Wicked Little High - Bird York

6/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Norah Jones's Sophomore Slump Feels Like Home

The Good: Decent voice
The Bad: Dull lyrics, Nothing musically exceptional or even interesting
The Basics: While I might enjoy listening to Norah Jones singing standards in a nightclub sometime while I'm eating a fabulous dinner, Feels Like Home exhibits little native talent from her.


When I reviewed the debut album of Norah Jones, Come Away With Me, I found myself surprisingly disappointed. I love musical artists who are articulate and creative and who do their own thing. I recall finding a number of Jones's lyrics on Come Away With Me to be overly simple and that saddened me as my expectations for her as an artist were higher. Nevertheless, I found myself eager to listen to her follow-up Feels Like Home.

The simple verdict: Strike two!

With thirteen tracks, credited to "Norah Jones with The Handsome Band and Special Guests," Feels Like Home clocks in at just over 46 minutes and had its greatest success with the single "Sunrise," which opens the album. The weird, eclectic, down-home feel of the song is combined with eccentric dancing flowers in the music video and seeing that on The Tube recently was what probably made me pick up the album.

More developed musically than her debut, Feels Like Home has Norah Jones stepping away from the piano and lone woman sound. At least musically. The lyrics have the same timbre of an artist who is lazily playing her piano and singing about days gone by. The Handsome Band that backs her on this album offers a richer sound, but not much more. Musically, Jones is still backing herself with safe, reliable, predictable instrumentation to support her vocals. The new array of instruments does not push her range, does not challenge the listener and does not truly suggest that her music-writing prowess has grown.

Put another way, Feels Like Home feels like Come Away With Me, but with more instruments. The essential style has not changed beyond Jones adding increased instrumentation. So, it's not "woman at piano," but it sounds like it. It sounds as much like the "woman at piano" sound as it could with guitars, bass and drums added. It does not use those other instruments to increase the power or range of the musical sound.

Vocally, Norah Jones continues to impress. She has decent range and her vocals range from a dusty, sensual sound on "Above Ground" to the light-pop alto melody of "Sunrise." She clearly has abilities in this regard. Part of the problem listeners are likely to have with her is that her range defies the usual limitations of a pop-rock artist. So often lumped closer to jazz, Jones's vocals are her superlative ability. She has a voice like honey and a range that rivals that of artists like Fiona Apple.

The problem is, she's not singing anything fresh, new or interesting. While her vocals might be impressive, her lyrics are not. Jones wrote or co-wrote six of the thirteen tracks and her songs remain some of the least lyrically sophisticated on the album. Even her song "Sunrise," the closest to a hit the album produced degenerates into a silly refrain of "Then I say / oooo, oooo, oooo / To you." While it gives Jones a chance to illustrate her melodic voice, it does not say anything. And I'm never impressed by artists rhyming the same word with itself, so continually rhyming "sunrise" with itself if just disappointing.

But the album continues to have generally predictable lyrics that are, at best, singsong rhymes. So, for example, on "What Am I To You?," Jones writes and sings (it is one of the few songs she wrote alone on the album), "When I look in your eyes / I can feel the butterflies / I'll love you when you're blue / But tell me darlin' true / What am I to you?"

As a result, the album suffers as a somewhat silly or lazy attempt to explore love, relationships and hanging out. In fact, the best word I can come up with to describe this underachieving sophomore album is "adolescent." It just seems lyrically, thematically, and musically simplistic. There is nothing that kicks the listener and says "This is it!" I don't mean that in terms of a single, either. There is nothing on this album lyrically that suggests that Jones has something deeper to expose or say through music. There is nothing musically on this album to suggest that Jones has a musical expression that is unique, powerful or even distinctive.

As harsh as it may be to say, there's nothing on this album to suggest that Jones has any particular talent outside the ability to sing standards at her piano in some club somewhere. That's not to say she would not do that especially well, because she would. Feels Like Home, though, seems to be an argument that she has nothing truly creative or distinctive beyond that to present.

The best track is "Those Sweet Words," the weakest link is the unmemorable "Humble Me."

For other, similar female artists, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Tidal - Fiona Apple
21 - Adele
Be Ok - Ingrid Michaelson

3.5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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