Come Away With Me

by

Norah Jones

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I purchased this CD shortly after it was released; it was very cheap, and after I listened to it in the store several times, I took it home. Ever since then, I have listened to it a myriad of times. Yet, I never tire of hearing her voice with her simple, yet elegant piano playing in the background.

Since her quiet release a while ago, she has steadily grown in popularity; she played on The Tonight Show and recently on a tribute to Elvis. In an interview, when someone asked her why she has so many fans, she replied, "I think my music appeals to people because of its simplicity." (paraphrased) I agree.

Although you cannot hear every song or even a whole song by listening to Amazon's excerpts, it does give you a preview of her sultry voice and jazz influences. This CD filled a void for me. She is unlike many contemporary artists; it is difficult to foist her into a genre. She does not try to emulate current great and not so great jazz or rock singers.

In a review of her music in a magazine, the reviewer critized her lack of variance in her songs. The reviewer sugested that she should have added more "upbeat" melodies. Yet, what I like about this CD is its consistant elegance and beautiful simplicity with her voice providing debth and wisdom beyond her age. This is a standout CD because she attempts to remain true to herself. She is now recognized not because of her marketing team (and style coordinator), but because of simplicity: simple talent.

I rarely would give a CD five stars, but this is at least a 4.7. I hope you enjoy her music as much as I do.

My rating of 2 stars applies to the SACD version of this record and not the CD. I consider the CD to be a 5 star recording. After carefully listening to both the two channel SACD mix and the CD stereo versions I could not discern an audible difference. I enjoyed the 5.1 mix and found the rear surround to be tasteful and subtle, not at all distracting, but, again, no significant improvement in detail except that created by spreading the sound around to five channels. A recent article on the "Stereophile" website suggests that the SACD mix in fact shares the same 16 bit lineage as the CD, which would explain why the two channel mix and the CD mix sound identical. Norah's label has cheated its customers with this one and should go back and do an actual DSD mix and replace these "CDs" for free or give us our money back. There is no reason to purchase this SACD in addition to or in lieu of the CD unless you are interested in listening to a standard resolution 5.1 mix.