Feels Like Home

by

Norah Jones

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The latest album from Norah Jones, "Feels Like Home" shows us a different side of a singer who clearly has some diverse tastes. Where her debut "Come Away With Me" was reminiscent of Jazz singers like Billie Holiday and Rosemary Clooney, "Feels Like Home" has more of a Gillian Welch sound to it, a feeling that's only enhanced by Jones' duet with Dolly Parton on the bouncy track "Creepin' In".

But that doesn't make it any less spectacular. Jones' voice is still beautiful, her piano playing is lovely, and her backup musicians, The Handsome Band, are amazing. Fans of "Come Away" won't be disappointed, despite the change of style.

Something else that you see on "Home" that you didn't get before was more of Jones writing her own songs. Most of the tracks here are co-written, but Jones did write one track, "What Am I to you", herself. I will say that Jones is no lyrical genius, but the lyrics take a backseat to the still hauntingly beautiful instrumental work, especially on "Carnival Town", which has a nice string arrangement by the album's co-producer Arif Mardin.

So, to sum up: "Feels Like Home" is quite different from "Come Away with Me", but it's no less great. Jones maintains the casual, relaxed quality of her music, and leaves fans more than satisfied. I can't wait to see what she comes out with next. Judging from this album, she can continue experimenting with whatever style she wants, and she'll still produce a wonderful work of art.

I bought the CD retail and brought it home, inserting it in my PC to play while I worked on the Mac.

Imagine my shock and anger when I discovered that by listening to this CD on my PC using Windows Media Player I had unwittingly installed Bandlink software on my hard-drive that was now collecting and attempting to communicate information on my music listening practices to Bandlink and other commercial entities via my internet connection.

I think that kind of software's called Spyware, isn't it?

When I e-mailed Bandlink to get the uninstall tool [it isn't provided with the Norah's CD that installed it], they tried to convince me that allowing them to collect information on what I listen to was in my own interest. How George Orwell is that?

While Norah Jones continues to create and record enjoyable music apparently with great artistic integrity, both she and Bluenote should be ashamed of themselves for associating themselves with Spyware.