Since her Grammy-winning debut "Come Away With Me" it seems the music world - especially the UK music world – has turned upside down. Championed by those famed tastemakers Wogan and Parkinson, Jones’ success has been replicated by a succession of young pretenders, all somehow proficient in reviving dead musical genres. Young fogeys like Jamie Cullum, Katie Melua and Michael Buble have successfully won over audiences two generations older than themselves. As a consequence Radio Two has officially ousted Radio One as "the nation’s favourite".
And major record companies have tapped into this. They’re not stupid. If the Napster generation isn’t paying for their wares then they’ll chase an older demographic that do. This could explain the current push on such contemporary styles as big band jazz. The title of Katie Melua’s chart-topping album, "Call Off The Search", could hardly be more brazen. It might easily have been sub-titled "A&R Men: Give Up! Here’s Norah Mk II".
That said, Jones’ debut was a genuine phenomenon. Seemingly bereft of marketing, it was a genuine word-of-mouth success with even the singer herself uncomfortable with her dramatic ascent to fame. Tellingly, "Feels Like Home" is credited to Norah Jones with The Handsome Band and special guests as if Jones was shy of taking top-billing.
Unsurprisingly, there is little change stylistically on this album from its predecessor, although the country influence is more overt than before. Dolly Parton guests on "Creepin’ In" and The Band’s Garth Hudson and Levon Helm drop by for a couple of tracks. Jones even attempts a yodel on "Carnival Town". Her musical palette remains a stunningly simple one – the bare bones of piano and upright bass fleshed out with the occasional light of a viola or accordion. That sumptuously honeyed voice remains at the fore.
This tried and tested combination yields mixed results. The co-penned "Sunrise" and "Toes" are instantly memorable while the closing "Don’t Miss You At All" – a re-write of Duke Ellington’s "Melancholia" – is simply beautiful, with Jones alone at the piano. But a cover of Towne Van Zandt’s "Be Here To Love Me" is a far, far cry from the original and "The Long Way Home" (donated by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan) is disappointingly bland.
Eventually you’re left longing for a dash of spontaneity or that the band would break into something adventurous. Jones’ voice is a wonderful thing but her approach is too often that of a passive observer. You wish that she'd get into a more confessional mind state and spill some blood on her tracks. When detached from her more lethargic surroundings (as she was on OutKast’s "The Love Below" and Wax Poetic’s "Nubulu Sessions") the results can be startling.
"Feels Like Home" will obviously sell millions but it probably highlights that you can be too tasteful. Someone should get the devil into Miss Jones.
