Norah Jones and John Mayer
Hey folks!!!
The poll is still happening so please, post in comments this week through the 30th about your favorite albums of the year. On December 1st, I will tabulate the results and you all will pick from the top ten albums chosen. So get to it!
Okay, the reviews for this week:
I really loved this one. Maybe the first album in a few months that I legitimately enjoyed from start to finish, not a stale song in the bunch. For this one, Norah took to the guitar instead of her piano to flesh out thirteen ballads, drenched with her honey-sucked voice. I've missed her. It's been nearly three years since her last release, Not Too Late and despite my initial reaction to that one, I have nothing but love for this one and might go as far as calling it one of my favorite releases of the year, just making it under the wire. I think what makes this so different it that the sound quality is so diverse from her quiet bedroom sound that her earlier works had. And while I enjoy the subtlety, I embrace her maturity in this one, knowing that's it coming from someplace real and honest.
I think my favorite song, which was hard to chose is Waiting. She still has the guitar as a sidekick like her piano, while her voice takes center stage. This song however seems more of the old Norah, one you can imagine sitting alone by a window, strumming on her guitar or gliding her finger over her ivory keys, waiting for her man to come. It's good to see her again too.
Choice Tracks: Waiting, Chasing Pirates, Back to Manhattan
You can't follow an album as perfect and resonate as Continuum, you just can't. And he hasn't here. I think he's going in a new direction, one that doesn't take him down the road of bubble-gum pop tunes and blues club medleys. As much as I have enjoyed them in the past, this new frontier he's approaching seems to be taking him in a different direction. The evolution of Mayer can't always be depicted by his press coverage, which is fortune, continuing to keep the separate. As for this album, I like what I hear. It's not pop and it's not blues. It's something new, dare I say it has a folk-y quality. It's more in tune with his roots as a songwriter, but it's more abrasive than his pop fanfare from earlier in the decade. Whatever it is, I'm more than willing to get behind it.
As far as a favorite, I think I like the simple song, Who Says. It's really playful, and reminds me of his first big hit, and my personal favorite, No Such Thing. It's light but still enough to make you believe that underneath all the hair gel and stardom, he's still a great songwriter. Also, I'll just say that I adore Taylor Swift and her cameo was most welcome. Yeah, yeah. I like ONE country star. Sue me.
Choice Tracks: Who Says, Friends, Lovers, or Nothing, and Perfectly Lonely.
Have a great night!!!
The poll is still happening so please, post in comments this week through the 30th about your favorite albums of the year. On December 1st, I will tabulate the results and you all will pick from the top ten albums chosen. So get to it!
Okay, the reviews for this week:
I really loved this one. Maybe the first album in a few months that I legitimately enjoyed from start to finish, not a stale song in the bunch. For this one, Norah took to the guitar instead of her piano to flesh out thirteen ballads, drenched with her honey-sucked voice. I've missed her. It's been nearly three years since her last release, Not Too Late and despite my initial reaction to that one, I have nothing but love for this one and might go as far as calling it one of my favorite releases of the year, just making it under the wire. I think what makes this so different it that the sound quality is so diverse from her quiet bedroom sound that her earlier works had. And while I enjoy the subtlety, I embrace her maturity in this one, knowing that's it coming from someplace real and honest.
I think my favorite song, which was hard to chose is Waiting. She still has the guitar as a sidekick like her piano, while her voice takes center stage. This song however seems more of the old Norah, one you can imagine sitting alone by a window, strumming on her guitar or gliding her finger over her ivory keys, waiting for her man to come. It's good to see her again too.
Choice Tracks: Waiting, Chasing Pirates, Back to Manhattan
You can't follow an album as perfect and resonate as Continuum, you just can't. And he hasn't here. I think he's going in a new direction, one that doesn't take him down the road of bubble-gum pop tunes and blues club medleys. As much as I have enjoyed them in the past, this new frontier he's approaching seems to be taking him in a different direction. The evolution of Mayer can't always be depicted by his press coverage, which is fortune, continuing to keep the separate. As for this album, I like what I hear. It's not pop and it's not blues. It's something new, dare I say it has a folk-y quality. It's more in tune with his roots as a songwriter, but it's more abrasive than his pop fanfare from earlier in the decade. Whatever it is, I'm more than willing to get behind it.
As far as a favorite, I think I like the simple song, Who Says. It's really playful, and reminds me of his first big hit, and my personal favorite, No Such Thing. It's light but still enough to make you believe that underneath all the hair gel and stardom, he's still a great songwriter. Also, I'll just say that I adore Taylor Swift and her cameo was most welcome. Yeah, yeah. I like ONE country star. Sue me.
Choice Tracks: Who Says, Friends, Lovers, or Nothing, and Perfectly Lonely.
Have a great night!!!