by The Duke

Created on: January 28, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Every now and again, an album comes along that everyone has to have or seems to own. When I was first really getting into music all those years ago, 'Brothers in Arms' was one such album and through my school days there were at least two or three more. Even afterwards, away from peer pressure, they still appeared from time to time. You know the ones - Guns and Roses' first album, 'Automatic for the People' by R.E.M. or Play by Moby to name a few were all albums owned by your friends.

'Come Away with Me' by Norah Jones is another such album, and despite being bought as a present for my parents, it's something I play myself quite often.

Norah Jones was born on 30th March 1979 and is the daughter of sitar legend Ravi Shankar. As tends to be the case for children with musical parents, she has taken up music herself and is quite an all-rounder by contributing in many ways to the album as singer, musician (piano), songwriter and producer.

It's quite a difficult album to categorise; many people instantly pick up on the jazz overtones of the music which is pretty distinctive and unsurprising given her background, but this only serves as a base on which to layer other influences.

Each of the fourteen tracks on the album instantly gives off that jazz vibe when you first listen to it, but as you pay closer attention to the music then the other aspects shine through. One song might have a country influence and feel to it, and you might feel a bit surprised at how well this jazz/country blend actually sounds until the next song which might introduce a touch of pop, blues, soul or folk to the jazz and this will sound equally as good.

With the album having quite a few different writers on board, it might be surprising to some that the album has a continuity of sound and level of consistency throughout, although when you learn that the majority of songs were contributed by Lee Alexander, Jesse Harris (both members of Norah's band) and Norah herself then this is less of a surprise. The album still manages to sound fresh through out, and despite the simplicity of the feel of the music (jazz mixed with one or two other influences), it doesn't sound formulaic.

I wouldn't go so far as to quote Sum 41 and say that Norah's album is "all killer, no filler", the entire album is of a very high standard and while I don't think there are any specific or obvious low points during the album. My own personal favourites would be 'Seven Years', title track 'Some Away with Me' and 'Shoot the Moon'.

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