Consumer Guide Album

Norah Jones: Not Too Late [Blue Note, 2007]
Greatness thrust upon her by Come Away With Me's Grammy sweep, Norah Jones maintained her modesty at all costs on 2004's Feels Like Home, with results less jazzy but duller--even duller, some would say. On the mildly adventurous Not Too Late, she writes or co-writes every song--13 in all, five more than on the first two combined. Although she may never hit upon a hook to equal Jesse Harris's on "Don't Know Why," she's quirkier lyrically than any of her helpmates, an effect magnified by the thoughtful, sweetly rounded melancholy of the voice people love. So you have to concentrate to follow the twists of Not Too Late's opening "Wish I Could." And though "My Dear Country"'s stark "On election day" will catchy you short every time, you probably won't notice Jones calling an unnamed but unmistakable George W. Bush "the one we hate" just before. These political moments contextualize Jones's calm. But lest her peace-at-all-costs legions fret, they're hardly the norm--"Thinking About You," prereleased on MP3, returns to the soldier in "Wish I Could" only if you read a whole lot into "sail across the ocean waters." [Rolling Stone: 3]