To The Floor.
Pick up the pace all you like, but no one is keeping up with the Jones right now for the Blue Note records. The diamond 'Come Away With Me' smoky and smouldering jazz singer is taking it back to 2002 again in the parallel universe year of 2020. Seemingly coming back again and again like 'Sunrise' and those legendary, sweet and sincere, "ooh, oohs". The 'Feels Like Home' singer can be more than forgiven like everyone else for being a part of Gal Gadot's well intentioned but much maligned, socially distant John Lennon cover like our 'Sweeter', 'Inside Friend', Leon Bridges. Imagine! This wonder woman has been picking us up off the floor with her piano perfect home sessions like the 'While You Wait'/'Worth The Wait' quarantined and locked down double EP act of R&B superstar Tank concluding on this day too in ivory. And now Norah releases an album of the same name. But in a time were it doesn't seem like a Beatles yesterday since her 2016 return to 'Come Away With Me' jazz era 'Day Breaks' classic, Miss Jones has given me and you so much music over the last year and this time last calender with 'Begin Again' and the epic opening, 'My Heart Is Full' she sought a new way to release music, Drake playlist style. But if you're reading this it's too late as it appears her streaming section is full like the 'Not Too Late', 'The Fall' and 'Little Broken Hearts' classic discs. As following this she released a 'Dear Santa' EP to close out last year and decade with her Little Willie's like supergroup Puss N Boots featuring the big three of Sasha Dobson, Catherine Popper and she (and not to mention sometimes Bill Murray for 'A Very Murray Christmas'). All before reuniting with these 'Sisters' in the New Year like 'No Fools, No Fun', or we hope she does in a featuring duet with Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, 'Foreverly' too for a new album in a calendar that seemed so promising before corona hit like Jonesin' always does.
COVID-19 may have crippled our year, but this superwoman on the keys like Alicia is here to save it before the 'Harlem Nocturne' of that fellow New York singer that evokes the cobbled, brownstone streets of NYC the moment the first note is hit plays again too like Sam. Because what's the greatest calender in Jones career without a solo Norah record? And this one for it goes right back to the Peter Malick Group days like, "New York City, such a beautiful disease." All so she can help us as we are 'Tryin' To Keep It Together' like a song for the moment, right on Target bonus track that came out at the same time as the sisters of Haim's fellow quarantined anthem of 'I Know Alone' off their new 'WIMPIII' album that comes out this time next week Summer girls, for a year of women in music like the Maggie Rogers ('Heard It In A Past Life') and King Princess ('Cheap Queen') best albums of the last one. But right now it's Norah's time as the legend doesn't let up. Chasing the Springsteen's and Dylan's with her own legacy making great American songbook. It all starts with 'How I Weep' as Norah cries on the record, "Weep for the loss/And it creeps down my chin/For the heart and the hair/And the skin and the air/That swirls itself around the bare." Lyrics have never been this lamenting as she matches the ante of a full heart that began again last year at this very moment. 'Flame Twin' keeps that fire burning, whilst you will feel the yearning 'Hurts To Be Alone' all the way down to your bones or the bone cold other side of the bed this Summer, distanced from the warmth of the one you love like R.E.M.
Off one of the best albums she's ever done, Jones keeps it up with, 'Heartbroken, Day After', singing, "Heartbroken, day after/My mind is spinning/Hopelessly out of control/Heartbroken, day after/Your side is winning/And I find myself in the cold", like her heart was drenched in a fine Merlot wine. And the hurts only getting worse with age. 'Say No More' like the next traditional track, because no one makes music in the mainstream like this right now, today. "Some may run, but I won't hide/I'll take my pride with you/If we find that we lost/God might see us through", she sings on 'This Life' that could also seem like a rally cry for any group felt disregarded and disrespected in the disenfranchised, "United" States of Trump's America, "Hearts frozen/Arms open/Hands shaking/Bonds breaking." This life as we know it has a lot to answer for like this industry owes this woman a debt akin to gratitude. 'To Live' and 'I'm Alive', back-to-back keep breathing new life into this notion of devotion and one world together like the 'Chromatica' of fellow woman power pop powerhouse Lady Gaga bringing everyone together for a concert at home, live from the piano in your living room. 'Were You Watching' is haunting as much as it is asking. Whilst 'Stumble On My Way' keeps this all going with lyrics like, "Above the clouds/I found the place/Where I can be/Without a trace" and, "the sun is fading/Into white/All of the beauty/And all of your light". Pure poetry, Carole King tapestry for a text message, Snapchat snapshot world on the perfect portrait of this black and white, album artwork classic that feels like home is not too late. All the way down to the trailing dress as we dance like we don't know why. But at her most beautiful, Norah Jones saves her best for last with the beauty begins evoking, 'Heaven Above' that really touches the sky like heavenly father or Bon Iver. All before this mother brings us right back down to earth and floors us. Now we could all use a helping hand up right now. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'How I Weep', 'I'm Alive', 'Heaven Above'.
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