I had read a lot of stuff about Norah when her disc came out. The NY Times was big on pushing her. She was the anti-Britney, a real musician, singing real songs, etc etc. So I got the disc and played it in my car, on the way home from somewhere, and I hear this little whispery voice singing this slow lethargic song. And then another one. And another. And another. And I was so pissed I wanted to slap her and say -- "SING for chrissake! Stop this feathery mumbling and SING godammit!" Anyway, I got rid of the CD.
Can't there be some kind of middle ground in singerdom these days, between the warbling screech of the Mariah-clones and the little girl whispers of a Norah Jones? I guess Norah is the American Idol pendulum swinging the other way -- but why be so boring? My two favorite Jonivocals are on S&L. Amelia and Hejira. In particular, Amelia. "...until you get there yourself, you never realllllly know...While some have found their paradise, others just come to haaaarm...on beautiful fooooooolish arms...I crashed into his arrrrrrrmmmmmsss....straaaaange pillows of my wanderlust...geometric farrrmms." The way she treats these lines is the absolute best. In fact, the sequence of Amelia, Pat's Solo and Hejira is probably one of my all time favorite 20 minutes in all of pop music. bruce
