The 45th Annual Grammy Awards....Norah cleans up!

Ah, yes, a friend of mine recently bought her CD, mostly for the hit song.

When he played it for me I thought it was pretty cool.

I did find the melody of the phrase, "don't know why I didn't come" to be the same as, "I believe in Yesterday" except for two notes.

Still, it's a nice song.

 

One of the best Grammys in years. Good for Nora! They really downplayed the screamfests of years past. The Bros. Gibb on stage really was the most moving moment for me. Barry is still incredibly suave!

 

I have a New York friend who months before her Blue Note album came out was raving all about Norah. He saw her shows and bought her self-distributed CD at these N.Y. shows. When the "Come Away With Me" CD finally arrived, I was excited, which sadly and quickly turned to the "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" ing that Ben mentioned!

I feel that "Come Away With Me" is a great late-night, 2 'o clock in the morning album...the PROBLEM for me with it is...that's when I'm sleeping!!!

With Norah I also have to ask "WHY HER"??? There must be a million lounge acts that are as equally good as Norah, but they don't ever get the chance to get this kind of exposure!

Bottom Line: Looking at the rest of the talent on last nights Grammy Awards, just HOW hard was it to give cute little Norah 5 awards??? She was the only person that was guaranteed not to curse on National live T.V.!

One final note to any Radio folks here...PLEASE give that tired-ass song "Don't Know Why" a break on your playlists! I'd hate to see Norah with all of these Grammys ending up as a one-hit wonder!

Chris C

 

I believe I can say, "I told you so (everyone)! I predicted that Norah would go on to accomplish some wonderful things, 52 weeks ago; and I was right! Bruce's is good, but I thought that Norah would shine, because as so many people are discovering out that a lot of the 'quieter' music really makes the most noise, especially in this day and age when there is so much noise that is being passed for music
Also another prediction, that the Chicks would win. I have said time and time again, that these 2 albums would have tremendously long legs, and they will

 

That John Mayor guy is incredibly mature for sixteen. His voice was low gravely, not what one would expect from a sixteen year old. He also plays a heck of an acoustic guitar.

That being said, I would have voted for JT.

 

If anything, I would think the "social security" voters would vote for Bruce Springsteen, boomer rock icon with Big Statement album, over Norah Jones, newcomer with self-described "moody little album." And Jones did win for Pop, while Diana Krall, who doesn't exactly suffer from poor marketing herself, won for Jazz.

I think COME AWAY WITH ME is a better album than RISING. I haven't been able to get into any of Springsteen's albums since TUNNEL OF LOVE, unless you count the BORN IN THE USA outtakes on TRACKS. Since TUNNEL, his albums have been well-intentioned and respectable, but not all that enjoyable. They sound forced, especially TOM JOAD and some of the tracks on RISING.

Working in a college bookstore that sells CDs, I can tell you that Norah Jones is not hype. When I played my copy over the store system, students immediately asked who it was. In ten-plus years I can't remember another album generating so many inquiries! I don't think any amount of marketing can get young people to listen to piano-trio-with-vocals if they don't connect with the singer. COME AWAY WITH ME was our store's number two album of the year, behind Eminem.

 

Time to check out what Norah Jones is all about.

 

OK, I'll weigh in on this:

Ron Stone, you are da man!! You wrote my thoughts verbatim. Tunnel Of Love was my last favourite Springsteen album (though Lucky Town and Human Touch had a few songs from each that weren't bad). I just find him too boring (ironically, I listen to him these days and go zzzzzzzzzzzz). The Rising probably has some great meaning that I can't fully appreciate because I don't live in New York City, perhaps?? Sure he's not a nostagia act like the Stones, but maybe I'm not an old enough boomer to appreciate him (I just turned 38).

Norah actually did curse, if you consider "****" to be a cuss word. They barely bleeped it out. Eminem's swearing in his rap was bleeped out on the east coast feed for whoever asked (I was watching the NYC feed on satellite). Mike was correct about the Ravi Shankar relationship. My wife's uncle grew up and went to school with Ravi Shankar and now sort of acts as his assistant on tours. He had never mentioned Norah before, though we've met Anoushka (Ravi's other daughter, by marriage). The uncle and Ravi have some great stories and pictures concerning George Harrison, but that's for another thread.

I don't see the big deal about Fred Durst and Sheryl Crow (I don't have a strong opinion on the war either way, and I live in Canada). In fact President Bush himself handled the whole thing quite well last week in response to the protests. He didn't seem any less determined one iota and respected people's right to voice their opinions. Plus, movie stars and singers are generally more liberal in their thinking, so no big surprise.

But most of all, the UN Inspections Team needs to find out where Gwen Stefani is hiding her boobs .......

Cliff

 

Diana Krall is the new squeeze of Elvis Costello. Last year at the Junos (Canadian Grammys), she thanked her fiance and they showed him beaming. Likewise, Elvis had just left his wife of long standing. Next thing you know, they both had the "Look Of Love" for each other. I think they'll get married in Las Vegas with Burt Bacharach ministering the ceremony (they're both close to Burt).

Cliff

 

Norah Jones has a great vocal, but very vanilla -- perfect Grammy selection. "The Rising," with slide guitar was excellent. The Bee Gees acceptance speech was very poignant, but N'Sync performing their songs? My God, that was disgusting!

So is Alicia Keys full of attitude now? I enjoyed Coldplay's performance of, "Politik." Simon and Garfunkel were very staid, but nice song selection. What can you say about Faith Hill but

 

Norah's material is pleasant enough, but I just don't get the huge accolades. But I'm not into the whole "female pop/jazz lounge singer" thing, so I guess I'm not the target market.

I thought Nelly's "wall of flame" was extremely tasteless. I cringed every time they set it off. Some respect for the very recently dead, please? Not to mention his performance was atrocious.

Eminem backed by the Roots was actually pretty good -- amazing what live musicians can do for a rap performance. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but a real band adds so much.

I actually liked the N'Sync a capella "Stayin' Alive." It worked for me.

I'm not a fan of Bush foreign policy, but Fred Durst is a blockhead.

The Strummer tribute rocked. Highlight of the show for me.

Simon and Garfunkel's singing sounded very strained to me. Always nice to see them perform together, though.

Poor Bonnie Raitt could barely reach the mike standing next to Aretha! Aretha and Harvey Fierstein together would have been something to behold. Aretha's six seconds of throwaway ad lib singing was better than Nelly's entire song, though.

Ryan

 

So, Ben, just go to ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.


She's clearly not a pure jazz singer at all, and one could easily quibble over the lack of varied pacing in her first release, but her voice has has an allure to it that's undeniable. Can she be more expressive? Can her music have more range and dynamics? Would have to assume the next one will tell. But for anyone looking for something on the charts that's beyond teeny-pop and mindless rap (and Emenim & the Roots among others are way beyond that), she's a breath of fresh air.

doug

p.s. Oh yeah, who's b-104?

 

He's not sixteen, he just commented how he felt like a sixteen year old kid in the moment.


Frankly, I think Norah Jones deserved most of the awards she won based on the competition she was up against, but I don't agree with that 'Album of the Year' award. No, I don't think Bruce should have won it either. The Rising, IMHO, was a good album, but too disjointed to be great and it's rather vague and self-conscious references to 9/11 make it fall short in that regard as far as I'm concerned. Who do I think should have won 'Album of the Year'? The Dixie Chicks. Home was/is a record filled with strong musicianship (the Chicks can pick!), great songs written by the Chicks themselves as well as excellent covers ('Landslide', 'Truth No. 2', Travelin' Soldier') and, despite it's huge crossover appeal was really a traditional, acoustic, Bluegrass album - they got back to their roots and abandoned (for now anyway) that crossover pop-country non-sense they were doing on their first two albums. I would also have to say that, since this is The Grammys after all (and we know how they value sales over quality) that they probably outsold everyone else they were up against, so they were given 'Best Country Album' as a consolation prize, though they deserved that one too. Now that I've said my piece on that ....

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the award show this year. I'd given The Grammys up for dead for quite a few years now and haven't even bothered to watch it based on the nominations and performers, but this year was different. I enjoyed many of the performances (Coldplay, Simon & Garfunkel, Norah Jones, The Dixie Chicks, Bruce, Vanessa Carlton (though her voice wasn't too good) and the NY Philharmonic) and the sound was excellent - way above the last MTV 2002 Video Awards show. That MTV show had one of the most miserable sound mixes and horrible pictures I've ever seen for a live musical event. What kind of morons do they have working for them? A bunch of 18 year old amateur sound engineers? Some of the winners were so predictable though, but at least there were quality artists (and by that I mean people who actually play instruments, write songs and perform and/or produce their own stuff and not a bunch of over-produced, non-talented image mongers who's success is based solely on looks, a team of song writers, engineers and producers and perhaps the ability to carry a tune or rhyme) winning.

 

The fact that many skirt around is that Norah is really hot, and she isn't averse to wearing flimsy spaghetti-strap blouses in her promotional photographs. To some degree, Blue Note is playing the same game with Norah that Britney's label plays with Britney. Sex sells.

If one out of a hundred purchasers of Norah's album gets turned on to Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra for the first time, I suppose her success is a "good thing." At least she kept Bruce "I'm going to cash in on September 11 with a tuneless album" Springsteen from winning any awards. I have to agree with the naysayers, though, that her album teeters on the brink of easy-listening cocktail jazz.

In a better world, the Grammy for album of the year would have been a battle between:

Wilco: Yankee: Hotel Foxtrot
Missy Elliot: Under Construction (may have been released too recently to qualify)
Pet Shop Boys: Please
The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Dixie Chicks: Home

 

Hmmm, I did not know that. Sounds like the industry is up to their old tricks again...

There is another very young pianist singer, Vanessa Carlson, that the industry is trying to push in the same way these days. Her music is inoffensive and she sounds like Lisa Loeb. Her hit is "A Thousand Miles".

 

The whole sex sells jazz can go both ways. When Diana Krall went for the sex look with the Look Of Love album, many fans crucified her for it. I was already a fan but looking at the SACD packaging, I can see the selling points!! Actually, my wife loves the way I sing "Look of Love" Krall-style with the whole teeth thing.

Anyway, my totally unbiased opinion is that Norah is half-Indian (from the Bengal region just like me), so yes, she deserves all the awards and accolades. And Ravi was pushing 60 when he conceived her ..... man, my sitar gently weeps!!

Cliff

 

Actually, her music sounds more like Litle Earthquakes era Tori Amos, but, alas, her voice is not up to the task. She's okay though, but nothing groundbreaking.

 

I would drop the Missy Elliot and Pet Shop Boys from that list and add Beck Sea Change and Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head.

But, on another note, I think it highly unfair to compare Norah Jones to Britney Spears. You may not like her music or her approach, but you cannot deny her musicianship. Norah Jones is a real musician who writes real songs and plays a real piano and Britney Spears is a barely clad image monger who couldn't carry a note in a paper bag, but she sure is hot.

 

I agree that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot should have been given accolade more in the Grammys.

About Norah, I feel she:

1. Did a wonderful job, and as far as a young, piano player and singer gives a wonderful performance to great arrangements. The music, I felt, was more than average.

2. Her style and sexyness, I feel, is unintentional. She's actually less of a show-off than Tori Amos, in which she is concentrated on a style and mild attitude. She could wear sweatpants and a tee, and it would not matter to me one bit.

3. More of this, please. Less of the artists who's artistic sensibility have to depend on shallow (or not so creative) means of entertainment. No backing tracks, no phony musicianship. The real thing. Please. Now. Artists who can play an instrument they're proficiant with is a heck of a lot more appealing to me than another big breasted or muscular prowess with a lot of shouting and hand gestures. What makes Puff P. Diddy so rich? Really? I can't say.

Agril Levine (sp wrong?) wrote all her own songs, and her album was pretty good. I also notice she plays guitar.

At least tow your own line when you sing it.

 

I did NOT know that. And he always spoke so fondly of his "beloved Kate" in liner notes. He also co-wrote with his Ex a lot.
Ah well, nothing lasts I guess.

No wonder his last album was so angry-ish.
Dan C

 

That's 'Avril Lavigne', and, yes she did write her own songs and play some guitar (which she didn't do last night) but I'm not so sure how much of her sound is her own or the product of her record company/producer/backing band. She just sounds too radio ready and manufactured for my tastes, but hey, at least she's still a real musician.

 

Whiskey Man,

Well, in a better world, Hoffman would remaster everything he wanted, we'd all get free copies and then do a two hour show awarding artists we deem deserving.

The comment about 1 in 10 Norah Jones fans maybe buying Fitzgerald or Sinatra (thus, her undeserved success serving some purpose) reminds me of how the Blues Brothers were just doin' their part to turn people on to "da blooze." Yeah, right--like anybody that didn't recognize the Blues Brothers for a weak clone of the real thing would run out the next day and buy the Hooker catalog.

Norah Jones is a young woman with talent, good looks and a brain who has the potential to accomplish a lot; she made a good first album over a year ago that has, through touring, promotion, radio appearances and HARD WORK, broken through to a level no one could have predicted. IF (BIG IF) there are a million more of her out there working cocktail lounges, then let's go get them and start a record label!

I think given her writing, playing and singing talents (and the fact that neither she or Diana Krall or gonna turn up old and ugly anytime soon), she has a very good chance of being more than a one-night hero flash in the pan.

She's not going to make all her naysayers happy (and she'll certainly suffer more backlash as the effects of last night take hold), but let's give her credit for what she's acoomplished. She's NOT a puppet for her label and handlers!

doug