Friday, November 8, 2019

Norah Jones - Strangers - Non-Album Tracks (2009)

I must sound like a broken record by now when it comes to Norah Jones. So I'll try to summarize my feelings as quickly as possible. Don't judge Jones by her "adult contemporary" hits and albums. She has a much more interesting alternate career with her non-album material, where she takes more risks and shows more variety. Plus, she generally applies her sultry voice to great songs written by others instead of just okay songs that she writes herself.

If you've been following my other Jones stray track album posts, this is more of the same. She does covers of songs made famous by Ray Charles, the Kinks, Wilco, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, and more. Most of the songs are bonus tracks, B-sides, or are from various artists compilations, or are duets on other artists' albums.

Three of the songs are officially unreleased, from concerts. However, the sound quality of those are high enough that I don't think you'll be able to tell from hearing which ones they are. Actually, a bunch of songs here are live versions, but I've removed the audience cheering to make them all sound like studio tracks.

Note that I made some major changes to a cover of the Ray Charles classic "What I'd Say." This version featured lead vocals from Jones, Willie Nelson, and Wynton Marsalis. That meant Jones didn't sing a big percentage of the lines. So I cut out Marsalis's vocals, but otherwise kept all the other parts. This turned the song into a more typical duet, instead of a... "three-et"?

By the way, Jones is a huge fan of Willie Nelson and his music, and he really likes her too. They've done lots of duets over the years. This is especially the case for this album, with no less than five Jones and Nelson duets!

"Skylark" is a bonus track because the sound quality wasn't quite good enough.

This album is 43 minutes long.

01 That's What I Said (Norah Jones)
02 You Are My Sunshine (Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis & Norah Jones)
03 Turn Around (Puss N Boots featuring Norah Jones)
04 Her Red Shoes (Norah Jones)
05 What'd I Say [Edit] (Willie Nelson & Norah Jones with Wynton Marsalis)
06 You Don't Know Me (Norah Jones with Wynton Marsalis)
07 Makin' Whoopee (Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis with Norah Jones)
08 Come Rain or Come Shine (Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis with Norah Jones)
09 Strangers (Norah Jones)
10 Jesus, etc. (Norah Jones)
11 Can't Stop (Norah Jones)

Skylark (Rufus Wainwright & Norah Jones)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696757/NORHJNS2009_Strangrs_atse.zip.html

The only problem in making the cover art for Norah Jones albums is which photo to use, because she looks so good in every single one! This one is from 2009.

3 comments:

  1. Paul,
    May I request a re-post for this Norah Jones listing, which no longer exists on this server.


    Let me also say how much I appreciate your blog. Although I only commented on your blog twice before, I have download many of your offerings. A lot of great listening. My three favorite offerings so far, all of which I have listened to many, many times are:
    1) Ray Davies - Sane (his solo work post-Kinks is greatly under-appreciated)
    2) Arthur Lee - That's the Way It Goes (Acoustic Songs) (When first I listened to this offering, I was put off my the subpar sound. But after a couple of listens, the sound no longer bothered me because concert was so good.)
    3) Neil Young - Dume (Probably listened to this item more than any of your listings. I think this album is on the par with Zuma, On The Beach, and other of Neil Young’s top albums of the period).

    If you do not mind my make a few suggestions for the future, here they are:
    Levon Helm (his work separate from The Band)
    Taj Mahal
    David Bromberg
    Are there any stray tracks available for these three musicians to make up new albums?


    Thank you again for you terrific blog, and I apologize for not commenting more often.

    Purcell

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just updated the link. Thanks for all the feedback. I'm surprised at your choices, but pleasantly surprised.

      As for suggestions, I'm not that into solo Levon Helm or David Bromberg. But I might do something with Taj Mahal eventually. I also might do something with the Band after Robbie Robertson left, so that's kind of like solo Levon Helm, a bit.

      Delete
  2. Paul, Thanks for the re-post. I am looking forward to future postings of the post-Robbie Robertson Band, Taj Mahal, or anything else you might come up with.

    Best regards,

    Purcell

    ReplyDelete