MY VIEW
Music: 'Feels Like Home' by Norah Jones

Editor's note: If you don't have a ticket to Saturday night's sold-out Norah Jones concert at the Blaisdell Arena, the next best thing is to get your hands on one of her CDs. Here's a review of her second release.

By Jeremy Castillo
Special to The Advertiser

The Verdict: THE RATINGS 5 — Outstanding: Add it to your collection now. A must-have. 4 — Great: Buy it or rent it — definitely listen to it. 3 — Good: Worth listening to despite some flaws. 2 — Fair: Unless you're a fan of the group or singer, don't bother. 1 — Poor: Save your money (and your ears).

Release: April 20, 2004

Style: Soft rock

My take: Norah Jones has been all over the place ever since her 2001 album "Come Away With Me" exploded, selling an astounding 18 million copies and garnering eight Grammy awards.

"Feels Like Home" is Jones' follow-up to "Come Away With Me." While the pressure to match the success of an album that popular must have been enormous, she takes the duty in stride and handles it with caution and poise. She rehired Arif Mardin, the same producer who worked on her last album, and brought aboard the Handsome Band to help her continue blending folk, jazz, country and acoustic rock into one 13-song CD.

The opening track is "Sunrise," a song that's sentimental and, depending on how you approach it as a listener, sultry or innocent; the song also won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Female Performance. (She also won Grammys for her duet with the late Ray Charles in "Here We Go Again" from Charles' "Genius Loves Company.") Another great song is "What Am I to You?" in which Jones carries sensitivity and conviction in her voice and lyrics, allowing her to be vulnerable and strong at the same time. "In the Morning" is quite the opposite, wearing its heart on its sleeve and painfully describing the details of a bad breakup's fallout.

My favorite song on the CD is "Carnival Town" — one of the more ambiguous tunes here. The song lyrics read like a poem for a high-school English class but its vagueness lets listeners take away their own meaning.

Besides the tracks that Jones wrote solo or co-wrote, there is a handful of cover songs, standard of any jazz-influenced artist. These covers are "Be Here to Love Me," originally performed by Townes Van Zandt, and Tom Waits' "The Long Way Home." She also reworked Duke Ellington's "Melancholia" and retitled it "Don't Miss You At All."

One thing more-discerning listeners will be able to pick up on is the absence of studio correction methods. Because Jones is only human, she's bound to hit a sour note now and again, and because her musicians are also human, it's inevitable they'll hit a wrong chord or fret. Both things occur a few times on the album but they don't weaken its strength; in fact, they give "Feels Like Home" an even more human feel.

Norah Jones is a popular artist who by today's standards should not be popular. She isn't concerned with image or spending millions of dollars on publicity. What she is concerned with is putting out honest, poignant, quality music — and she succeeds.

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College. Have a game or CD you want to review? Reach Island Life deputy editor Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.