Norah Jones - Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Edition

by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 21 / 6 / 2022

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Edition

Label: Blue Note
Format: CD

Fantastic 20th anniversary reissue of Norah Jones' sublime surprise hit debut album. 'Come Away With Me'

Review

Despite her rich musical pedigree (as the daughter of the late Indian music maestro Ravi Shankar and top concert producer Sue Jones plus half sister of the brilliant sitar virtuoso and musical director Anoushka Shankar), when Norah Jones released what she then described as her “moody little record” 'Come Away With Me' back in 2002, expectations – including hers – were not high. The album was on the jazz label Blue Note and Jones, then just 22, was an unknown who had mainly worked around Dallas and was just trying to find her feet in New York. But this supposedly low key effort became a phenomenon. Its mellow mix of jazz, country and soul ended up selling 30 million copies and is now seen as a major classic. The record scooped eight Grammys including 'Album of the Year' and Americans found something strangely heart-warming and comforting about Norah Jones's style – especially in the wake of 2001's 9-11 terrorist attacks. 'Come Away With Me' is now released again in a range of formats to mark its 20th anniversary - and it has dated amazingly well! It is available as a single CD (£11), single vinyl LP (£28), triple CD set (£30) and limited edition quadruple vinyl LP (£158). It now has some bonus tracks and these give it an even fuller picture of a classic debut. The original album combined vintage standards and original songs that sounded like old standards. Its soulful simplicity was then – and still is – striking. Among the bonus tracks are some early versions of the album's songs that were originally abandoned by the jazz fanatics at Blue Note because they were straying too far away from Norah's usual jazzy style. But there were Bob Dylan and Tom Waits covers amongst these – and, though Blue Note failed to recognise it, this excluded material was an early pointer to the great eclectic artist Norah Jones was destined to become.

Track Listing:-

1 Don't Know Why
2 Seven Years
3 Cold Cold Heart
4 Feelin' The Same Way
5 Come Away With Me
6 Shoot The Moon
7 Turn Me On
8 Lonestar
9 I've Got To See You Again
10 Painter Song
11 One Flight Down
12 Nightingale
13 The Long Day Is Over
14 The Nearness Of You