Analogue Productions - AAPP 043 - 200 Gram Virgin Vinyl -
AAA 100% Analogue - Mastered By Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Pressed at QRP Quality Record Pressings
AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Gatefold, tip-on jackets on heavy cardboard stock, deluxe high quality!
"2004's 'Feels Like Home' is an album filled with melancholic songs about self-doubt and a break-up. It includes a duet with Dolly Parton. Garth Hudson adds an accordion on one track. The final song "Don't Miss You At All" brought the inner turmoil to a fine finale. The album is like peeking into a diary or in some ways hiding under Norah's bed and sharing her intimate heartache. ... The records coming out of QRP are definitely living up to the pressing plant's early promise. This kind of drop dead black quiet is precisely what's required for Jones' music and QRP delivers it. Kevin Gray's mastering is equally superb." — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet
2004's 'Feels Like Home' is an album filled with melancholic songs about self-doubt and a break-up. It includes a duet with Dolly Parton. Garth Hudson adds an accordion on one track. The final song "Don't Miss You At All" brought the inner turmoil to a fine finale.
It may be far too obvious to even mention that Norah Jones' follow-up to her 18-million-unit-selling, eight-Grammy-winning, genre-bending, super-smash album Come Away With Me has perhaps a bit too much to live up to. But that's probably the biggest conundrum for Jones: having to follow up the phenomenal success of an album that was never designed to be so hugely popular in the first place. Come Away With Me was a little album by an unknown pianist/vocalist who attempted to mix jazz, country, and folk in an acoustic setting -- who knew? Feels Like Home could be seen as "Come Away With Me Again" if not for that fact that it's actually better. Smartly following the template forged by Jones and producer Arif Mardin, there is the intimate single "Sunrise," some reworked cover tunes, some interesting originals, and one ostensible jazz standard. These are all good things, for also like its predecessor, Feels Like Home is a soft and amiable album that frames Jones' soft-focus Aretha Franklin voice with a group of songs that are as classy as they are quiet. Granted, not unlike the dippy albeit catchy hit "Don't Know Why," they often portend deep thoughts but come off in the end more like heartfelt daydreams. Of course, Jones could sing the phone book and make it sound deep, and that's what's going to keep listeners coming back.
What's surprising here are the bluesy, more jaunty songs that really dig into the country stylings only hinted at on Come Away With Me. To these ends, the infectious shuffle of "What Am I to You?" finds Jones truly coming into her own as a blues singer as well as a writer. Her voice has developed a spine-tingling breathy scratch that pulls on your ear as she rises to the chorus. Similarly, "Toes" and "Carnival Town" -- co-written by bassist Lee Alexander and Jones -- are pure '70s singer/songwriting that call to mind a mix of Rickie Lee Jones and k.d. lang. Throw in covers of Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt along with Duke Ellington's "Melancholia," retitled here "Don't Miss You at All" and featuring lyrics by Jones, and you've got an album so blessed with superb songwriting that Jones' vocals almost push the line into too much of a good thing.
Thankfully, there is also a rawness and organic soulfulness in the production that's refreshing. No digital pitch correction was employed in the studio and you can sometimes catch Jones hitting an endearingly sour note. She also seems to be making good on her stated desire to remain a part of a band. Most all of her sidemen, who've worked with the likes of Tom Waits and Cassandra Wilson, get writing credits. It's a "beauty and the beast" style partnership that harks back to the best Brill Building-style intentions and makes for a quietly experimental and well-balanced album.
Highly Recommended Sound 90% Newrecordday
Incredible recording, Incredible Mastering, Incredible Pressing. What more can you ask for? Buy this record.
Heavy Cardboard Stock Packaging featuring 'Old-School' Tip-On Gatefold Sleeves
Accordion – Garth Hudson
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Levy, Jesse Harris, Kevin Breit
Arranged By – Arif Mardin
Backing Vocals – Adam Levy, Daru Oda, Kevin Breit
Banjo – Kevin Breit
Bass – Lee Alexander
Cello – Jane Scarpantoni
Drums – Andrew Borger, Brian Blade, Levon Helm
Flute – Daru Oda
Guitar – Adam Levy, Tony Scherr
Piano – Norah Jones
Producer – Arif Mardin, Norah Jones
Vocals – Dolly Parton, Norah Jones
Side A:
1. Sunrise
2. What Am I To You?
3. Those Sweet Words
4. Carnival Town
5. In The Morning
6. Be Here To Love Me
Side B:
1. Creepin' In
2. Toes
3. Humble Me
4. Above Ground
5. The Long Way Home
6. The Prettiest Thing
7. Don't Miss You At All
ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES
AAA 100% Analogue
We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios
QUALITY RECORD PRESSINGS
Plated and Pressed at QRP the world`s Best Pressing Plant on Virgin Vinyl
UNMATCHED QC
Meticulous Test Pressing evaluation and Quality Control
DELUXE PACKAGING
Highest Quality Jackets and Rice Paper Inner Sleeves
LIMITED EDITION
Less than 1,000 Records per Stamper
Released in Limited Quantities