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Not too interesting

Not Too Late
Not Too Late
By Norah Jones

Blue Note Records: 2007

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This review first appeared in Turbula in January 2007.

When her first album, "Come Away With Me," came out in 2002, Norah Jones' low-key, breathy sound was utterly unique and charming and quickly earned her a place on the charts. But on her third album, five years later, she's still in that same low-key, breathy groove – which is in danger of becoming a rut.

Every song on "Not Too Late" has the same super-relaxed tempo, the same languid mood. Even her protest song, "My Dear Country," can't work up a sweat. "Not Too Late" has some good songs, but nothing on the level of "Don't Know Why," her breakthrough hit from that first album. Even the single being released from the new album, "Thinking About You," is hobbled by the fact that it sounds like every other Norah Jones song.

Like Sade, the pop chanteuse of the '80s, Jones has coupled a magnficent voice and strong songwriting to an instantly identifiable sound.

But like Sade, if Jones doesn't learn to mix up her tempos, to bring something different to the table, she's going to get tuned out by listeners.