I appear to have wandered into a Starbucks.
Come Away with Me is the debut studio album by American recording artist Norah Jones, released on February 26, 2002, by Blue Note Records. Recording sessions took place at Sorcerer Sound Studio in New York City and Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York.Come Away with Me peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200, and received Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. It was later certified Diamond by the RIAA on February 15, 2005, for shipments of over ten million copies in the United States, and has sold over 27 million copies worldwide as of 2016, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.In April 2022, Blue Note released a 20th anniversary expanded edition of Come Away with Me, with demos from the First Sessions EP, previously unreleased demos, and outtakes.
I appear to have wandered into a Starbucks.
"Come Away With Me" is just not what I desire when I seek out music. Everything is pleasant and agreeable, and it's the competent performances that carry the disc rather than any clever tricks or notable new songs/arrangements from Norah Jones & her team (although Jones' own contributions, as few as they are, were marginally above batting average compared to the rest of the tracklist's assortment of tried-and-true standards and quasi-modern traditional cuts). This album's wide success is certainly some sort of cultural barometer of its time of release, but I can't fully speak as to why it attained the reach and absurd sales numbers that it had. I'm trying real hard not to call this a Starbucks promoted CD of amiable light clap-alongs for enjoyment while waiting in line for your coffee, but I'm fairly confident there is some significant vis-a-vis going on between Norah Jones and this particular manner of minimal commitment music consumption. If you find there's nothing wrong with "just average" or have a stronger appetite for garden variety Vocal Jazz, then you may get more from this than I did. I just prefer when something consciously made to be middle-of-the-road has more bumps and snaking patterns than this ultimately does.
I used to be very harsh about this album and say it was boring middle of the road rubbish but now Iβm old I can appreciate that itβs actually really nice and relaxing.
This was fucking huge when it came out, like there had never been a singer songwriter before. It's chuffing boring.
Really silky voice, gorgeous instrumentation, at one point during the title track I saw the moon, big and gold, on my walk, and had a bit of a moment. Speaking of Glastonbury, I imagined lying in the sun early on a Sunday afternoon, as these sweet sounds floated over me from the Pyramid Stage, and it was pleasant. But, yeah, pleasant, sweet, silky, but nothing that really hit me for six. As the album went on I started thinking more about my potential scoring system than the music, which wasn't a good sign. I then started thinking the album was mostly parts that sound like music from The Sims, with parts that would fit the background to a middle class garden party. If I was planning to hand out 3s like social media references to Big Jet TV, then I would to this, but instead it gets a...
Interesting blend of jazz and pop that feels like a pioneer for modern songwriting. Steady, yet provocative.
Music for baby making!
Fantastic. I'd forgotten how good this is. Intimate and soulful. Brilliant.
Iβm in such a good mood after the Eagles lost the Super Bowl last night that not even the AOR/Starbucks-pop of Norah Jones can bring me down.
Like being stuck on a slow moving train next to a Toby jug full of warm urine that has learned how to sing
Singer/songwriter meets jazz piano for nice chill background songs
Shame this came so soon after Coldplay. Another musical blancmange of nothingness... Again it gets a 2 because it wasn't bad enough for a 1 but this just goes to demonstrate the futility of rating things on a five star scale.
I'm not saying that Norah Jones is personally responsible for the existence of the $5 cup of coffee but this album has a lot to answer for when you think about how many overpriced lattes have been served in countless mediocre cafes while it has been gently lilting in the background. My favorite aspect of this album is the opportunity it gave me to look up the definition of anodyne to ensure I would be using it properly to describe it.
This is the perfect album to listen to when it's pouring rain outside on a crisp fall afternoon while drinking tea. Feet propped on the settee and your faithful friend Nico is laying by your feet lounging as you are. You can never go wrong with Norah Jones.
Starbucks created her in a test tube.
Love this album by Grapevine, TX-bred Norah Jones. She's a north Texas treasure. We went to the same middle school, but she went to a rival high school, but that's forgiven. Such an amazing voice and fantastic musicality. These are classic tunes and amazing that she was only 21 when this was recorded. Sounds like a veteran; a natural. Great listen and so happy this is on the list. Although, this album is not included in my 2018 version of the Book. Still happy to listen to it.
Gorgeous voice. Album is platform for showcasing it. Instruments are just an afterthought. Slow melodies, light piano makes for a lullaby, soothing type of sound throughout. Standouts are "Don't Know Why" and "Come Away With Me"
This album is perfect from the second you hit play. She hits her stride on the jazzier tunes, but I can absolutely appreciate the low-key singer/songwriter tracks. Best album we have been given so far.
Fahrstuhlmusik. Gut gemacht, aber doch Fahrstuhlmusik.
Hauntingly beautiful...probably.
Itβs been a minute since I listened to this album from start to end, but I have done so many times in my life. This is also an album that I recommended to many along the way. It was a perfect soundtrack to my evening walk along the beach.
Sweet, smooth, ooey-gooey mix of pop, jazz, folk, and country. Delicious!
Sweet jazz, blues, pop fusion singing and instrument playing. Lots beautiful o guitar and piano solos and fills.
I don't think I properly appreciated this album when it came out. But now, 20 years later, I understand why Norah Jones was such a phenomenon. Listening to this album just feels so good. Like slipping into cool, clean sheets after a long day. Or like a glass of whiskey, a comfy chair, and a good book. It's such a comfortable listening experience without being boring in the least. I've got absolutely nothing negative to say about this album. What a treasure.
Talk about buttery smooth vibes! I dont typically seek out this type of music or Norah specifically, but I really enjoyed this album! Love her voice and her music!
I started off with the idea I'd hate the blandness of the songs, but I had to admit to myself that I actually enjoyed the relaxing vibe the songs bring. Her voice has a great range and the jazzy arrangements give that voice the right podium.
The album is easy to listen to. Norah Jones's voice is awesome and sweet. But the whole album is very one note. There are different styles of songs, but they are all played in the soft crooner style song at a similar tempo resulting in an album with a few shining stars in a miasma of sameness. I enjoy the songs, but other than the ones that are popular enough to get radio/advertisement play, the album is just meh. I couldn't finish the album.
Going through a really rough time right now in life and this album came at just the right time, feels like everything is gonna work out somehow after hearing this
I wish more music was like this music. Such a smooth yet balanced sound between jazz, blues, and acoustic. Listening to this, I feel like I'm personally sharing a cup of hot chocolate with Norah in a cozy cafΓ© on a snowy winter's night. I almost took away a star for personal music tastes, but then I put it back because, honestly, I don't feel there's much in this arena of music that's coming out on top.
This is the perfect late night headphones album. That voice! Lovely songs that slowly invite you to a place of peaceful joy.
This one is a little subjective, as the title song was my wedding song. So it's a well loved album already. I love Norah Jones' voice, the lovely instrumentation, and the songs are all wonderful.
Este disco es una joya: para empezar, la voz de Norah Jones ya es una garantΓa, pero encima tiene una calidad en la parte musical y en la instrumentaciΓ³n que ya quisieran muchos discos del estilo. Cortito y variado, que se va rΓ‘pido. QuizΓ‘ mi pequeΓ±o 'pero' serΓa que no hay una canciΓ³n realmente movida, por lo que es un disco ideal para una maΓ±ana de domingo, pero no para otro momento.
Love it!
Always a classic - I love the strange nostalgia of the early 2000s coffee shop vibe this album has.
absolutely gorgeous voice and songs are so soulful. lovely album and singer/songwriter
A classic!
Alltaf jafn yndisleg.
Cool
I love Norah Jones and I love this album. Her vocal performance is incredible and the music is so soothing.
A comfy blanket of an album. It wraps you up and makes you feel at home/loved. Excellent work by Norah Jones. The soft piano on 'Come Away With Me' is enchanting and uplifts her voice and the song so much. 'Painter Song' also stands out as a wonderful song on this album. They're all wonderful!
10
Incredible. A classic.
Veldig bra album!
za krΓ³tka
Come away with me my dear
This was a great way to start off the list! Jones has very fine, detailed control over her voice; I really love how sheβs able to demonstrate her range while not going overboard or getting too loud. She has a gentle, soothing voice that suits the material of her songs perfectly. It was entrancing; I like the light use of percussion, and how she wasnβt afraid to use a gentle touch when it came to the instruments to really let her voice shine through. Also, they were the perfect length. Overall, even though I usually donβt care for this type of music, I totally loved the album and will listen to this album and the rest of her music in the future.
This is a great album. This is the album that pushed me into listening to more jazz which I now love to play while I'm knee deep into working. Such a silky smooth voice. Also, I named my daughter after her :)
Yeah, so this is pleasant and entirely unmemorable. There is nothing outstanding here. Not the vocals, not the songs not the instrumentation. Bland and inoffensive. Really donβt get why this blew up so much at the time. 2.5
This takes me back to my karaoke hosting days. Many of these songs were requested. This is pleasant music to the ears. Not something I ever sit around and listen to, unless I'm hosting trivia, of course, in which case I'm being paid to listen to it while drinking myself into oblivion. This is good music for that situation. The album is ok, and she has a great voice, but it doesn't move me. I'm giving this a 3.
The definition of a 3/5. Itβs what I deem lounge music. Itβs nice for the background (especially this one). I donβt see this genre ever getting more than a 3 for me. This is as good as it gets.
Really nice voice
Favorite Tracks: Donβt Know Why Come Away With Me Turn Me On
This is a fine album. Nice easy to like songs with jazzy arrangements. Perfect background music for a dinner party with friends. 3 π
It's fine. I've heard these songs too many times, at too many weddings, at too many grocery stores.
Like, really lovely and stuff. I feel it's very much of the early 2000's which ushered in these kinds of female vocals. Anyway, I think it's just not for me. I think it's popularity at the time has done it a disservice in that it sounds like i'm watching a naff 2000's romcom whereby this is the soundtrack, or in a cafe, or something.
not really interested at all. donβt even think i listened to it all
Lovely voice. Soft jazz. Play it in the waiting room
I guess there is a cultural significance but to me it sounds like run at the mill easy listening smooth jazz. Nothing wrong with it but otherwise not amazing.
This album is incredibly pleasant. Norah Jones has a very pleasant voice (soft, intimate, smooth, and sultry, if not a little unsexy), and a pleasant band. They play pleasant arrangements; a little bit jazz, a little bit folk, and little bit country. But nothing offensive, nothing that leaps out. Nothing is too loud, or too fast (or even too slow). It's very pleasant wallpaper. I'm not surprised it sold a bazillion copies in physical media (at a time the industry was starting to collapse), because it is a hard to hate. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice cited it as "the most unjazz album [Blue Note] has ever released" (true) and criticized that "Jones's voice dominates the record" (which is a feature, not a bug. She has a lovely voice). I will concede that she edits her arrangements with impeccable taste. Everything is tastefully underplayed, no superfluous string or synthesizer overdubs, mostly just simple understated and spacious playing, beautifully recorded. The rhythms gently swing. The instrumentation sets a stage for her voice, which is rightly placed in the spotlight. Nothing outstays its welcome. No songs much over 4 minutes, and many under 3. She has the great sense not to use every minute of available capacity on a CD, and keeps the whole album to a classic and classy 45 minutes. She interprets the works of many songwriters to give all the material a consistent voice, and I she knows exactly how long to play for. But I am unlikely to choose to play this record again.
If this album was a PokΓ©mon, it would be of normal type.
Dentist office music
Do people actually listen to this pap? I mean listen. Not just put it on and ignore it because there is nothing worth listening to. It might be slightly more interesting than the street noise outside, but that's it. And people pay to listen to it? Lots of people? I worry for the human race.
I want to tank its gpa or whatever dude. i didnt listen to it but nobody really liked it so a lower number is more comical
Have always liked this
Oh my god. That was such an easy listening and beautiful album. The piano and the instrumentation are lush and her voice and interpretation lead the listener all along. Crazy to think she was 21 at the time and it is so cool to see her evolution with her career. . I know this album is not in the official book and wth, it should be. It was so big at the time and I kinda miss the early 00s. . Easy 5 out of 5!
So smooth
This is a perfect mid-00's montage album. It's fall, you watch the main character go to starbucks, then take the subway waaaaaaay out to their small cramped apartment. They have a great orange cat and friends who were tiny knitted scarves. It's a nice simple life, but they dream of more. By the end of the movie they'll realize this life is worth more than the big city could ever offer (and finally realize that their glasses-wearing friend is who they were really searching for). 5
Something that occasionally comes to my mind is a story I heard from someone I knew who knew someone who knew someone who attended a collage course with Norah Jones. The individual wanted to ask Norah out. I don't recall if he chickened out or he worked up his nerve and she gently turned him down. That's a really lame story and I'm wasting your time, but you know what's not lame and won't waste your time? This album.
This is the 163rd album Iβm rating. I don't know who this is but that name seems familiar. Adding to my Playlist - Don't Know Why, Seven Years, Cold Cold Heart, Feelin' the Same Away, Come Away with Me, Shoot the Moon, Lonestar, I've got to See You Again, Painter Song, Nightingale, The Long Day is Over, and The Nearness of You. Not Adding to my Playlist - Nothing. Seven Years - This is so basic that it makes me want to kill myself but it also has a strange allure. All in all I liked 14/14 songs. I've never been to Starbucks so that might be why I like the album.
An interesting history--one of the first documented cases of a "hit song" algorithm predicting how Don't Know Why and Come Away with Me would smash charts. Having grown up with this when Barnes and noble still smelled like coffee instead of rotting restroom, this album always reminds me of a purity jazz hasn't seen since the 2000s. This one will always have a special place in my heart. Cold, Cold Heart is a masterpiece. People who rate this 2 or less probably have never known love or still hold grudges against their exes.
Very beautiful album, I enjoy the jazzy instrumentals that are paired with the emotional vocals. This album really impressed me!
Perfect from front to back
So good! Loved this. Good Sunday morning slow wake up vibes. Definitely will be on repeat when I'm holidaying
I'm a sucker for good vocals and Norah's voice is just beautiful. This album is great, her descriptions of love and interworking's of it are descriptive and vivid, The album opens and concludes on such a sweet, loving note and the ideas and creative directions explored vary enough for none of the content to get old or bland. All-around a lovely album!
9/10
Nice
Smooth good voice, reminds me of Sade
I already own this album and it is one of my favorites.
Pesfesto para echarte un cafΓ© tranquilico
This is a favorite album of mine, so it is nice to revisit.
nice voice
Classic. Everything lands.
A favorite. I listened to this a LOT back in the day. Still holds up. Love Norah.
This is such a great album.
Her voice is beautiful
Just lovely
This is a well produced album of some wonderful songs to soothe the soul
Now THIS is the singer/songwriter jazzy shnazzy singing about relationships type music I was hoping to hear from this project. Noraβs vocals are so emotionally charged and the backing music compliments it so well
In my regular chill music rotation!
5/5
Makes me think of Dad.
Beautiful album.
One of my favorite albums.
Iβve always had a soft spot for this record since it was released, and especially given her ties to North Texas. Normally Iβd be rating down due to its length, but manβ¦hard to argue with much of this as each song really does live on its own. An excellent example of less is more, with minimalist approach to instrumentation and production which allows air, space and breath to also exist as their own instruments. All wrapped up behind the really great vocal control of Norah. Just a really great record that bridges the gap between traditional and modern. 4.75/5
I love this album. Perfect for that Saturday or Sunday morning when youβre up before everyone else and need something chill and relaxing. Donβt know why is prob one of my least favorite songs on this. Come Away With Me is one I could listen to thousands of times and never get tired. I also love the guitar solo on that song. So simple but great tone, pacing and emotion. I also accept the challenge Norah has posed to me on the 7th track. 4.5 but I gotta round this up.
C'mon
FlΓΈyel. Helgestemning.
Great as background work music
I was so excited to revisit this album. My mother played a few songs off of it fairly often when I was a child, and I forgot just how much I loved it. Norah Jones has such a lovely, soft voice. I appreciate her talent and songs even more now as an adult. Her songs are very soothing with beautiful, emotional lyrics. This is an all acoustic album, which made it all the more impressive that it kept my focus from first song to last. There's no theatrics, no exciting instruments. Just a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice singing along to the acoustic guitar and every second of it is perfection. I would listen to this album regardless of my mood and not skip a single song.
This is a beautiful, soulful album. When this was released, I remember being so blown away by her beautiful voice and stunning arrangements. She has continued making great albums through the years and she just keeps getting better.