Real Life

Didn't think I'd like this but it was really good.

Amy Winehouse impersonates Norah Jones

This album was, simultaneously, both full of mood/vibe and completely devoid of it. A noticeable absence of rhythm presented a considerable hurdle, which the reviewer struggled and ultimately failed to overcome. The voice droned, lyrics unintelligible and vocal lines drawn out in excruciating non-smoker-fakes-it huskiness. The urge to open a beverage - an oft-trusted marker of musical enjoyment - relishing that sharp *crack* as the seal breaks, letting a little foam spray around and engaging in a brief display of conspicuous enthusiasm, became suddenly as abhorrent to the reviewer as it no doubt is to Joan when she's forced to ply her trade outside late-opening cafes - the nuanced smell of triple-malt whiskies replaced by the disgusting reek of pigswill lagers, the artiste herself at risk of the great unwashed asking her, in their infinite ignorance, about Norah Jones. A "punk" detour at some point failed to boost either my interest or the artiste's expected incoming indie cred. Simply put: while this album jazzily sneers at the audience in arrogant self-importance, in return it offers very little reward or thanks for listening. It demands respect without understanding the concept. It is, ultimately, a product of ego rather than love of craft. So I would take a squirty shit on a physical copy of this, right in front of Joan. And while doing that squirty shit, I'd say, "this is what I think of your artsy, jazzy, knockoff Norah Jones garbage". 1/5.

This was fantastic. I've know Joan As Police Woman for a long time but only a little bit, I don't think I ever properly listened to an album but this was outstanding. Great stuff.

I'm a sucker for a beautiful voice and well-crafted, interesting songs, and this certainly qualifies. Will listen again. 4 stars.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Eternal flame, The ride, I defy, Christobel, Save me, We don’t own it, Endless supply of poison

This was a pretty nice listen for a sleepy morning on a plane. I liked all of it and a few of the songs I thought were particularly good (Eternal Flame comes to mind).

Pretty nice.

This one was good. Reminded me of a more modern joni mitchell even though joni still holds up. I really liked anyone.

Nice pop/rock album an great guest performance by Anthony Hegarty.

I enjoyed this, soulful voice, pleasant songs and piano playing. Brings to mind Joan Osborne crossed with the mellow jazz and piano playing of Norah Jones.

It's pretty raw and emotional. Powerful and strangely hypnotic. There's an occasional reverb of her voice that makes you want to keep listening. Really liked the upbeat tempo of Christobel.

Enjoyable and familiar

Never heard of this before, but lovely little pop record added to my rotation.

A cool and consistent solo debut from a low-key indie legend. There’s Regina Spektor style piano ballads but a bit of that St Vincent edge on some of the full band tracks. It maybe doesn’t quite carve out its own sound, but it’s a really strong addition to that burgeoning mid-2000s scene. Save Me is a swaggering monster of a track, and the guest feature from Anohni on I Defy is another gorgeous highlight

Great

One digs the overall vibe and appreciates the calm and refined playing (e.g., horns on “Anyone” or strings on several cuts.). The shimmering strings that lead the fade out off “Feed the Light” are just lovely. “Sweet Thing” puts one in the mind of PJ Harvey’s quieter younger sibling (and “Endless Supply of Poison” sounds like PJ Harvey herself and thus feels a bit out of place here). Though one wouldn’t mind slightly more tunefulness overall, this is consistently strong and interesting and well worth knowing – thanks for sharing whoever recommended – and would certainly enhance the list proper (especially if replacing any of the heavy metal albums, say, or Alanis M).

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but I really enjoyed it! Beautiful voice and interesting songs. Normally it takes a few listens for me to fully like an album but I was instantly digging some of them. I’ll definitely be revisiting this one and checking out more of their discography.

I already liked Joan As Police Woman but didn't know very much. This was excellent! A couple of songs I really liked on it. Fun and interesting.

I was entranced by her vocals, the music was good and I will delve into this artist’s catalog

October 13, 2025 HL: title track "Feed the Light", "I Defy", "Flushed Chest", "Anyone" nice

Never heard of this artist and it’s a soothing album with smooth jazz vocals.

This didn't do a lot for me. I didn't dislike it but it's a female vocal style I'm not particularly inclined to and the whole chanteuse thing has never been a genre I favored.

This was charming and quite nice. But for me it misses that 'extra twist' that for instance Feist is able to bring to her music.

Nothing too special.

Decent enough without being exceptional

Very 3. Much drama.

Nice 90s vibe female singer songwriter album. Never really breaks beyond that for me, but I enjoyed my time.

You know this went by and I didn’t notice. Pleasant voice pleasant tunes wasn’t too long amen

Nice

This was charming in its way, and it's plenty listenable as background music. I don't know that it's memorable enough for me to want to return to it though. Fave Songs: Feed the Light, The Ride, Real Life

Jazz, pop rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Nothing blew me away, though there were nice moments, like the duet with Anohni. Solid.

Not what I was anticipating. Was completely unaware of this artist prior. It's fine, smokey, slinky jazz and RnB. Didn't really grab me, though it was pleasant enough while it was on. Favorite tracks: "I Defy", "Save Me", "Anyone"

It was alright.

Never heard of this artist before and I thought it was pretty nice. Her voice is impressive as it’s smooth and gentle. The album overall was an enjoyable listen. Will have to listen to her other albums to see how they compare but I liked this one. 6.6/10

Forgettable

Slow, soulful and generally sleep inducing. The first three particularly go nowhere and she has a very uninteresting delivery, and it isn't until The Ride that there's a glimmer of hope. There's a few musical hooks later that help I Defy, Christobel and Save Me become a bit more interesting, but it doesn't really rise much above "pleasant" for me.

Solid Sunday morning tunes. Loved "I Defy."

This was a cool one! She reminds me a bit of acts like Jenny Lewis or Laura Stevenson. Vocals and instrumentation were both engaging and enjoyable. Cool pick! 3.5/5

I liked this- it's not earthshattering but pleasant and easy-going. The songs are quite varied too - some simple singer/guitar but some with a BAND!! She does remind me of a few singers I can't quite put my finger on right now but that doesn't matter as this stands on it's own I think.

Better than I expected. Worth sticking through those ungodly boring opening 3-4 tracks, because it actually gets pretty interesting after that. Once the whole band finally chimes in is when this gets good. More of that and less of Norah Jones 2.0 singing over "piano_preset.mp3".

Great voice. Wasn't totally won over bu the songs but will relisten.

Buena voz femenina con rasgos de cantautora, sin mucha instrumentación, más allá de una simple guitarra, ritmos tranquilos y melodías un tanto similares. Un disco un poco del montón. Se escucha bien

Pleasant enough but the place that this album met me was not a happy one so I won’t have good connotations to this.

I've been meaning to check her out for a while. It's fine but nothing really that exciting. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Jazz, pop rock. Bastante rollo. No le pongo un 2, porque me ha parecido que una canción la cantaba con Anohni, cuando era Anthony and Johnsons.

Jazz, pop rock. Ni fu ni fa.

I enjoyed it.

Ganska schysst pop. Låter lite Norah Jones men inte lika bra.

Couldn’t read any kind of personality from this one at all, struggling to even recall a memorable line or chord progression. Not sure what’s meant to make this stand out from the crowd of similar artists of the time, whatever it is I’m not seeing it.

He has a melancholic voice and performance, and his songs take me to moments of introspection. They sound to me like songs someone would be playing in the background at a bar. It's a bit heavy because of its length.

Hmm. it was ok. Not my cup of tea and no songs were memorable.

Ploddy guitar pop music. Rating: 1.5 Playlist track: Christobel Date listened: 29/11/24

This felt like the British Norah Jones and made me wonder if she plays a lot in coffee shops across the UK.

Solo acts/singer-songwriter music living or dying for me based entirely on how interesting I think the backing music is. This one bounced off me.

The one thing I want from Joan As A Police Woman is that she gives me back my walking papers. Another way to say that I'm not looking forward to seeing her again... *Real Life* is not exactly a terrible album, mind you, but I really can't see what is so special about it. Adjectives such as "slinky" or "zingy" have been used by some professional reviewers to describe Joan's music, but what they're really describing here is her voice, not her compositions -- which very rarely strike me as particularly bright or memorable. "I Defy", with Anthony Hegarty (from Anthony And The Johnsons) and "Christobel" have something going on in them that could be endearing for some ears, I guess. But if the rest of the tracklist is decent, it still feels way too inert and devoid of stakes for me, ultimately. Like a Norah Jones striving to get an indie cred, or a Fiona Apple without genuine eccentricity. Refraining from giving a 1/5 mark to this thing so as not to be associated with the notorious edgelord who panned this debut at the top of this section. Yet I have to admit that if I disagree with the *manner* said edgelord eventually expressed his distaste for this album, I still see eye to eye with him as to why the latter is not a good fit for this list. Besides, edgelord or not, there must be a good reason why *no one* has written a five-star review for this record yet. Honestly, and given the first impression I have of Joan, I don't have enough time on my hands to spend time with her songs. Real life has its requirements, and some "slow growers" never really grow in you, even if you make an effort spinning them again and again. My gut feeling tells me Joan As A Police Woman is in that category for me, quite sadly... 1.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 2. 6.5/10 for more general purposes (5+1.5). Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 16 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 28 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 56 (including this one) ---- Émile ! J'ai répondu à ton message. Regarde environ 15 reviews au dessus ! Pas de nouvelle réponse de ta part, mais c'est pas un souci, je compte juste vérifier toutes les deux semaines environ. On est pas aux pièces, comme on dit sur le vieux continent

This will be a short review as I’m sat in a pub in York with my sister. I listened to this while we drove here. I didn’t mind this album, but it all kinda became part of the background rather than being something that captured my interest much. It’s ok, but a bit slow and (sorry) boring for me.

All of the subtle, mellow warmth of Amy Winehouse with the raw, dangerous power of Nora Jones. Oh, and Anthony’s rambling warblings in place of any memorable melodies.

I remember listening to Joan quite a bit about 10-15 years ago, but I don't think I'd heard this one.... My memory has me liking her a lot more back then. Hmm - wondering if I've changed, or if it's just this album because this is a drag. I recognize her style for sure but nothing grabs, nothing compels. Also Anohni's voice grates my brain more than maybe any other vocalist I can think of - not a good guest spot. I do like that lead guitar on Christobel - would really have liked more of that energy not necessarily everywhere but ffs, people who claim Radiohead is wrist-slitting-inducing, I offer up this platter. I badly need some cheer after this goodgod. 4/10 2 stars.

Yeah Joan i’m sorry but what the hell girl. I’m BORRRRDDD

I started out optimistic but it got worse with every song.

Real Life is a bit bland for what it is, more female singer-songwriter stuff that doesn't really separate itself from the pack. Occasionally it finds something good, I liked Christobel, evidently that's a popular song based on the listening numbers, but the rest could've been from any generic artist from any time over the last 40 years. 2.

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There are distinct Norah Jones flavours to this and that’s probably the most charitable that I can be. I found it most intetesting that she was Jeff Buckley’s girlfriend when he drowned. That’s a level of morose that you won’t get from more-tactful reviewers.