Track Listing

1. Chasing Pirates
2. Even Though
3. Light As A Feather
4. Young Blood
5. I Wouldn't Need You
6. Waiting
7. It's Gonna Be
8. You've Ruined Me
9. Back To Manhattan
10. Stuck
11. December
12. Tell Yer Mama
13. Man of the Hour

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3 in Music
• Released on: 2009-11-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .12 pounds

Album Description
Norah has taken a new direction on the The Fall, experimenting with different sounds and a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits and Modest Mouse. Jones enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partners Jesse Harris & Richard Julian. Musicians include drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer). The first single/video is for the album's lead track 'Chasing Pirates'.

Customer Reviews

Norah's return to rock genre? A+!
Overall Grade: A
Hilights: Chasing Pirates, Young Blood, It's Gonna Be, Man of the Hour

Since her major pop debut in 2002, Norah Jones has been fluffing our pillows and stoking the fires with her cozy hearthside tales and heartwarmingly hopeless romanticisms. At a glance one might think that the art for her latest release, "The Fall", which features our lady in a top hat and a snowy white gown sitting next to a large cuddly canine, would suggest yet another album of dessert wine pop-jazz. This is not the case. Instead, Norah sidesteps the "sweet" almost completely and heads into a more rock-based sound, for which her voice is perfectly suited. The direction is fresh and the pace is easy to settle into (with a pace set by "Chasing Pirates"). Though the album lacks a real kick-in-the-pants sort of song, it certainly delivers some of her best work to date. Expect less piano, more guitar, and the sweetest ending Norah could offer. Wonderful!

Good work from Ms Jones
This new Norah CD is being received as some kind of "beefed up" version of her music, or a "return to rock." I understand where that perspective is coming from. The songs are more rock/ roots oriented, but for me, this is not any kind of major departure from her previous stuff. First, she's still a singer-songwriter, and the observational and confessional style of song she writes (or co-writes) is still very similar to before. Second, while the tunes often have a more upfront electric guitar (one difference), otherwise they are still largely on the mellow side. A new song such as "I Wouldn't Need You," still has Norah softly crooning the lyrics over a slow tempo, with a relatively gentle backing band. Not that this is a bad thing! I would use the word "charming" to describe the singer and her music, and that's undiminished on The Fall. Compared to someone else in the roots-rock field like Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones is not someone who's going to bowl you over with her passion. It's more of a seduction than an "in your face" approach. All of that said, I've really enjoyed listening to these new songs, and I think I'll be enjoying them much more in the days to come.

4-1/2 stars -- Higher and higher
Norah Jones is one of those artists that hardly ever disappoints. I own her first three albums and enjoy them, so when I heard she had a new album coming out, there was no question I'd go and get it. Add The Fall to her string of great releases.

Unlike other reviewers, I really don't hear that much of a difference in the sound on here when compared to Norah's previous works. Sure, the bass parts are a little more evident, but they aren't overpowering. And there are plenty of introspective tracks, like "Light as a Feather", "December" and especially the two-in-a-row of "You've Ruined Me" and "Back to Manhattan". And I challenge any man to step to her after hearing "Tell Your Mama".

The only reason I knocked off half a star is because the canine ode "Man of the Hour" didn't do anything for me. But the rest of the album is great. I hope The Fall is supposed to refer to the time of the year (rather than an actual descent, as naysayers might want you to believe), but whatever the case, it's damn good. Pick it up.

Anthony Rupert