Nora Jones in concert - live at 8pm

[Martin]

Radio 2 - in stereo, 8pm tonight.............

[Milims]

Thank you for that - it was fab -we listened over supper!!

[Martin]

glad someone else enjoyed it! - really nice and mellow - superb voice, and a damn good band!

[Milims]

As Chris commented - her quality live is as good as recorded - and that takes the talent of a real musician!!!

[Martin]

am I old-fashioned, or do other people find it worthwhile listening to things like that shovelled through a decent stereo system? - the bass lines on that opening track were superbly thunderous with a few watts behind them!
(me, feel guilty about my big electricity guzzling amplifier?.........well, I don't fly! )

[Milims]

Dunno about old fashioned and lekky guzzling hifis, but I recently replaced my crappy speakers for a set of wharfdales and even my 14 year old step son commented on the difference!!

[Muddypause]

This is addressing a few things that are topical for me right now. I've just been given some proper hi-fi separates by a customer who was upgrading. I don't know anything about this lot, but even at second hand value it probably represents more money than I've ever spent on sound equipment before (and probably consumes more electricity, too).

It's certainly true that the sound quality is beyond anything I've listened to before - I've just played a CD that had stuff in the mix that I didn't know was there until now. But I am still aware that, at various stages in my life, I've had a scratchy, tinny, portable record payer that got dropped in the bath on more than one occasion (don't ask), or a hissey cassette player that only played out of one speaker, or a record player that played at a variety of speeds all at once. And yet I was still emotionally moved by the music that came from them.

But it also emphasises a problem I have with Nora Jones and her like. I don't dislike her, but I find she (amongst many others) is far too over-produced. Her albums are more an excercise in studio engineering and technique than they are in singing. It's all just too perfect, and I think it loses contact with something - it becomes another form of borg-musik. It's to do with packaging and target audiences.

I've spoken to a couple of friends about NJ recently, one of whom largely disagreed with me, and one of whom agreed - she should be someone I enjoy listening to, but somehow she just misses the spot, and becomes, dare I say it, dull and predictable.

[Martin]

- like a lovely girl with too much make up! - I still enjoyed it, but I take your point - it could be seen as over-produced! - I reckon she'd be great at a small venue "unplugged"
As to hi-fi.........it's very easy to become a geek on the subject - there are lots of people out there who actually admit to listening to the sound the system makes, rather than the music! - but there is no doubt that a good system can really bring music to life - something with some heft in it has the dynamics that can approach a live performance - I think it's worth it when the music can give you that "down the backbone tingle"
It's no good, I'll have to appease my green conscience with more home generation so I won't feel quite so guilty as the amplifier goes into afterburners and reheat !

[funkypixie]

Darn - missed it

We saw her a couple of years ago at Althorp and she was wonderful live. Very, very shy and unsure of herself when she's not actually singing though.

If you like her stuff then Amos Lee is worth checking out too.

Anna x