In the summer of 2000, before Norah Jones made the zillion-selling Come Away With Me, Peter Malick invited the then-unknown singer to record with his equally obscure blues-rock band. The release of that material now may be cynical?repeating one of the six songs to pad the ‘album’ out to a meagre 30 minutes?but the music itself is not half bad. Away from her folk-jazz setting, Jones sounds as ballsy as a young Bonnie Raitt, and her cover of Dylan’s “Heart Of Mine” is outstanding. There’s a certain snobbery towards Jones, based on nothing more than her mass popularity. Too bad, as this is further proof she’s the real deal.
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