You’ll need a set of speakers that go to 11, but it’s worth it if only for the curiosity satisfaction: Grammy’s favorite jazzy chanteuse, Norah Jones, covering “Ocean Of Noise.” The recording floating around the web is from Ms. Jones’s 8/31 performance at Poland’s Sopot International Song Competition festival. Norah starts “We’re going to do a cover song that we’ve been doing only this week. It’s a song by a cool band called Arcade Fire. I don’t know if you know them, or like them…” Dead silence. “…but they’re nice and really good and they’re from Canada.”
Well, welcome to the party adult-contemporary/jazz fans! Arcade Fire deserve an expanding audience, and having folks like Norah cover ‘em is gonna help. She does a nice job with it, by the way; pretty reverent, but instead of Win’s whinny you’ve got Norah’s dusty, sultry croon over swelling bottleneck slide and country-jazz undertones. And the palm-muted build-up/ride-out’s beautiful.
So, like we said after the first big Neon Bible cover: Get used to it. Calexico, Foo Fighters, Norah. Who’s next? Mandy Moore, obvs. Listen to Norah’s take at Hypem.
[Pic of Norah from her set at the Delancey 5/12/06 / Pic of Arcade Fire from set at Radio City 5/9/07]
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I actually like this version. Sure, it has no meaning to it but she sounds really nice and is way better than all the AF covers out there.
the crowd weirds me out with their polite applause
Could Norah Jones BE any sweeter?
my mum loves norah jones
Nora’s a really broad artist. She’s just lucky she has a ‘side project’ that makes her millions of dollars.
The only thing Arcade Fire deserves is to go the hell away. I cannot stand them. I love Norah, though.
Other Matthew: Are you sure you’re reading the right blog?
I was there. She (they) was(were) great.
Blows away the Arcade Fire version in my opinion, but then I’m with the Other Matthew.
With Nora’s help, maybe that little band Arcade Fire can make it!
I can’t believe people hate the Arcade Fire.
Listen to their album Funeral and tell me you did not tap your foot at least once.
I hate that the recording was so quiet.
This is one of my favorite songs of the album, and it is a very appropriate cover for Norah. She makes it pretty, but takes out some of the bite. “who here among us still believes in choice?” was an exhilirating (if slightly awkward) moment in the original, whereas here she just kind of shrugs it off.
It builds very nicely for the ending section, then quickly ebbs away… like an ocean… of noise?
meh.
she is struggling to find the melody the whole time…seems like she’s meandering to me.
this show how the right songs need the right hands to pull them off. this is a big highlight of neon bible (and one of the best songs of the year), and she makes all vh1/starbucks/minivan/bad country…lame city.
great cover. i guess we can allow arcade fire to exist just so people can do good covers of their songs. other than that they do need to go away.
funeral sucked.