''Begin Again'' is a compilation album by American singer-songwriter Norah Jones, released through

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

on April 12, 2019. The collection is a compilation of singles Jones recorded from 2018 to 2019, and includes collaborations with

Jeff Tweedy Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, started his music career in high s ...

and Thomas Bartlett. Jones planned to tour Australia and the US in support of the album, before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Background and recording

Jones said of the album that she wanted to record different things, in particular songs that were "quick and fun and easy and low-pressure", including collaborations with musicians that took no more than three days in the studio. She did not want to plan ahead aside from voice memo ideas, but to "create in the moment".

Critical reception

''Begin Again'' has a score of 70 out of 100 from Metacritic based on 5 reviews. On the music blog ''

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

'' Mike Wass calls the musicians involved in the album and the final outcome "eclectic", concluding that "the resulting songs are some of the most inventive of her career." Gabriel Fine wrote in his album review for '' Consequence of Sound'' that "there is something thrillingly free about the songs on ''Begin Again.'' They resist simple categorization and are experimental in the sense that they embody an unabashed confluence of Jones’ many musical inspirations", and sees that "much of the propulsion on the record comes from Jones’ personnel, who she manages to brilliantly highlight without losing her creative reigns."Gabriel Fine's album review
on '' Consequence of Sound.''

Track listing

Personnel

*Norah Jones - vocals, piano (tracks 2-7), acoustic guitar and

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

(4),

Rhodes electric piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

and drums (5),

electric organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...

(7) *Thomas Bartlett - keyboards, piano and OP-1 synthesizer (1, 5), drum programming (5) *Jeff Tweedy - electric guitar (4, 6), acoustic guitar (4), electric bass (6) *Pete Remm -

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

(2, 3) *Christopher Thomas - bass (2, 3, 7) *

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter. Early life Blade was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first music he experienced was gospel and songs of praise at ...

- drums (2, 3, 7) *

Leon Michels Leon Marcus Michels is an American music producer, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. He ...

- tenor saxophone (3, 7) *Dave Guy - trumpet (3, 7) *Spencer Tweedy - drums (6) Technical *Thomas Bartlett - recording (1, 5) *

Patrick Dillett Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

- recording (2, 3, 7), mixing (1, 5, 7) *Andy Taub and Jens Jungkurth - recording (3) *James Yost - recording assistant (2, 3, 7) *Genevieve Nelson - recording assistant (3) *Tom Schick - recording and mixing (4, 6) *Mark Greenberg - recording assistant (4, 6) *

Homer Steinweiss Homer Steinweiss is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expression ...

- recording of horns (7) * Tom Elmhirst - mixing (2, 3) *Brandon Bost - mixing engineer (2, 3) * Chris Gehringer - mastering *Will Quinnell - mastering assistant *Frank Harkins - art direction, design *Clay Patrick McBride - photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Blue Note Records albums Norah Jones albums