The Secret Sun

by Blue Thumb

$18.98
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Average Rating: * * * * half star
Sales Rank:93360 (lower is better)
Price Used:$0.01
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Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Release Date:2003-05-20
Label:Blue Thumb
UPC:044007613825
Binding:Audio CD
Published By:Blue Thumb
ASIN:B00008Y4KL
Category:Music

Tracks on The Secret Sun by Blue Thumb

  1. Just a Photograph
  2. The Secret Sun
  3. Long Way from Home
  4. All My Life
  5. What Makes You
  6. How?
  7. You Were on My Mind
  8. If You Won't
  9. The Other Road
  10. The Midnight Bell
  11. Roberta - Jesse Harris, Traditional
  12. You, The Queen

Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions

Amazon.com

Jesse Harris will probably always be best known as Norah Jones's favorite songwriter—he wrote five songs on Come Away With Me, including "Don’t Know Why"--but he’s also an able recording artist himself. Many of the 12 songs on his fourth album with the Fernandos, The Secret Sun, are built on a foundation of acoustic guitar--his and that of ex-Lounge Lizard Tony Scherr (who also plays electric guitar throughout). These two are abetted by a particularly supple rhythm section--bassist Tim Luntzel and Kenny Wollesen (Tom Waits, Bill Frisell). Similar to Jones's work, there's an understated elegance to these songs, and the band is clearly comfortable with bluesy pop, country rock, singer-songwriter ballads, and even traditional folk (the album's one cover, "Roberta"). Jones appears on one song, the duet "What Makes You," but it’s not even the best song here. That honor could go to the pre-rock classic pop grace of "How?" an intricate guitar-and-marimba workout "The Midnight Bell," or the album-closing stunner, "You, the Queen," a jazzy love song full of longing, regret, and hope. Clearly, Harris doesn’t have a voice that comes close to matching Jones's, but The Secret Sun is full of good songs played tastefully--a combination that deserves to be applauded. --Keith Moerer

Customer Reviews

Smooth,Sunday morning music - Reviewed on 2008-04-13
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This album, and Jesse Harris in general, remind me of an easy afternoon, a relaxed Sunday morning when all you have to do is sip some coffee hang out with the pets and enjoy life! Found out about him because of Norah Jones, and ever since the first time i heard him i was hooked, when you hear his music you know you are hearing quality, a smooth quality that will keep me buying his music ,hopefully for years and years to come!
Deceptively loose sound - Reviewed on 2004-06-05
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The pursuit of perfection in even the best studio recordings can sometimes squeeze the life out of the music. This does not happen here. Jesse Harris, his band and related musicians like Norah Jones kind of pick up where Neil Young & Crazy Horse leave off, providing a spontaneous, "loose" sound that is actually quite demanding of the musicians...and equally demanding of the engineers and producers not to "fix." The first song, "Just a Photograph" is a good example and sets the tone for the album. Like a good Neil Young & Crazy Horse song or even a jazz improv session, the energy and loose/tight quality builds as it goes along until by the kind of abrupt end of the song, all you want to do is go back and listen to it again...except that the next song, "The Secret Sun," is so good that you give in and let Harris be your guide through a nice range of lyrical folk tunes and rocking numbers. This guy is a very talented songwriter and the musicians playing with him are something special.
Craft - Reviewed on 2003-12-13
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3 customers found this review helpful.

There are folks who write songs and then there are craftsmen. Jesse Harris has not only studied his craft (I hear Tin Pan Alley all over this record), but he's brought it to a new place. His voice is gentle and earnest, and charming to the core. Not some polished up glamour album, this work allows you to see the scratches on the Dobro, and hear a little rattle on the snare drum. It feels healthy and real as if we're hanging out in the songwriter's loft apartment.

I strongly recommend this album to those who aren't looking to find Nora Jones in the guise of a man, but who are willing to see what we're really missing in modern American music. Talented songwriters with classy simplicity and studied craftsmanship.

If you like this record - Reviewed on 2003-12-06
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3 customers found this review helpful.

Hunt down the 1995 album "Once Blue" featuring Jesse and Rebecca Harris...brilliant.
Great songs, okay vocals - Reviewed on 2003-09-17
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1 customer found this review helpful.

It's not really fair to compare Jesse Harris and his band with the now famous Norah Jones who recorded them. She's got a very different, smoky, sultry voice. This album is sharp and the lyrics are just as poeticly loopy as anything Harris has written before. I've always been more interested in the words than the singing so I enjoyed it.
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