The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women
140. Norah Jones
Come Away with Me (Blue Note, 2002)
At a time when the music industry was increasingly plagued by piracy and saw rapid declines in album sales, the debut album by a twenty-something old soul (who also happened to be a sitar master's daughter) was an unlikely success story. Norah Jones's distinctive voice, laced with a mellow smoke that might have originated at either the cabaret or honky-tonk, was immediately a force to contend with. On Come Away With Me, released by the storied jazz label Blue Note, she sang Great American Songbook standards like "The Nearness of You" and country classics such as "Cold Cold Heart" with rare, unhurried intimacy. Still, most of the album is comprised of original material, with Jones penning the memorable title song — a lovely, country-tinged waltz — and a few others. It earned her a major-category sweep at the Grammys, and in 2005, the album notched over 10 million copies sold -- a feat that made Jones the last artist to achieve diamond status for another seven years. —Rachel Horn (NPR Music)
139. The Bangles
All Over the Place (Columbia, 1984)
The sunshine-y MTV world of the '80s was made for , four talented women from L.A. who brought the girl-group harmonies of the '50sWe couldn't have asked for anything better than the slick production, well-crafted songs and hooky choruses on their first album, On the infectiously catchy album, Susanna Hoffs, Vicki and Debbie Peterson and Michael Steele flexed their chops, sharing Beatles-worthy vocal harmonies and wielding jangly guitars like . Like too many pop bands of the time, The Bangles became known more for videos with pretty faces and big hair than the true Girl Power they brought to us all. Yet to allow The Bangles' success to overshadow the group's credibility and importance would be a shame.
