Norah Jones songwriter produces Hatakeyama Miyuki’s next album

CD Japan had sent an e-mail a few weeks back about a new Hatakeyama Miyuki album coming in July, and at the time, I couldn’t find any information about it, not even on the singer’s web site. So I waited until something hit Bounce.com or Oops Music, which it has. Jesse Harris, who wrote Norah Jones’ Grammy award-winning hit "Don’t Know Why", produced the album, titled Summer Clouds, Summer Rain. The album, which hits stores July 4, also includes covers of Hank Williams, Billie Holiday, Neil Young and Marisa Monte.

I’m puzzled by Jones’ outrageous success, because her albums put me to sleep. As much as I enjoyed Hatakeyama’s cover of "Don’t Know Why" on Fragile, she too tends to get lulled by the adult contemporary/light jazz trap. The fact Harris is behind the console of this album doesn’t give me much hope it’ll be any better than Reflection. The only good tracks off that album were all stashed on the single "Ai ni Melody".

JPOPSUKI, don’t fail me now …