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Nov 9, 2011The Dreamer is a fitting--if not perfect--bookend to one of American popular music's most iconic lives.
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UncutDec 12, 2011A supremely sassy swansong. [Jan 2012, p.90]
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Nov 9, 2011Snarling through covers as far-flung as "Welcome to the Jungle" and Little Big Town's "Boondocks," James brings some welcome grit to the retirement-album game.
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Nov 14, 2011As a swansong, it's as fine as might be expected given the circumstances.
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Nov 16, 2011The production might be slick, but James relaxes into this framework, providing the necessary lived-in looseness.
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Nov 9, 2011On The Dreamer, James includes some unlikely song choices, and most of them work.
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Nov 9, 2011We get a career-twilight portrait of James and her darker-than-ever voice in a set of moody, bluesy and slow-jam groove numbers.
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Nov 14, 2011James's voice is slightly diminished but not so as to sound like anything other than itself. She's the real deal.
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Feb 17, 2012The physical and even mental diminution enriches the music.