Customer Reviews

I Can't Be New

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

No, the lady can't be new.

Maybe when you listen to "I Can't Be New" for the first time, you'll think that Ms. Werner has decided to record some unpublished or obscure songs by Cole Porter or Rodgers and Hart. And why wouldn't you? The sound is caberet; the lyrics bittersweet.

But then you look at the lyric sheet and you realize that she wrote all the songs on the CD herself, and so what at first seems like interpretive singing is actually a brilliant re-creation of the style and conventions of the Tin Pan Alley of a half century ago. Like her contemporaries Nellie McKay and Erin McKeown, Ms. Warner won't throw the past away. Unlike them, however, she apparently has no interest in blending the present with the past. There are no samples here, no rap, no contemporary references.

All the tunes are good, but my personal favorites are the title cut, "Late for the Dance," "Let's Regret This in Advance," and especially "Stay on Your Side of Town." She finishes with a "coda" called "Maybe If I Sang Cole Porter." Maybe she should.

Ms. Werner sings the tunes in a voice like stainless steel.

Splendid all around.

I can't think of a way to describe how good this album is with a one-liner, all I know is, the night when I poped it into my CD player for the first time, I listend to it again for two more times after that. The next night, the same thing. Werner has a way of writing and singing her songs in this album that makes it seemed like they are songs that had been written ages ago, sung a thousand times but have been given new energy by a vibrant artist. That said, of course we know these are brand new songs that she had just composed for this album. I'm not familiar with her older, more folksy stuff, but the heart-felt and clever lyrics, woven into the jazzy composition with nice piano chops, is soothing and refreshing at the same time. My favorites on this album are "I can't be new" and "Stay on your side of town", both find creative ways to talk about relationship problems with some very classic-sounding jazz music composition. Just listen, and you'll agree too that this is an album that you'll want to listen to over and over again.

"Coffee, ham and eggs. I can be your diner. Tired, aching legs? I'll be your recliner." The American songbook gets a new chapter, as singer/songwriter Susan Werner unpacks her adjectives and irony, giving George Gershwin and Cole Porter a run for their money in lyrical wit and jazz/pop melody-making. Werner is a fence-sitter of the highest degree. Give her a guitar, and she out-belts and out-plays both Indigo Girls at once. Park her at the piano, and she cozies up to the microphone with the flair of Diana Krall. Her previous releases have been upbeat, guitar-driven, folky discs with just a tease of her piano-flavored retrospection. But with "I Can't Be New," Werner hops off the fence and plants herself firmly at the keyboard, churning out a song cycle of new millenium standards about love, serving up humor and heartbreak with a gentle piano flourish. On the title song, Warner waxes Porter-esquely. "And when they're buying you steak, I can be the gravy. When they throw you in the lake, I can be the navy." But in all her lyrical silliness, there's a sobering message that rings true to anyone who's ever been in love. "I can be the sky, the very wild blue yonder. Still I can't catch your eye, when it starts to wander. As I've seen it do. At least a time or two. I'll be anything to you, but I can't be new." Bet you didn't see that coming. Werner's classically trained voice can fill a room with ease. For fans of female cabaret and jazz, "I Can't Be New" may be a tribute to the legendary songwriting of the past, but Werner definitely has something to say that isn't same-old/same-old.

We've been waiting for all the songs susan does at the piano in her shows, and now we have them and more! What a great surprise, outstanding lyrics, interesting arrangements, and that wonderful susan werner voice. A standout!! Beautiful and thoughtful.

With the release of "I Can't Be New" Susan finally gives listeners a catalog of songs that lend themselves fully to her unique sense of kitsch, drama and sentimentality, while still delivering the interesting musical arrangements and exceptional lyrics she is known for.

Anyone who has been fortunate enough to attend a Susan Werner performance knows that she was born for the stage. I've never been to a Susan show when I wasn't gasping for air laughing one minute and wiping away tears of sadness another (often during the same song ). Susan's sense of theatricality falls nothing short of brilliant. So how appropriate that she would write a cycle of songs after the style of not only a great writer of "standards", but the great songwriter of American Musical Theater - Cole Porter.

On her new CD "I Can't Be New," Susan captures lighthearted cheer without sounding flighty and heart wrenching sincerity without stooping to melodrama. Only a rare gem of a performer can convey this live, much less on a studio recording. Susan Werner does it with ease, style and great success.

For the past several years at shows, Susan Werner fans have asked "which CD has all those wonderful piano songs on it?" Now, finally, we have our answer. And it was well worth the wait.

I have never been drawn to "the Great American Songbook", but this record has me wanting to pick up every interpretation of Cole Porter, George Gershwin et al. I can find. Ms. Werner has done what many had deemed impossible: written fresh, new modern songs that sound like long-lost old standards. Tracks like "Late For The Dance", "Much At All", "Don't I Know You" and the title track evoke the best of the old masters, while some non-traditional arrangements on "You Come Through" and "Philanthropy" mix things up a bit. And oh yeah, she can sing lights-out, too!

I highly recommend this CD to anyone with a soft spot for gorgeous vocals and brilliant songwriting. Everything old is new again, indeed.

I've been religiously attending Susan's live shows for the past six or seven years. For me, the favorite portion of her shows has always been when she would perform her own compositions of tin pan alley/standard-like tunes. Now, for the first time, she's assembled these songs onto one album. Great songwriting coupled with her flawless, classically trained voice and wonderful sense of humor make these songs irresistable. I highly recommend this album to any fan of Norah Jones, Harry Connick, Jr., Jamie Cullum, etc. Even more, I highly recommend seeing Susan perform in person. After seeing her once, you'll be a fan for life!

Wow. I certainly disagree with amazon.com reviewers (below) who were less than satisfied. I think this album best captures Susan's live energy - meaning that the gamut of emotions is represented. I feel connected to the songs - involved with them - and tear up at various points through out the record. Those who are griping are griping because they want folk/pop music, not jazz and cabaret. The songwriting is stellar, and the performance inspired and playful. Many of Susan's fans have been begging for her to make this kind of record for years - and I think it's exceeded every expectation. If you don't like the genre, fine - but don't discount the album due to your own personal biases. It is what it is, and what it is, is brilliance.

So Norah Jones got our attention - proved to us that the market is ripe for jazz influenced music. But Norah can't hold a candle to Susan Werner - not now that 'I Can't Be New' has been released. These are new songs written in an old style --- so well written, so seamlessly stitched together. It's hard to believe that they've come from a 30 something songwriter instead of from Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, etc., etc., etc. The writing is stunning, and the production even better. This is a must have CD for anyone even slightly inclined towards jazz vocals, cabaret, or nostalgia. It's got to be the best record I've heard in years!

Let's say this: Susan Werner is the most literate, intelligent songwriter and lyricist to come along in quite some time. She's on a par with the young Lyle Lovett, without the deliberate "If I Had a Boat" quirkiness and without the "L.A. County" testosterone. Her observations are keen, taking the measure of all within her purview -- but soothed, as we are, by her humble reverence for her ability to see. Her insight is acute, cutting to the pain of failed relationships and temporality acknowledged -- but salved, as we are, by the grateful acceptance of her ability to feel. Her joy is seemingly boundless, celebrating the rarity of the blissful and the beautiful -- but bridled, as we are, by the muted maturity of balance lived. Judging from Susan Werner's evident determination to trace the truth in every moment, she can't be new. Judging from the accessible sophistication of her musical and linguistic expression, she is singularly wise.