Oyster

Heather Nova | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 8, 2011)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Big Cat/Work
• ASIN: B000002B46
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,742 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unsung '90s classic., March 18, 2000

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Oyster (Audio CD)

Many people have heard the infectious chorus to "Walk This World" without knowing who Heather Nova is. Whether it's due to low-key marketing or Nova's idiosyncracy, Oyster remains a delight.

On this album Nova begins a simpler, denser approach developed from the sparse acoustic-guitar-based sounds on first album Glow Stars. Some of her most memorable melodies can be found on this album: "Walk This World", with a throbbing bassline, breathy verses and a soaring chorus that indeed evokes the freedom that the lyrics aspire towards; "Sugar", a marriage of spoken-word narrative and tough electric-guitar rock; "Light Years", a sensual, dramatic ballad that conjures an image of Romeo and Juliet-calibre romantic passion; "Island", a dark tale of abuse and self-accusation; "Truth and Bone", whose chorus sounds simultaneously fresh and familiar, like it should've been written a long time ago; and "Maybe an Angel", one of the most straightforward pop compositions Nova has ever written.

A necessary, overlooked work, born of a rare clarity of expression and craft.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her songs hook up with my brain, February 27, 2007

By 

Bruce P. Barten (Saint Paul, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oyster (Audio CD)

For me, a song that works is like finding a bicycle that is the right size for your chimp. Not everyone has ever trained a chimpanzee to ride a bicycle or picked up the words and chords to a song and found that the words suggest a melody so strongly that there is something internal that is felt exactly at the point on the paper where a chord coincides with one of the words. This is not likely to happen until the brain actually knows the song well enough to make an exterior combination of words and chords into an objective correlative for music that is entirely inside your head, but a chimp on a bicycle only needs to learn to balance and to make the pedals go around to get going.

The perfect example this morning is `Doubled Up,' the last song on the Heather Nova CD `Oyster' that I heard last night. The brain can learn to listen, but once the music is over, the brain tries to complete the experience by repeating the best part to itself, like a kid in Freud's book BEYOND THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE that demands to hear a story over exactly the same way until the child is exhausted. The kid in Freud's book was obsessed with things that were out of sight. A single servant girl could take care of the kid when his mother was not at home, but his form of play with his toys was all "there" and "gone." I'm not going to explain that game. What is even better is that Heather Nova song:

Big sky above me, a river inside me
and I'm doubled up in love.

Feels good, it feels like poetry,
don't ask me to explain, it just
feels good, like poetry,
I'm doubled up again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heather Nova's best CD!, December 30, 1999

By 

"attila_the_honey" (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oyster (Audio CD)

I was initially turned on to Heather Nova in 1995 when I heard "Walk This World" on the radio, and I thought, "This chick is cool." It wasn't until recently that I rediscovered her music through a friend, and I have never been more grateful. "Oyster" is a smooth ride -- beautiful, melodic compositions paired with a few of rockers.

The biggest rival on the album to "Walk This World" is probably "Sugar," which really kicks it. It's sweet and melancholy, a poetic piece until the growling guitar and drums come in and turn it into a raucous number almost worthy of the mosh pit. Heather isn't afraid to show her anger in this song, but she executes is far more effectively than a lot of mainstream artists I can think of. "Throwing Fire At The Sun" is also fun, more passionate than raucous, though.

Sensitive is probably the word the comes to mind most for the remainder of the tracks. "Doubled Up" is a tender love song, as is "Walking Higher." "Island" is a painful track, which I've heard was written in memory of Nicole Brown Simpson. The best track on the CD is probably "Verona," a rocker which is the sonic equivalent of tension and intensity, with powerful lyrics like "Romeo, you are priceless, lifeless, skipping star to scar to star."

I love this album! If you're new to Heather, this is probably your best bet -- it's her most diverse album, although if you're up for more of a mainstream or "upbeat" sound, you'd better go with Siren, but I think this definitely a superior album.