South

Heather Nova

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 2002)
• Original Release Date: December 11, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: V2 North America
• ASIN: B0000640MD
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #122,755 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An album beyond comparisons..., May 24, 2002

By	ClubNinja (MA, US) - See all my reviews

Heather Nova's most recent disc, South, has been the subject of many comparisons, such as those in other reviews here. This album is *not* a good Sheryl Crow kind of record though - it's a *great* Heather Nova record. The sound captured in this effort is the product of a heartfelt evolution from her early Oyster album through the magnificent Siren disc. The songs are bold and revealing, much as Heather Nova's music has always been. This time around, they feel a bit more romantic and warm than those on other albums, but still maintain their edge and sensuality. I'd claim the record was more mature than those previous, but Heather Nova has always sounded a little more mature than the rest of the pack so it's nothing new. Essentially, South has the same soul as always, but a new, stronger body to carry it.

To perhaps illustrate just how good this album is, I'll point out that I have several hundred albums on CD, and a 25 disc changer to hold those at the top of the pile. Right now, nuzzled up next to a remastered copy of Dark Side of the Moon, sits South. It belongs there.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a more mature heather, May 22, 2002

By	Karen A. Sevier (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

Ever since I heard "Like Lovers Do" on the SERENDIPITY soundtrack, I've been waiting for this CD to come out here in America for months, and I can say it was well worth the wait. The American edition features a new opening track "Welcome" and new album cover art.

This album on one hand seems more commercial than past albums, and on the other hand seems like a perfectly natural progression for Nova. Where OYSTER was reflecting the frusteration of youth and SIREN was the awakening of womanhood; SOUTH is all about being comfortable in your own skin. There's no heavy rages going on in this album. Instead, we get a song like "Virus of the Mind" where Nova playfully scoffs at the idea of being part of the norm. This album is also packed with the kind of sensuous moments, hinted at in SIREN, in songs like "Waste the Day" "Like Lovers Do" and "If I Saw you in a Movie" - the latter showing a new direction in Nova's sound.

For listeners more fond of the harder edged Nova from OYSTER and before or "I'm the Girl" "Ruby Red" or "Blood of Me" from SIREN, this may seem a bit too lite. But if you liked the love songs from SIREN, this album seems to be following that strain. And in my opinion, that's not such a bad thing. Being in love can a wonderful thing, and being comfortable with yourself is more satisfying than being frusterated. Heather seems happy, and the album sounds like she was having a good time recording it. She seems to have definately found her sound-this being the most organic and consistant album she's done so far. Thanks Heather for making happiness seem okay.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best CD of 2002, November 29, 2003

By	"superball9" (Arlington, VA, USA) - See all my reviews

Heather Nova first burst onto the American music scene with her mid 90's alternative semi-hit "Walk This World." Not since Sophie B. Hawkins and Tori Amos had modern radio heard a performer with such unbridled sexuality pouring out of every note. Her poppier and more accessible 1998 release, Siren, should have brought her the commercial attention she desperately deserved as various tracks from the disc were featured on nearly every WB teen drama and several feature-film trailers. Across the ocean however Nova had already reached the higher echelon of European success as she garnered feature spots on the main stages of countless summer festivals. Along the way Nova released recordings of her first four-track demos and three live albums but without having a true American smash her previous label, Work, dropped her leaving her current disc sitting on the shelf partially completed. In steps V2 Records (Moby, Grandaddy) distributing her newest album, South, late last year in the rest of the world, and finally this summer in North America.

Is South likely to be Heather Nova's big break? That's difficult to say with the state of current radio. If radio programmers decide Heather Nova is a welcome change from the manufactured teen pop out there today (you know who you are Vanessa Carlton), she could be allowed to fill the empty airspace left vacant until the release of new albums by fellow adult-pop divas Dido and Sarah McLachlan. Nova might get some help from one of her fellow Lilith alums as "Welcome," South's lead-off track, was co-written with Dido and is the most reminiscent of the dark and brooding sounds from her American debut, Oyster. Some fans who caught onto the Nova wave around that time might be a little disappointed by a new found happiness she seems to have found in her songwriting. Her tales of domestic abuse and sexual obsession have been replaced by the feeling you get "When Somebody Turns You On" and wanting to "Waste The Day" with your lover.

Bermuda-born Nova spent much of her childhood on a boat near her homeland so it's no surprise that water and solar metaphors run rampant throughout her songwriting. The sexual innuendos on "Heaven Sent" rival those on her previous efforts, while "If I Saw You In A Movie" and its glockenspiel accentuations are as sugary sweet and summery as one can get without drowning in a flood of saccharine. Already featured on the Serendipity soundtrack, South's first single "Like Lovers Do" features backing vocals and guitar support from Bryan Adams segueing into "Virus Of The Mind" which rides along talk-sing lyrics and a vocal refrain of "doot doot doo"'s as catchy as a cold in the height of winter. Nova tries her hand at the theremin and trip-pop on "When Somebody Turns You On" as Bernard Butler provides the jangly guitars motivating the self-empowered lyrics of "I'm No Angel." Closing out the disc is Nova's cover of the classic "Gloomy Sunday" and "Just Been Born," South's most sexual song with its panting and lustful lyrics, "and just below the equator I swallowed the pearl ... I dived for your heart." South is a record no lover of pop, summer, or ... love should be without; unfortunately with no tour planned for the US and rumors that V2 has ended their contract with Nova, come the fall South may be as long gone as the birds for winter.