Customer Reviews

South

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

While out driving one day I heard this great song on the radio, 'Like Lovers Do'. I made a note and called the radio station after I got home to find out who the artist was (at least that's the way I recall it now). I vaguely remember hearing the name Heather Nova mentioned sometime in the past.

I listened to these 20 - 30 second clips from the album tracks on CDNOW and some other sites. The only thing I really liked was still 'Like Lovers Do'. I was willing to buy the cd just for that one song, which I finally ended up doing this week.

What a surprise it was to hear all these other nice songs. I couldn't be happier with the cd. I like her voice and style and the mellow sound. To me, she sounds a bit or reminds me of Edie Brickell (now married to Paul Simon). I bought the cd South for the one song but ended up discovering a wonderful artist.

Like one of the other reviewers, it took me awhile to figure out whether I liked this album or simply appreciated Heather's voice filling up 14 tracks on the newest cd to the collection. There are obvious gems on the album, my personal favorite being "Tested". The cadence and control exhibited on the song is excellent and sublime. It should leave you with an indelible impression of what Heather is totally capable of, and why her last release was aptly named 'Siren'. "Welcome" is also a promising track. However there are also some very forgettable (unfortunately too many for a higher rating) songs. "Virus of the Mind", sorry folks, it's fodder compared to other tracks. Not so much that it or the others like it are poorly written or worse yet poorly executed, more simply because they're a tad too flat and don't live up to her usual potential, lyrical or vocal. Perhaps they just feel a little too produced or contrived for my taste. And for all those fans out there, please note "Gloomy Sunday" is an old jazz/blues cover, though a welcome and nice addition to the album. If you're a Nova fan, you should definitely find this album worth the purchase. Yet like other reviewers, I would suggest checking out 'Siren' and 'Oyster' for those of you who want to get a sampling or more rounded education on this excellent artist. Me, I'm a little nostalgic for the older, grittier stuff as well. And though I would buy a cd of Heather singing peanut butter or fabric softner jingles--and before you write, I'm pretty sure she hasn't done either--I wouldn't mind hearing a few edgier tunes every now and again.

This is a totally new Heather Nova, and the music will appeal to diehard Nova fans as well as newcomers. A disappointment in some of Nova's previous CDs has been the lack of new material (though her haunting lyricism is always a treat, whether recycled or not), but this one is all new and all Heather Nova. It's an older, smarter, more wry poet than the one who brought us "Sugar," but the young Heather is still audible in her signature style. Some critics have drawn parallels between Heather Nova and Cheryl Crow, do doubt based on the rappy "Virus of the Mind," but Heather Nova was making that sound when Crow was still teaching school in Missouri. Crow made it familiar and made us love it, though, and while this may be the album that gives Heather Nova the fame and fortune she deserves, it may bring with it the curse of being judged "like" other performers, even though Nova was there first. But who cares? Nova fans who are approaching middle age -- like me -- just want to kick back and hear Heather keep on rockin' to a different drummer. Anything else is just a virus of the mind.

My friend liked Heather Nova; I even had the artist sign a copy of one of her album's and sent off to them. But I never owned a Heather Nova of my own until South. I bought out of nostalgie for days gone by, but I listen to it for its own merits. Truly remarkable, truly listenable, truly enjoyable. Some songs just tickle your mind. And some albums managed to do as well. This is one of them. It grows on you with out boring you. Not bad.

My daugther's favorite song is Virus of the Mind. She is three and so I bet it is the 'tutu do tu' at the beginning that tickles her mind.

South had almost slipped by me thanks to a no-publicity release, probably due to the fact that Nova is no longer with Sony Records' Work imprint. I saw her three times in two cities during the Siren tour and her live performances (featuring fiery players Nadia Lanmann, Berit Fridahl and Bastien Juel) also smoked. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited Nova's first record proper since the seductive glam-rock-tinged Siren album.

Within 20 seconds, my hopes were dashed to pieces. Could the goody-goody, brainless teen-pop of "I Saw You in a Movie" be the same Heather Nova who had dropped jaws with gutsy, sensual, powerful songs like "Sugar", "Bare", "Light Years", "Mother Tongue" and "Blood of Me"? Even worse is the light rap of "Virus of the Mind", bad rapping worthy of Mariah Carey's "Prisoner", and Nova's lyrics have substituted cuteness for punch, cliches for poetry. How could the same woman who wrote "My Fidelity" be responsible for the lyrical pap of "I Saw You in a Movie"?

I have no idea what caused this wholesale paradigm shift. The change in record labels? The fact that longtime boyfriend Felix Tod produced the album? A whole new set of musicians? Or just a low in this usually brilliant artist's development? Hard to believe that Nova's touring companions Fridahl and Juel played on this record, because the intensity level of South is barely one-tenth that of the band's live attack. Even Nova's singing, which used to teem with expression and lust, fragility and strength, has downed several notches to mere vocalization, at times sounding embarrassingly girlish and gushing, sometimes just carrying the (not-so-great) tunes with little authority.

I can only hope this is only a one-off flub in Nova's career. For South sounds like something Spirit-era Jewel could've cooked up.

Heather Nova has a wonderful sense of how to craft a song, and this CD is full of memorable tunes. My current favorite is "Like Lovers Do", which is dazzling simple in concept but powerful in delivery. But this is not the only one; the disc is full of outstanding songs. Nobody creates moving songs like Heather Nova and South is right up there with her very best efforts.

Altough this album of Heather is very nice, it is not as good as we are used to. It is a bit more poppy and less like her usual sound. Listen to it before you deside to buy it. You might like it, I find it still worthwile, but you can also be very dissapointed.

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.