New Non-Fiction

New Non-Fiction

Track Listings

1. Stationary

2. Shade of Grey

3. Blue Guitar

4. Yellow house

5. (It's OK To) Feel Good

6. All of the Above

7. Everybody's Talking

8. Misery & Happiness

9. Barbed Wire Boys

10. Big Car

11. Nefertiti's Dream

12. Epilogue: May I Suggest

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
On her fifth album, Werner spills out trademark jazzy vocal stylings, pleasant acoustic ballads, a few Bangles-esque rockers, and plenty of word-riffing. This time around, however, she runs a bit short on memorable material. "Barbed Wire Boys" may be her best song about her native Midwest, and the conversation with dueling angels in "Misery & Happiness" has a clever charm. More typical though is the personal-ad whining of "All of the Above" or the pining for a big car in, yes, "Big Car." In these songs, the pronoun "you" runs amok, "only love can live forever after," and spiritual hope seems as thin and predictable as chicken soup for the soul. Werner may think dark days are redeemed by cloying images like stars, smiles, and a baby's hands, but wordiness without fresh ideas or real emotions isn't. --Roy Kasten

Product Description
On her fifth album, Werner vividly demonstrates both the quality of musicianship and stylistic breadth that has marked her career as a singer-songwriter with roots in jazz, classical, country, and popular song. Produced by Bruce Cockburn's longtime collaborator Colin Linden, New Non-Fiction plays like a collection of short stories written by a diverse group of authors with different voices, perspectives, and experiences. Yet the stories have a unifying thread woven by Werner's powerful, classically trained voice, her keen eye for observation, and her sophisticated musicianship.

New Non-Fiction

Tracks:

Stationary
Shade of Grey
Blue Guitar
Yellow house
(It's OK To) Feel Good
All of the Above
Everybody's Talking
Misery & Happiness
Barbed Wire Boys
Big Car
Nefertiti's Dream
Epilogue: May I Suggest

Amazon.com

On her fifth album, Werner spills out trademark jazzy vocal stylings, pleasant acoustic ballads, a few Bangles-esque rockers, and plenty of word-riffing. This time around, however, she runs a bit short on memorable material. "Barbed Wire Boys" may be her best song about her native Midwest, and the conversation with dueling angels in "Misery & Happiness" has a clever charm. More typical though is the personal-ad whining of "All of the Above" or the pining for a big car in, yes, "Big Car." In these songs, the pronoun "you" runs amok, "only love can live forever after," and spiritual hope seems as thin and predictable as chicken soup for the soul. Werner may think dark days are redeemed by cloying images like stars, smiles, and a baby's hands, but wordiness without fresh ideas or real emotions isn't. --Roy Kasten

Album Description

On her fifth album, Werner vividly demonstrates both the quality of musicianship and stylistic breadth that has marked her career as a singer-songwriter with roots in jazz, classical, country, and popular song. Produced by Bruce Cockburn's longtime collaborator Colin Linden, New Non-Fiction plays like a collection of short stories written by a diverse group of authors with different voices, perspectives, and experiences. Yet the stories have a unifying thread woven by Werner's powerful, classically trained voice, her keen eye for observation, and her sophisticated musicianship.

Customer Reviews:

The Editorial Reviewer is Clueless..........2003-11-07

Frankly, I am puzzled by the editorial review. We obviously were not listening to the same music. Though maybe it is simply the reviewer's lack of depth or jaundiced view towards life in general...

Susan Werner's melodies and lyrics touch my soul (and my funny bone...)in places most music can't even reach. And - what on EARTH is wrong with thinking life is good even when there are times when it really sucks??? The reviewer must not be much fun to play with...

Susan is top-notch! Her voice invades your being and lifts your heart - makes you think and often makes you laugh. Her incredible voice and powerful lyrics blend into an experience you will not soon forget. From the first song to the last you will be entranced by the spell she weaves. Don't miss this one. You will never be the same. Check out her tour schedule and if you are lucky you can see her in person if she's in your area.

Don't worry, Susan! Thre are plenty of us who get it.

Susan Werner is Not a Trained Monkey.......2002-09-17

I, like many other reviewers, discovered Susan Werner by hearing her perform live, over and over during the last 10 years. I've seen her in Washington, D.C., Virginia, San Diego and Las Vegas. I have all of her CDs, and I recognize many of my own feelings about Susan's accomplishments and talents among the passionate comments submitted by other people here. I like all of her CDs, but mostly because they are my only connection to a treasured experience: the experience of seeing her sing her own songs live. But I have never loved any of the CDs, until New Nonfiction. The early ones seemed somewhat amateurish in their production values, but hey, they came from the very beginning of her career when she was performing in very small clubs, so what should we really expect? I still listen to them all the time, because they remind me of her concerts. The middle ones, especially Last of the Good Straight Girls and Time Between Trains, are more professionally produced, contain great Susan Werner songs and also covers that are perfect for her, but somehow, the production still lacks, because (as many people already said), it somehow polishes her too much and fails to capture what is magical about her voice and her performances. In my opinion, this new CD completely overcomes those problems. The sound of this CD is the thing that people love about Susan Werner; at least it's what I love. It sounds like her in concert; her beautiful and intelligent voice is all there and nothing about the production interferes with it. I can imagine the facial expressions she makes when she sings in concert, and hear the whole enormous range of her singing and playing talents. The words she writes have always been intelligent and clever, but with experience, they are becoming more routinely beautiful, without becoming overserious. This is, after all, pop music. I love this CD. What are these people talking about who say she is leaving her fans behind? Susan Werner has never been a particular kind of writer or performer; she always has sampled from every branch of popular music to ornament the words to her songs. Her songbook includes everything from a beautiful cover of Edith Piaf's La Vie en Rose, which is a perfect vessel for her voice (may she never stop performing it!), to blues, jazz, pop, country etc. Whoever diminished this CD as a surrender to country music doesn't understand music very well, other than as wallpaper. Country music is just one of the many forms of popular music. There is a great deal of dreadful country music, but there's also Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakum, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rogers, Bill Monroe. And by the way, those reviewers are just dead wrong: this is not a country album by any stretch of the imagination. There are maybe two songs that use the musical idioms of country, but that's exactly the point: Susan is incorporating the idioms of country music into her songs; she is not becoming a country singer. There's a big difference. I attribute these comments to people who must want Susan Werner to stay a certain way, always to sound a certain way, to write a certain kind of songs and keep turning them out, as if they have some ownership stake in that future stream of music. But what real music lover could expect that of an artist? What artist could really want to do it? What artist with real talent could stand to standardize her sound? It would be stultifying; her music would rot on the vine. Thank God Susan Werner is willing to grow. I could be wrong, but her recent albums, distributed by major labels, seemed to me as close as she could get herself to "gussying up" her sound to satisfy somebody else's expectations. In contrast, New Nonfiction has no gloss; it is all the things that are great about her art: she is (judging from her songs)funny, highly intelligent, disappointed in life and still immensely hopeful about it, romantic, cynical, sarcastic, gentle, a lover of family and children, a city person who loves rural life and tradition (as a place to come from), etc. That's just a beginning. I don't want Susan Werner to sound a certain way and stay in a certain genre, and I don't think anybody who really loves music as art could want her to do so. She is not a trained monkey. It must be discouraging for someone like her to hear a self-described "fan" say that she has sold out her art to "country." Two of these people actually said here that they regretted buying the new CD and would like to have the money back. That kind of "we're going to take our marbles home" speaks for itself. These aren't fans; they're taskmasters, they have expectations to be met. What I expect is that Susan Werner continues to write songs that are poetry, that she cares about, that they get better and better, and that she keeps moving into new musical territory, pushing me along with her to relish the experience. They won't all be perfect, and I'm sure I won't like some of them. But most of them will be like New Nonfiction: great. I give it four stars only because it's not her masterpiece. I'm sure that's still coming out.

Susan leaves behind her fans.......2002-03-28

This new CD is certainly not what you expect from Susan Werner. Most of the songs are country or even gospel sounding and even these are pretty lame by her usual brilliant standards. There are a couple good cuts on this CD like "Stationary" or "Epilogue: May I suggest" but most are truly awful. Her cover of the famous Midnight Cowboy movie song "Everybody's Talkin'" has to be the worst song ever recorded. What were you thinking, Susan! Susan Werner is a great artist and this release is way beneath her talent. If she wants to move in a country direction, that's OK but she will be leaving a great number of her fans behind, including me. Based on this CD, I will not buy her next one and that is sad since I own the previous four she made. I'm sorry I spent the money on this one.

Misfire from one of my favorite performers.......2002-03-23

Susan's great especially when you see her live but this CD is by far her worst effort to date. Where are all the great songs she has been performing all these past years live go? And where did this country side of hers come from? Has she been living in Nashville? Two of the songs save this review from being a total bomb, Stationary and Shade of Grey, but the rest are dismal and something you would hear at amateur night at the Big Boots Bar. I'm not sure long time fans will like this disc. It all sounds rushed and put together by people who really didn't know Susan's music and are trying to cram her into a Martina McBride/Faith Hill kind of category. If this is the direction she wants to head in that's fine but she's leaving me and many people who love her music very disappointed. I wish I could get my money back for this CD and maybe I'll sell my copy on ebay. Better luck next time Suze!

Misfire from one of my favorite performers.......2002-03-23

Average customer rating:

This CD isn't there yet...
Nice Sound
Amazingly Gifted Vocal Group!
THE BEST OUT THERE!!!!
Naturally Blessed

Non-Fiction
Naturally Seven
Manufacturer: Primarily Acapella
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Customer Reviews:

This CD isn't there yet..........2007-06-08

I'm a big N7 fan, but this CD was recorded at a time before they adopted their signature mind-blowing instrumental sound. This album is just another acapella album. Look for their "What is it?" or "Ready II Fly" albums if you want to hear something truly amazing.

Nice Sound.......2007-03-08

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Wow, what a great album this is. Naturally Seven has put together a collection of amazingly smooth and tight sounding music that most everyone should hear. In case you missed it, Naturally Seven is the group that won the 1999 Harmony Sweepstakes in convincing fashion. This album is a product of that remarkable group of men made not long afterwards, hot off their win. This album is full of R&B heavy jazz songs and snippets. Snippets? Yes... such as the radio tag that N7 recorded for WDRG-AM in New York. That alone is a huge example of the tight, professional sound that these guys have. They also made a cute (and impressive) answering machine outgoing message. Or there is a little bit called Y'all Hear Dat as an intro for the next song (Train) that is full of atmosphere and style, as they imitate a train and a storyteller starts talking about "The Train". Doesn't sound like much with me trying to describe it, but believe me, it fits into the whole concept of this album being more of a story and a personal expression of what they do... and what they are. If you like tight harmony like the smooth sounds of Take 6, R&B, Jazz, Hip-hop and Soul then you got to get it, get it, get it!! -- Ken, GospelCrib.8m.com

THE BEST OUT THERE!!!!.......2002-02-13

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Naturally Blessed.......2001-02-12

I was fortunate enough to hear them perform live at my school (Pace Univ) on February 3, 2001 and they were awesome. They are so talented and they can sing any type of music. This is one of the few groups where each person posseses some type of talent. Unfortunately when they were there I didn't have any money to buy the CD but the day after I purchased it online and I received it a few days later and it was just as awesome as the live performance. This is something to be picked up.

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