Not Commercial

In 1994, Cher attended a semiannual songwriters' workshop hosted by entertainment executive Miles Copeland III in his castle in France. "I'd been writing poetry for years and years, but never thought of it to be used as music. But I'd just written a poem about Kurt Cobain and took it with me and a couple of other things", she said about being inspired to write songs. There, she met singer and songwriter Bruce Roberts, and together they wrote 10 songs in five days. After the workshop, Cher enlisted members of David Letterman's CBS Orchestra and recorded an album within a week in New York, doing her 10 songs plus two others. However, after presenting them to the head of her company, Rob Dickens of Warner Music UK, he refused to release the material, as he felt it was "nice, but not commercial" enough. She then went on to release her twenty-first studio album ''It's a Man's World'' a year after under the label. The singer described the content of the album as being "personal" and "very un-Cher like. But if people really knew me, it is very Cher. But it's so [expletive] dark". However, she did not have any expectations for the album, explaining she did it for herself, and wanted to share the material with people who might be interested. ==Composition==

{{quote box|width=20em|align=left|quote="We put that song out in 1970 and no one would play it because they said it was un-American, because I'm singing the part of a soldier that's in Vietnam dying and those are his last words. So no one ever got to hear it, so I just thought that would be a good thing [to include], because that wasn't commercial either". The album opens with a "yearning ballad" called "Still", in which the singer sings about an "anguished relationship with a married man". The second song, "Sisters of Mercy", was written inspired by the time Cher lived in a Catholic orphanage surrounded by nuns, and its lyrics refer to them as "daughters of hell", "masters of pain" and "a cruel and heartless mob". The following track "Runnin is described by the singer as her "in a nutshell, isn't it!". Fourth track "Born With the Hunger" is one of the two songs not composed by Cher; it was written instead by her friend Shirley Eikhard around the time of the album's recording sessions, and features slide guitar sounds. The following track "With or Without You" was described as a "simple, soulful ballad" with Cher's "distinctive" timbre, while seventh song "Fit to Fly" was thought to recall "late-'80s, Heart of Stone-era" Cher and lyrically salutes soldiers. ==Critical reception==

Not Commercial received positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic's Jose F. Promis commented that the songs "prove effective, and the album is a must for the singer's legions of fans", despite being "tad muddled", and noting its "1970s singer/songwriter feel" and its "somewhat country and twangy, other times somewhat bluesy, but always completely different from her previous effort Believe" sound. == Track listing ==

• Cher • Pat MacDonald • Roberts}} • Cher • MacDonald • Roberts}} • Cher • MacDonald • Roberts}} • Cher • Doug Millett • Kevin Savigar}} • MacDonald • Roberts}} • Cher • Michael Garvin • Rich Wayland}} }} == Personnel ==

Credits and personnel adapted from AllMusic. • Cher – vocals, composer, producer • Bruce Roberts – producer • Sonny Bono – composer • Michael Garvin – composer • Pat McDonald – composer • Doug Millett – composer • Bruce Roberts – composer • Kevin Savigar – composer • Bob Thiele – composer • Rich Wayland – composer == References ==