Track Listing
1. Talkin' Bout a Revolution
2. Fast Car
3. Across the Lines
4. Behind the Wall
5. Baby Can I Hold You
6. Mountains O' Things
7. She's Got Her Ticket
8. Why?
9. For My Lover
10. If Not Now
11. For You
| Details | | Playing Time: | 36 min. | | Contributing Artists: | David LaFlamme, Paulinho Da Costa | | Producer: | David Kershenbaum | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | DDD |
Album Notes
Personnel: Tracy Chapman (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, percussion); Jack Holder (guitar, dobro, electric sitar, hammered dulcimer, Hammond organ); Ed Black (guitar); David LaFlamme (electric violin); Steve Kaplan, Bob Marlette (keyboards); Larry Klein (bass); Denny Fongheiser (drums, percussion); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion).
Recorded at Powertrax, Hollywood, California.
Tracy Chapman exploded out of the Boston folk scene in the late eighties, carrying the acoustic guitar-playing singer/songwriter mantle to a more political and socially conscious level than had recently been achieved. Her deep alto and throttled vocal delivery, combined with attentively scrutinized social scenarios presented in a simple, accessible manner, rocketed Tracy to the top of the charts and into the Grammy record books. Instrumentally crisp and minimal, TRACY CHAPMAN is a compelling statement from the no-holds-barred black singer/songwriter, stealing the focus away from the popular folk mafia.
Chapman expresses a heretofore unmined black, feminist, disenfranchised point of view--from the helpless-but-hopeful underclass of the smash hit "Fast Car," to the defiant politicos of "Talkin' `Bout A Revolution." In regards to other issues, Tracy responds to Suzanne Vega's "Luka" with her own a capella song about domestic violence, "Behind The Wall"; and the percussive "Mountains O' Things" is about material wealth. But TRACY CHAPMAN is not all social politics; there are several rapturously tender love songs included as well.
There are many strong influences to be heard in Tracy's voice, particularly Joan Armatrading (on "Baby Can I Hold You") and Odetta. Infused with those powerful roots, Chapman dramatically changed the commercial stakes of folk music by blending a catchy, acoustic backdrop to her social rhetoric, and delivering her manifestos in a unique, commanding voice that seemed like a beacon in a sea of mediocrity.
Editorial Reviews
4 Stars - Excellent - Ranked # 10 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums Of The 80s survey.
Rolling Stone (11/01/1989)
Ranked # 28 in Rolling Stone's Women in Rock: The 50 Essential Albums - ...[This album] brought some charge back to activist folk rock...
Rolling Stone (10/31/2002)
Ranked #7 in CMJ's Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1988
CMJ (01/05/2004)
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