Tracy Chapman - Chapman, Tracy (CD 1988)

A few of my thoughts when "Fast Car" became a hit:

1. Is this a man or a woman?
2. I like this song! All my friends do as well! And all we ever listen to is Motley Crue, Poison, Bon Jovi, and all those other awesome guys with cool hair!

Looking back now, I believe those memories speak volumes about what is so good about Tracy Chapman's music. Her songs cross racial, social, and gender lines. Hardly any of her lyrics openly refer to the fact that she's a she, and her voice doesn't give it away either. Anyone can sing along and feel the music is really about them. She also addresses important issues, but without preaching or landing squarely on one side or another. Chapman vividly describes situations in an almost detached manner, letting you look in and see for yourself. Any emotions you feel haven't been imposed on you, but arise from your own experiences and thoughts on the music. In my opinion,that type of non-preaching is the most effective preaching there is. Chapman will convert you to her side (if there is conversion to be done, that is.)

The music is elegantly simple. Chapman speaks in a musical language that everyone can understand: 4/4, diatonic harmony (that is, all chords derived strictly from major and minor scales), and uses oooo, all the right [chords]/ oooo, at the right time. In other words,this is folk music at its best.

Okay, just a couple of things I don't like about this CD (I really have to dig to find them). The standard drum beats with heavy reverb, all added to make the music more marketable, cheapen it a bit. I'd rather just hear Tracy and her acoustic guitar in most cases. But, on occasion, the drum beats do take the music to another level and are completely appropriate (like in the choruses to "Fast Car" and "Baby Can I Hold You"). My other complaint is that, in a few instances, her writing style is too literal. At times, it almost seems like I'm watching a UNICEF commercial with Sally Struthers. But that might be the little immature boy that runs around inside me and says "Ha!Ha!" (like Nelson from the Simpsons). No matter, he does live in there and I can't help seeing Sally Struthers once in a while. Hopefully, you won't have that problem.

Talkin' Bout A Revolution

Don't you know / They're talkin' bout a revolution / It sounds like a whisper

An upbeat song about the poor being dissatisfied and getting ready to take a stand.

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation

Has a great hook that is fun to sing with the line

You better run, run, run, run, run, run, run

Fast Car

Contrasts the cold reality of the life portrayed in the verses:

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is...
My mama went off and left him...
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

with the dream that anything could happen, associated with being in the "fast car" with her lover, for the chorus:

Speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone...

Great melody, very simple but distinctive guitar part for the verses, and the music for the chorus wonderfully amplifies the giddy, nostalgic lyrics.

Across The Lines

Tonight the riots begin / On the back streets of America / They kill the dream of America

Almost a news report of a racial riot, viewed from an objective distance, all in a major key, makes me think of 10,000 Maniacs. Very powerful lyrics.

Knives and guns are drawn
Two black boys get killed
One white boy goes blind

Behind The Wall

Last night I heard the screaming / Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless night for me / It won't do no good to call / The police

A capella (just Chapman singing). In that way, it reminds me of Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz. A chilling, haunting tale of how nobody interferes with domestic abuse, until it's too late.

Baby Can I Hold You

A sad love song, pretty much about how all her man wants is sex. Either that or is just incapable of communicating. But it is SO lovely, major key, rocking (as in "rocking back and forth", not "rock and roll") tempo: the chorus makes me think she yields to him anyway. Like I said earlier, the gender roles could be entirely switched around here, that's up to you.

Sorry / Is all that you can't say / Years gone by and still

But you can say baby / Baby can I hold you tonight

Mountains O' Things

No guitar in this one, just xylophone and African drumming, great arrangement, upbeat. The poor wishing for "Mountains of things" and feeling slighted that they don't have it.

The life I've always wanted
I guess I'll never have
I'll be working for somebody else
Until I'm in my grave

later

Those who deserve the best in life
And know what money's worth
And those whose sole misfortune
Was having mountains o' nothing at birth

Even though I've been in that sitaution, I've always thought it does no good to sit around and complain about it. But it is a very real complaint, and I can enjoy it on that level. There's also much more than just complaining going on: there is also a criticism of the people who step on others to get to the top.

To keep this review from running too long I'll just summarize the rest: It's great! The industry loaded Chapman with grammys for good reason.

Tracks:
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

PS: for a really stunning, incredible review of this disc, read
http://www.epinions.com/content_43887070852#ow
or just click on the "# reviews" link at the top and read the first one. Possibly the best review I've read.