Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman

Elektra, 1988

http://tracychapman.com

REVIEW BY: Sean McCarthy

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/11/2006

In 1988, if you weren’t a pinup or a cartoonish metal figure, chances were you were not going to see your album land on the charts. There was music of substance out there, but the figures behind this music (mainly U2 and Public Enemy) seemed larger than life and beyond reproach.

Somehow, in this environment, Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” found a home on MTV and radio stations. The video was simply shot – the majority of the comments I remember hearing from classmates were cracks about Chapman’s warbly voice and spiky hair. Almost overnight though, that song propelled a debut album into the Billboard Top 10. my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

Thanks to a college buddy, Tracy Chapman was introduced to Charles Koppelman, who worked at SBK Productions. Koppelman eventually helped get Chapman signed to Elektra Records. True, for a major label, Elektra was one of the more risk-taking labels in the ‘80s, signing acts like The Cure and the Pixies, but Chapman’s album wasn’t catered to the college rock crowd. The sparse instrumentation was a throwback to early singer/songwriters of the ‘70s such as James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.

Though the music harkened back to a bygone era, the lyrics were a mix of ‘60s protect anthems and character portraits that focused on the victims of the “go-go” ‘80s economy. “Poor people are gonna rise up and take what’s theirs,” Chapman sings in the call to arms opener “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution.”

Much has been made about the politics behind Chapman’s lyrics in her debut album, but the majority of the songs deal with relationships. And like all great singer/songwriters, the relationships in Chapman’s songs rarely are mutually equal. The female character in “Fast Car” daydreams of escaping to a city with a loved one, but eventually winds up supporting him while he goes out with his friends. In “For My Lover,” the song leads off with an exasperated line “Two weeks in a Virginia jail / For my lover, for my lover.”

Tracy Chapman spent 1988 touring with the 10,000 Maniacs and gained international fame for her performance at a concert celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday. Within a little more than a year, Sinead O’Connor would also top the charts with an album as emotionally bare as this one, but it was Chapman who paved the way.

Chapman may not have single handedly revived the singer/songwriter movement, but few can argue that musical movement wouldn’t have been nearly as popular if her debut album wasn’t so amazing. Hopefully some songwriter is taking seriously hints from Tracy Chapman and working on releasing an album that reflects the anxieties of today as well as Chapman did nearly 20 years ago.

Rating: A

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


Comments

 








© 2006 Sean McCarthy and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Elektra, and is used for informational purposes only.