Tracy Chapman: Just a Woman & Her Guitar

Can you imagine someone like Tracy Chapman becoming a star nowadays? Hell, it was hard enough to imagine Chapman becoming a star back when she actually became a star! Even though socially conscious music was more prevalent at the time of Chapman's rise than it is now, Chapman's neo-folkie approach was still pretty jarring back in the summer of '88. Even more jarring was her look. Female artists have always needed to flash T&A to some degree to get over, but Chapman's success was a true situation of artistry over image. A short, dreadlocked, dark-skinned woman, Chapman (who is actually quite pretty), certainly wasn't Middle America's idea of her beauty queen. However, she used a thick, rich voice and Grade-A songwriting, and a couple of killer live performances to break through and sell several million copies of her self-titled debut album.

Strangely for an album that's now twenty-one years old, Tracy Chapman still sounds fresh today. Of course, in our current socioeconomic environment, it's almost a surprise that there aren't more protest singers. Chapman's debut mixes numbers that look at the political climate (specifically in regards to poverty and racism) with some of the most achingly beautiful (and real) love songs anyone has ever put out. The album is simply and lovingly produced, with the occasional echo-ey drum sound serving as the only reminder that this album was made in the Eighties.

It's funny. Up until I started writing this review, I always thought Fast Car was about a woman trying to escape with her lover (Chapman's music has always been gender-unspecific) to a better life, but a quick look at the lyric sheet made me realize that the story of escaping rough surroundings turns into a bitter breakup ballad. "You stay out drinking late at the bar/see more of your friends than you do your kids...take your fast car and keep on driving". Of course, beyond the lyrics (which should someday be adapted into a film), everyone remembers the acoustic guitar melody that helped turn this song into a Top Ten smash and still ranks as Chapman's best-known song. However, there is more to this album than Fast Car.

As the gap between wealthy and poor continues to widen these days, songs like Talkin' Bout a Revolution carry as much power as they did two decades ago. "Poor people gonna rise up/And get their share", Tracy warns ominously, even though she says the revolution "sounds like a whisper". The reggae-ish, upbeat Mountains o' Things finds Chapman dreaming about living a life of luxury, and subsequently losing her soul in a material haze, while  Across the Lines is a harrowing tale of racial division. Standout track Behind the Wall finds Chapman singing acapella about being silent witness to a domestic dispute that spins out of control. The fact that she sings with no musical accompaniment adds a haunting edge to this song-the performance is absolutely chilling, and remains one of the most powerful in Chapman's now-lengthy catalog.

Tracy Chapman isn't just a protest album, however. Tracy also knew how to write a love song, and songs like the gently loping Baby Can I Hold You are plainspoken and simple. Despite that (actually, probably because of) that simplicity, songs like this and the defiant For My Lover pack an emotional wallop.

The music on this album is fairly unobtrusive folk/pop, never overpowering Chapman's voice, which is (and should be) front and center here. Unlike the majority of Eighties pop, the record is not overproduced. Actually, this album sort of points in the tasteful, mature direction that artists like Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge would move towards shortly after Chapman's initial success. Hell, how often do you hear a guitar-based pop album without even one solo?

At any rate, two decades after breaking through, Chapman still records and releases albums. The press-shy artist has flown under the radar for quite some time but still has a fairly large following. However, she's never been able to top the bold artistic statement that was her debut. With her cinematic lyrics and a gospel-ly, bluesy voice to bring those lyrics to life, Tracy Chapman remains one of the most impressive and accomplished debut albums of the Eighties, and quite possibly of all time.

"Tracy Chapman"
Released 1988 on Elektra Records
Rating: 5 stars

Track Listing: Talkin' Bout a Revolution/Fast Car/Across the Lines/Behind the Wall/Baby Can I Hold You/Mountains o' Things/She's Got Her Ticket/Why?/For My Lover/If Not Now.../For You
Rating: 5 stars