I so much enjoyed this disc today, Carpenter really has a way with words, and a way with delivery too, marrying words and music perfectly, she has this penchant for just knowing how to catch your heart, like a master Angler knows how to hook a fish, and she constantly gets a lump in my throat from me, in my opinion this is her best record, i've tried others, and there's yet others i need to try, but this stands head and shoulders above the rest, it's certainly easy on the ear, yet none of her songs are 'simple', they're especially sophisticated, the poetry isn't in taking esoteric meanings, rather it's in the depth of ideas and ideals she sings about, this disc resides at No13 in my all time list of favourite albums, and with nearly 1700 albums i own, now that's really high, i wrote about this disc previously early on in my Blogging [1st March 2010].
Mary Chapin Carpenter is American, and she's now 54, many would categorize her as a Country singer, but she's more of an American Folk singer, or Singer / Songwriter, i would say she's like a female Jackson Browne, she brought out this disc in 1994, the front booklet cover is very good [photo by Caroline Greyshock], an atmospheric solo shot, backlit from a window, lovely and hazy, though the top and bottom squiggly rip off lines of black for the lettering are a bit naff, yet it's a nice enough visual, the back insert makes the track listing harder to read.
It's very very hard to pick a winner, the tracks that ultra impressed me were 8-13, very much the second half of the album, the first half is more extrovert, a heart on her sleeve bunch that are more geared to chart success and sales, the second half of the album is introspective, an inner world where Carpenter opens up her secret world, and i feel such a better person for being exposed to this 'musical poetry', ultimately it's tracks 10-11 & 13 that are just gut-wrenchingly the very pinnacle of what songwriting should be all about, written nigh on to perfection, i marvel that one human being is capable of bringing out such tremendous emotions, i guess the very best track [on this listen] is the last one 'This Is Love', and i'd like to talk about it here,
13 This Is Love -
13 This Is Love -
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