Tracy Chapman

Tracey Chapman's debut album made quite the splash when it released. It topped the charts in some countries, became one of the best-selling albums of all time, and has been certified 6 times platinum in the US. Just two weeks after its release, the album already sold 1 million copies worldwide. Then in total, it sold over 20 million copies worldwide and is one of the first albums by a female artist to have more than 10 million copies sold worldwide. This album made a statement by being a popular singer-songwriter album released during the rock/metal and dance era of the 80's. Tracy has a beautiful singing voice and her lyrics were politically poignant. Even with all of these good things going for this album, I personally couldn't find something I liked about it. Not awful, but not awesome either.

This is important work, but it's also incredibly boring. I had to break this up into three 'shifts' of listening to this album because it kept putting me in a funk. TC has some important tales to tell, but they only matter if someone is listening.

Wasn't very familiar with the record before this. Thematically it's definitely in the folk tradition and she covers some important political topics that are sadly still relevant today. Musically, it's not very folky in my view. The record sounds very much like the 80's. (Is it the reverb they were using?) While I think people might remember this as a simple acoustic record, it's got a lot going on, maybe some "world music" sounds even when it comes to percussion in particular. Maybe it just sounds back to basics in comparison with the other things being released at the time (Hair metal, synth pop, etc). Can't say I'm a huge fan of the production or instrumentation. She's got an interesting voice. Not very traditional but quite strong. Overall, I can see why it was an important record and why it's on the list but it didn't wow me and I probably won't revisit.

Not for me but I can see why it was popular

Fast car is alright, but the album as a whole is a bit lacking in ideas

Some of the songs that haven't been played to death we're pretty good

Can’t get on with her voice. Baby Can I Hold You is a classic. Feel I’ve heard better at open mic nights. Not for me.

She has a phenomenal voice. The production is really crisp too. I just have a hard time connecting to political folk music unfortunately especially as a white man listening to this.

What a cool but interesting sound! I really enjoyed it but I have decided to be super critical

Don't get it, at all really - Fast Car as never done it for me, and I found most of the album really unmemorable. Chapman has a good voice, but not a great one in my opinion. There's not much here that stands out to me... the track "Mountains O' Things" is one of the more interesting moments on the album, at least as far as the music is concerned (because the lyrics are pretty annoying). For My Lover and For You are also highlights, but still a lot of it is really pretty generic and unimaginative. It's not terrible. It's just not particularly good, and to my ears, really forgettable.

Oh interesting. Let's dive in. This sounds super 90s even tho it was 1988. She sounds like she was in her own musical world compared to what was going on at the time lol. This is def some Lillith Fair shit. I'm already tired of her voice and I'm only on song 3. Ugh I really can't finish this. It's so boring.

I think everyone has heard 'fast car' of 'baby can I hold you' a couple of times in their life, that is how much of an impact this album has had. Maybe I'm not in the mood for Tracy Chapman at the moment, because it is really nice songwriting, but somehow it just reminds me of combilation music for lovers or something like that, and nothing wrong with that... if your into that vibe.

Not my thing

Besides my car I'm not bothered

Suena muy bien y Tracy tiene una voz preciosa... pero me aburre el disco.

Sarah has a fast car

Production: 8/20 Songwriting: 9/20 Innovation: 5/20 Bangers: 0/20 Emotional response: 5/20 =27 SO SO BORING

meh

Not a favorite of mine but it's a good sounding album.

Can't actually listen thru this album sadly, it is no doubt a GOOD album, but I can't rate it higher than a 2/5. It deserves to be on the list, but nope not for me.

Lacking in vocal depth.

nä, inte för mig. Stort plus för albumlängden dock. Mer sånt.

Ive been aware of this album all my life. Its been constantly praised as an excellent album, and Fast Cars as an amazing song. I never gave it a listen as it is not my style of music. When it popped up as my first album, I thought I would finally give it a listen. After two songs, i thought ok this isnt for me but I guess this is a classic album, I will give it 2 stars, and continue listening. I just couldnt. I cant stand it. It doesnt just bore me, it irritates me. I simply do not like it.

Not a fan of her music

They are nice songs and she's got good progressive politics. But nice does not make great. A whole album of this, I think not. While listening I thought of two artists, wholly inoffensive but whose massive popularity belies their otherwise quite ordinary abilities: Norah Jones (who I think was ballistic huge around the same time as Tracy) and the inexplicable Ed Sheeran. Tracy is a bit like that. Her other problem in this listing is coming hot on the heels of life changing artists, Dolly et al. As the PE would say, don't, don't, don't, don't believe the hype.

Don’t like!

1/2

Unfortunately I did not vibe with this AT ALL. She had a BEAUTIFUL voice, but not for this genre. Maybe pop or something idk

Very slow and not incredibly musical. I don't mind the lyrics, but I don't much enjoy the musicality.

Tracy Chapman vet også forut sin tid. Hun pionerer tydeligvis den sutrete four Chris poppen som har tatt over poppen i vår tid. Dette er ikke låtskriving. Dette er syting med gitar. (Dette gjelder ikk tekstene hennes som er helt greie og handler om ekte faktiske ting, men det musikalske utrykke)

1. revolution - 1 2. car - 1.5 3. linez -1 4. uuall - 1.5 5. baby - 1.5 6. thingz - 0 7. ticket - 0 8. uuhy - 0 9. lover - 1 10. nouu - 1 11. you - 1.5

I have long despised this album and my opinion hasn’t changed. Can’t stand her voice.

1/5

Meh

Undoubtedly talented but fcuk me it’s dull, like a consistent mediocre 36 minute drone.

That’s unlistenable for me, I can barely stand this king of music in a volume of one song, let alone the whole album. Sure, the voice is great, but the pacing, instruments, melodies are giving me a headache.

Cack

3/10

Not a fan. Quite boring.

I’m going to be honest here. I didn’t even make it four songs into this album. It’s a total downer, both musically and lyrically, I hate her voice, it just doesn’t have any redeeming qualities for me. Now to be fair, I only listened to a fraction of it, and I get that she’s bearing her soul, and speaking to topics that are deeply personal and meaningful to her, but I just really hate it. I’m not opposed to albums like that, but just not this one. However, if this is your thing, I can see why people would like it. Which is the only reason I’m not calling it complete dog shit.

this is not my album. sorry tracy. singing is obviously technically skilled, i’m just off the style and content. also fast car feels unserious

I just didn't like the phrasing and melodies and most of all the voice.

very slow idk if I would listen again kylie didnt like it at all

I’m getting tired of these singer-songwriters on this list…

Super. Love her voice. Excellent album.

No

oh...

I realize I need to expand my mind and my library. I understand why this is a good record but it does nothing for me thus I don’t ever think to listen to it.

Nostalgic, good for a work out, not my favorite anymore. Not the best production.

👎🏻

Apparently all you have to do to write folk music is tell some bland story, mumble some surface-level thought about social justice, and optionally make the lyrics rhyme. "Why?" Was by far the worst song.

Insipid MOR bollocks. Like a homeopathic Joni Mitchell.

Alltid syntes Fast Car e sånn passe irriterande

I don't like 'Fast Car' anyway, but this album is very much not for me. It's far too boring and the production is terribly dated. I think it's the first album I couldn't finish?

Fast Car is the career defining hit. It's a good song and was sampled to perfection by Nice & Smooth on Sometimes I Rhyme Slow. These are truly depressing lyrics. Tracy Chapman hates America. This is so overtly political it's boring. It's like getting a lecture rather than listening to music. She could take a lesson from Bob Dylan on how to do this. Baby Can I Hold You is better...just a love song, a nice change. Right back to the lesson on how everything sucks. Capitalism is bad, rich people are bad.

Boring songs like adele...zzzzzzzzz

mid

easy listening. Mild. no top track

I fuckin hate Fast Car and refuse to listen to this album on that basis. One star. Fuck that song.

I never cared for this release. Fast Car was overplayed on the radio and that turned me off to the artist entirely.

Not my thing

Nix für mich.

Well I knew this would probably come up, so I guess I was mentally prepared for it. Snivelling, nasal, beige elevator muzak that's not even slightly hard hitting. This is the sort of fake folk music that I imagine middle class people had in their collection for show, but would never actually play, because let's face facts, it's incredibly lifeless and dull. The lyrics are an exercise in mundanity; how to skirt around issues without actually suggesting any solution or even spelling out what the real problem is. "We're all angry! Why? Because babies die, that's why!". It's like something a four-year old would come up with. I even find it annoying that Wikipedia has this down as the wrong musical genre. This is pop, maybe folk-pop if I'm being generous. It's definitely not folk-rock, contemporary-folk, or roots-rock. There's also some nasty synth sounds thrown in here and there, but let's ignore that, or we'll start categorising this as synth-wave. There might have been a couple of half catchy melodies here, but excessive radio play soon dealt with that. The non-hit songs aren't even filler, they're just plain awful. If I ever had to hear this dross again, it would be too soon.

Not my thing, sorry Tracy

Did not enjoy

This is definitely not my cup of tea - so forgive me my rating. Tracy has a charismatic voice and at the time the songs at least stood out of the usual chart shit. Still nothing I would listen to again - and to be honest I didn't listen to the full album, just did short a recap of the hit singles ...

Not a fan of this one. Was huge when I was a teenager so maybe it stems from that.

Alltid syntes Fast Car e sånn passe irriterande

Iconic voice, but "oh wow is me" lyrics. Not inspiring, to me

Fucking ass tryhard corny

Singer-songwriters are really not for me.

All preach, no fun.

No thank you

This sounds like something a Feminist Studies professor at Smith College would make.

She's talented but not 4 m3

Clearly not 'bad'... but the music didn't do it for me

Not for me Clive

Love this album, "Mountain O' Things" is probably my fav track