Sometimes, an outburst can have outstanding results. When Stevie Wonder refused to go on stage on Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Tribute concert because a piece of sound equipment went missing, a fresh, young Chapman swooped in and never looked back. Tracy Chapman's debut album warms up the room and cozies up to you, but at the same time she shakes it with her straight-to-the-point wordplay.
Opener "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" sets the tone of the album, in which she says that the word of a revolution doesn't come with a scream, but with a "whisper". Chapman tackles racism, domestic violence and poverty, but does it from a homely perspective and genuine innocence. "Fast Car" is still one of the most earnest and authentic songs of all time: she sings about a very much real fantasy of getting promoted, saving up for a car and buying a house. There's this magic in her mellow voice that sounds like a hand-warminf cup of coffee that makes me want to feel the city lights laid out before us, an arm wrapped round my shoulder, and the feeling that I belonged and I could be someone.
While not very profound, Chapman still manages to deliver head-scratching one-liners inbetween verses, and surprise audiences with chilling moments, like the accapella rendition of "Behind the Wall", in which Tracy's voice narrates the heartwrenching story of a mortal victim of domestic violence from the porch of the adjacent apartment. Her lyricism leaves very little room for metaphors and understatements, which is very much appreciated. But while I could go on saying that some of these songs lack depth tackling these issues, I wouldn't say, as a white Western European man, it is my place to say. Rather, you can see how Chapman's debut album doesn't want to overcomplicate things. Instead, she speaks in a quotidian conversation with you and you only. She never intends to get loud with you, but rather lets her music do the outburst for her. Her revolution comes, indeed, with a whisper, and very refreshing whisper to revisit from time to time.
8/10
Favorite songs: Fast Car, Behind the Wall, Talkin' Bout a Revolution
I fake pride myself into being a 90s kid, but I am really a very, very late 90s kid. My teenage dream was orchestrated by (no pun intended) a very bubblegum-poppy Katy Perry, the kitsch eccentricity of Lady Gaga, and the trashy dance-pop of the early 2010s. I really looked at the Black Eyed Peas and said, non-ironically, that 2009 was the golden era of pop. And somehow, deep in my kid self, there is still a rotten gold tooth in my pre-adolescent memories that still gets excited when he sees a Kesha music video on television.
Most 90s kids, though, checked out when I checked in. To them, their years of driving to the sunset with your friend's second-hand car, all windows down, was right at the rise of indie music throughout the 00s, when electropop started infiltrating the mutiverse of rock bands. And the first album that would pop up in a lot of minds when thinking of that feeling would be MGMT's larger-than-life, anthemic-injected "Oracular Spectacular".
Released in 2007 and produced by Flaming Lips' man-in-the-box Dave Fridmann, this album is a nostalgia touchstone, and everyone who loves this album has been into (at least!) three music festivals throughout their twenties, which are most surely finished. With distorted strings, childlike vocals and legendary synth hooks, MGMT captured the quintessential sound of a very sunny beer ad, or a holi festival 10 kilometres away from your nearest big city. Songs like 'Time To Pretend' encapsulates in their lyrics that fake glamurous lifestyle dressed in Y2K plastic-bejeweled belts and chains. 'Electric Feel' takes funk into another dimension and dares to strip down a little. Centerpiece 'Kids''s instantly recognizable synth obstinate and engulfing production makes the perfect song to scream lyrics, bounce around under festival lights and live in the moment.
But while the highs are very high, the lows also go nowhere. "Oracle Spectacular" works better the more they lean intro electropop, reverbed vocals and catchy hooks. There is just a sensation of carelessness and youth carried into these singles than the rest of the album doesn't possess. The album doesn't know what it wants to be at times, and when the synth curtain falls, its issues become incredibly visible. Half of this album falls, unfortunately, into unmemorable or even grating. But "Oracular Spectacular" still holds strong, fueled by the nostalgia and the singles that we all remember love and cherish. And god damn are these singles good.
6.6/10
Favorite songs: Kids, Electric Feel, Time to Pretend
Okay, I must come clean. I never liked Mick Jagger's voice. Listening to this album, I finally was able to pinpoint exactly what has irked me off their music all this time. I guess I'm just not a fan of Jagger's twangy, drunk-on-eccentricity, aggresive voice, and that might perhaps be becuase it's become a standard. When you think of a rock star, you think of Mick Jagger. When you think of a a pure rock song, you think of any Stones' song wandering across their discography. The sound of the Rolling Stones have been copied, and squeezed onto every rock band that came after. "Exile On Main Street" was recorded with the Stones running away from the British law, secluded in a villa in France to sing about hedonism and sex. If that isn't the most rockstar story for an album i don't know what it is.
What surprised me is that for an English rock band singing in France, this album sounds as un-European as possible. "Exile On Main Street" is infused with strums of blues and American roots. The album tastes like an opened beer outside of the truck driver's window, with Jagger sound with a slight southern accent, as if he's trying to sing amidst a drunkard ruckus in the saloon.
Album-kicker "Rocks Off" is lively, fun and energetic, and features a strong brass section. "Shine a Light" stars a prominent piano and a gospel choir. "Sweet Virginia" is also a stand-out from the album, being a very compelling and groovy ballad. These songs are proof that this album is at its peak when the sound goes beyond an electric guitar, bass and drums. Another highlight is "Tumbling Dice", with its catchy choir-y chorus. Unfonrtunately, the album didn't stike out to me as anything special, with every song sounding too similar from each other, and the album blending into a repetitive presentation of "raw real music,not like the garbage pop kids listen to this day". Songs like "Stop Breaking Down" or "Turd on the Run" don't add much to the conversation. It doesn't help that the album is over an hour long.
As much credit as I can give them from having a cohesive and influential sound, I can't help but become bored towards the second half of the album. Sorry, Mick Jagger. Maybe next time.
5.5/10
Favorite songs: Tumbling Dice, Rocks Off, Sweet Virginia