Detailed item info | Track listing | 1. Telling Stories
2. Less Than Strangers
3. Speak the Word
4. It's OK
5. Wedding Song
6. Unsung Psalm
7. Nothing Yet
8. Paper and Ink
9. Devotion
10. Only One, The - (with Emmylou Harris)
11. First Try
| | Details | | Contributing artists: | Emmylou Harris | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording type: | Studio | | Recording mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
| | Album notes | Personnel includes: Tracy Chapman (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, melody harp); Emmylou Harris (vocals); Tim Pierce (acoustic & electric guitar, dobro, mandolin, sitar, strum stick); Steve Hunter (electric guitar, lap steel, dulcimer); Jaydee Maness (pedal steel); Scarlet Rivera (violin); Eric Rigler (low whistle, Uillean pipes); Patrick Warren, Tommy Eyre (organ, keyboards); Mike Finnigan (organ); Howie Hersh, Larry Klein, John Pierce, Andy Stoller (bass); Denny Fongheiser (drums); Alex Acuna, Denny Fongheiser (percussion); Iki Levy (programming); Glenys Rogers, Rock Deadrick (background vocals).
Producers: Tracy Chapman, David Kershenbaum.
Recorded at Royaltone Studios, North Hollywood, California.
There's nothing particularly fancy about Tracy Chapman's particular brand of folk-rock; she just blends the folk into the rock more appealingly than most anyone out there. Her music has enough verve to have vaulted her out of obscurity twice. Her fifth jaunt, TELLING STORIES, continues her charming consistency with an alluring set of picture-perfect tunes.
The bouncy title track opens the album with a clever circular play on a deceptively simple line, "there's a fiction in the space between...," which makes it clear from the start that Tracy remembers the value of a good pop song. Good pop songs abound on TELLING STORIES, from the country-rock of "Less Than Strangers" to the singer-songwriter folk of "Unsung Psalm" to the upbeat dance of "It's OK." Between her acclaimed debut and TELLING STORIES, very little about Chapman has changed, which is both comforting and good, the world needs good, well-meaning folk-pop songwriters and good, well-meaning folk-pop songs.
| | Editorial reviews | 3 stars out of 5 - ...there's a comforting consistency about [this album] - you can hear layers of confidence behind Chapman's sound....Her silvered-gauze voice...shows no signs of stress....It's surprising how well she keeps running on cool.
Rolling Stone (03/02/2000)
...Chapman alights on a lyric of such universal insight that the world stops for four minutes while it washes over you....TELLING STORIES is an uplifting affirmation of eternal values...
Mojo (03/01/2000)
...folkish, watercolor-hued meditations on love and good ol' social consciousness....[She] remains an enigma: an intelligent, levelheaded craftsperson unable to convey any emotion beyond resignation... - Rating: B
Entertainment Weekly (02/18/2000)
6 out of 10 - ...intense, folksy songs, voicing personal dismay and sufferation on a wider scale....consistently mournful, the music rarely developing beyond a polite skank...
NME (03/18/2000)
...incorporates subtle technical effects and flavorings from electric sitars and uillean pipes into Chapman's neo-folk sound....mellow, yet intense and expressive...
CMJ (03/06/2000)
4 stars out of 5 - ...This is an album of honesty and compassion that will continue to have a shelf life long after the din and clamour of current pop fad and fashion have faded from memory...
Uncut (03/01/2000)
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