On Back Streets Of America...

It doesn't seem like it's been that long since 1988. I can still remember the first time I heard Talkin' Bout A Revolution. I was watching MTV and this small black lady with an acoustic guitar appeared and started singing. It was like an electric bolt hit me, and I knew that Tracy Chapman would go on to become something very special.

Tracy Chapman, Chapman's self-titled debut album was perhaps a bit ahead of its time. In 1988, hair bands were reaching their peak and the country was just about to be introduced to "artists" like M.C. Hammer, and Vanilla Ice. Yet here she was singing about inequality, revolution, domestic abuse, and alcoholism - and in a manner that hadn't been done justice since the late Sixties and early Seventies. It amazes me that the singles from this album got the radio play that they did, but just that fact is a re-affirmation that we hadn't all lost our senses in the "ME" decade.

Tracy Chapman starts out on a perfect note. Talkin' Bout A Revolution grabs you from the opening chords. The acoustic guitar is played with perfection, and Tracy Chapman's voice is so… masculine and firm. This is a woman that demands being heard. Lines like "While they're standing in the welfare lines/crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation/wasting time in the unemployment lines" ensured the world that Tracy Chapman was the best grass roots song writer since Bob Dylan. The album chugs on with Fast Car, a heart breaker about a girl with an alcoholic father who dreams of escape. Fast Car speaks volumes to the every-man in us all: "You see my old man's got a problem/he live with the bottle that's the way it is/he says his body's too old for working/I say his body is too young to look like his/my mama went off and left him/she wanted more from life than he could give/I said somebody's got to take care of him/so I quit school and that's what I did".

There are a lot of highlights on Tracy Chapman. Across the Lines is a song about racial barriers, and Behind the Wall is merely dark prose about domestic violence. Chapman uses stark and chilling lyrics in both tunes to bring about emotion from the listener. Behind the Wall especially reaches you because Chapman opts to sing it accapella. Baby Can I Hold You is touching in that it deals with breaking up in a new way. She's Got Her Ticket is another great song about a young woman who has dreams of escaping her life of hardship and flying away. Why? raises some important social issues and asks some great questions like "Why do the babies starve/when there's enough food to eat in the world?" and "Why are the missiles called peace keepers/when they're aimed to kill?"

For My Lover explores the things that one woman does for love, including jail time. It's not a sweet song by any means. It's more a bitter diatribe about mistreatment… "Is this love worth/all the sacrifices I make?" The album ends with a sweet little tune called For You. It's a beautiful love song full of conviction. It's also a perfect way to end this great album.

Perhaps Tracy Chapman was released at just the right time. Perhaps collectively, our culture needs a spokesperson about the perils of inner city life and tribulations. It's a good thing to be reminded of what the less fortunate go through. Tracy Chapman has managed to convey those emotions with pinpoint accuracy, and for that she should be commended. Even if she hasn't been the most popular performer in the last twenty years, this album is one of the more important. More a commentary on life than anything else, I would recommend Tracy Chapman to anyone who loves pure and good music. Also, if you're a fan of other artists like Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, and John Lennon you will cherish this album forever.

OVERALL GRADE: A+