| Essential - Mary Chapin Carpenter | |
|
Reviewed by Matt Bjorke
After the success of Kathy Mattea, Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett in the late 1980's, Country music labels were willing to embrace Folk based country artists. Perhaps the best of the artists to emerge from the Folk/Country scene was Mary Chapin Carpenter. Signed to Columbia Records in 1986, Mary Chapin released her first album to little fanfare in 1987. In 1989 she released her second album, State Of The Heart. The album contained her first Top 10 hit singles in "Quittin' Time" and "Never Had It So Good," which isn't included on this album, The Essential Mary Chapin Carpenter.
For her third album, 1990’s Shooting Straight In The Dark, Mary Chapin recorded some more "country-leaning" folk songs that continued her trend of being a hit maker, most notably her Billboard Top 2 hit "Down At The Twist And Shout." It is a song that featured the Cajun band Beausoleil (which in English means A Beautiful Sun). The following three singles were moderate hits and not included on The Essential Mary Chapin Carpenter. One song from this album which is included on this collection is the wonderful story song "Halley Came To Jackson." A song about the Halley comet and the way it impacted a family, "Halley Came To Jackson." is a beautiful song and worthy of being placed on this album.
1992's Come On, Come On became Mary Chapin's landmark album. As such, The Essential Mary Chapin Carpenter features seven songs from the CD. Not all seven songs were hits (one of my personal favorites, Mark Knopfler's "The Bug" is missing), but of the non hits, "I Am A Town" and "Only A Dream"are exquisite folk songs that tell stories that simply are stunning and beautiful. The singles, "Passionate Kisses," "The Hard Way," "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" and "I Take My Chances" all are memorable singles that had this album on the charts for over three years. "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" was Mary Chapin's first No. 1 hit.
Stones In The Road was Mary Chapin's next CD. Released in 1994, the album featured a few hits, most noticeably her biggest hit to date, "Shut Up And Kiss Me." A fun song, it also was the only "ditty" on the album as "meatier" songs like the elegant title track (included here) were the core of an album billed as a return to Mary Chapin's folk music roots. As such, while a commercial success, the album didn't have a proliferation of hits like Come On, Come On did.
The follow-up album, 1996's Place In This World didn't have any big hits and is widely considered Mary Chapin's most disappointing album and partially for that reason, none of the songs from the un-even CD are included on this collection. Mary Chapin followed up Place In This World with Party Doll And Other Favorites, a Greatest Hits collection that was more of a rarities and live renditions of her hits. One new song from that collection was the Top 25 hit "Almost Home," It is one of my favorite songs of Mary Chapin's career in that it sounds unlike many of her hits but retains the witty charm that draws me to her music. Two tracks from Mary Chapin's fine, overlooked 2001 album Time* Sex* Love* also appear on this "essential" album.
Unlike traditional "hits" or even other "Essential" albums, The Essential Mary Chapin Carpenter does, indeed, contain the essential songs of her career. While not every hit single is present, the collection does have better story songs that showcase the depth, beauty and range of emotion for which Mary Chapin Carpenter is best known for. When you add all of these 16 songs up, what is presented is "the portable Mary Chapin Carpenter" (as eloquently presented in the liner notes written by Jay Orr).
Song List:
Album cover used with permission of Sony Nashville.
Audio clips courtesy of Barnes & Noble.
Click on the button below to find the best price for this CD and purchase it from a retailer on the Internet.
