Tracy Chapman'Let It Rain'

Elektra

Grade: A



Almost 15 years since she won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1988, Tracy Chapman marks another milestone with her sixth album, "Let It Rain" (2002). In comparison to her last album, "Telling Stories," which was widely dismissed by her fans as being too trendy, this album demonstrates Chapman's growth. She co-produced it with John Parish, who has previously taken P. J. Harvey and the Eels under his wing. As his resum may suggest, Parish does a remarkable job of bringing Chapman's poetic sensibility to full force.

Her ever-so-slight smile on the album cover is symbolic of this album's tone, which is more optimistic in comparison to her other albums, which have been characterized as painfully depressing. Although her lyricism is still poignant throughout, six of the 12 songs on this album have relatively uplifting themes.

"You're the One," the first single from the album is,by far the most upbeat and energetic. Like many of the other songs on this album, it deals with love and relationships. "Almost" is lyrically the most melancholy ("Almost saved you and myself / Almost won but it doesn't count / And never does / Never does"), but its beautiful melody will encourage the listener to hit repeat.

Chapman does not refrain from venturing outside her usual realm in this album. In "Hard Wire," she writes about the contemporary issue of mass media shaping our lives, singing, "We've got a box to put in your brain / Hard wired for downloading." She experiments stylistically by incorporating gospel into her usual folk rock style in the song "Say Hallelujah." This album displays Chapman at the peak of her musical confidence.

Chapman delivers every song with quivering emotion and her album will provide comfort on rainy days and sleepless nights. She rises against the challenge of recent folk artists, such as Jewel and Gillian Welch, without compromising her unique musical philosophy.