Track Listing

1. Hard Way
2. He Thinks He'll Keep Her
3. Rhythm of the Blues
4. I Feel Lucky
5. Bug
6. Not Too Much to Ask - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joe Diffie
7. Passionate Kisses
8. Only a Dream
9. I Am a Town
10. Walking Through Fire
11. I Take My Chances
12. Come on Come On

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46206 in Music
• Released on: 1992-06-30
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
Skeptics might say that Carpenter's smash version of Lucinda Williams's "Passionate Kisses" pales beside the tougher original, or that Mary Chapin is but a folkie in poor-fitting country clothes. They're not exactly wrong, but her million-selling third album finds its charm in a spare Americana sound and smart, imaginative material. Carpenter bridges country and folk audiences, much as Emmylou Harris has done, and as few others have managed. And she's a better singer than generally recognized. Originals such as "I Am a Town" and the title cut are genuinely evocative, and "Walking Through Fire" and "I Take My Chances" have an emotional edge that is as raw as it has been rare on country radio in the '90s. --Roy Francis Kasten

Customer Reviews

Carpenter's a square peg in the round hole of Nashville
Mary Chapin-Carpenter built her career largely on public radio airplay for her folky acoustic guitar-based songcraft. This album exploded her into the country mainstream, thanks to the huge hits "Passionate Kisses", "I Feel Lucky" and lesser hits "I Take my Chances" and "He Thinks He'll Keep Her". But while country radio may have loved her for awhile, it quickly forgot about her and the reason why is between the hit tracks: Carpenter has more in common with classic country singers than with the current batch of forgettable pop-country heard on the radio these days.

Carpenter is all about songs: Writing the sentiments of an educated, mature woman who's not afraid to make political statements that buck Nashville's (i.e. she's a feminist and a bit to the left) conservatism. All but two of the songs here were written or co-written by her.

HIGHLIGHTS:
The hits deserved to be. Carpenter finds the catchy heart of Lucinda Williams' "Passionate Kisses" and makes it the mainstream smash it was always meant to be. "I Feel Lucky" and "I Take my Chances" both find Carpenter playing it sassy and devil-may-care. "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" reveals Carpenter's feminist streak, in the tale of a woman who leaves her uncaring husband after 15 years ("For 15 years she had a job and not one raise in pay/Now she's in the typing pool at minimum wage..") "The Bug" is the lost album track that should have been a hit. The blue-collar philosophy of life ("Sometimes you're the windshield/Sometimes you're the bug..") is terribly catchy and a nice retool of a Dire Straits album track. The album cuts are what make Carpenter stand a bit above the pack: "I Am a Town" is pure southern Americana ("I'm the last gas for an hour, if you're going 25, I am Texaco and tobacco, I am dust you leave behind"), the tender duet with Joe Diffie on "Not Too Much to Ask",and "Only a Dream"'s taste of the deep bonds of sisters and the hurt that comes when the older one leaves home ("I turned on the light and all that I saw/Was a bed and a desk and a couple of tacks/No sign of someone who expects to be back/It must've been one h*ll of a suitcase you packed")

LOWS:
"Walking Through Fire" and "Rhythm of the Blues" are rather mediocre in the end. They just don't stick with you that well.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you're a Shania or Faith Hill fan, you'll probably HATE this. If you enjoy singer-songwriters (even if you THINK you hate country), give this a listen. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised. If you're a diehard folkie, you'll probably find this "overproduced" (which seems to be code for "any song with more than just a voice and an acoustic guitar").

3 1/2 stars

Excellent work from Chapin
At the time, this was her most versatile disc to date. It really moves away from the country feel of her previous two releases, and, at its heart, is folk-pop. Her unabashed feminist side shows on I Feel Lucky and He Thinks He'll Keep Her, up-tempo rockers. Her mid-tempo songs, like Walking Through Fire, I Take My Chances, and Passionate Kisses, have the same unapologetic bluntness - she's her own woman, and proud of it. Her voice also shines on delicate ballads like Come On, Come On, I Am A Town, and Only A Dream. She has a superb talent for painting vivid pictures: I see the empty room in Only A Dream, and I see her walking on the tracks in I Take My Chances. The only song out of place here is Not Too Much To Ask, a banal country ballad, but other than that one clunker, this disc is a delight.

COMPLETLY AWESOME
im 11 and i like this album better than the crud my friends listen to. BUY THIS ALBUM ONLY IF U HAVE LOTS OF TIME. I PROMISE U WILL NEED TIME BECAUSE U WILL LISTEN TO THIS CD A ZILLION TIMES BEFORE SOME ONE VIOLENLY RIPS YOUR EAR OFF THE SPEAKER. MARY......U ROCK THE HOUSE!!