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. The Only One
11. First Try

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19143 in Music
• Published on: 2000
• Released on: 2000-02-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.com
With Telling Stories, her first album since 1995's New Beginnings, Tracy Chapman returns to the spare, unsentimental feel of her early work. In doing so, she recaptures some of the urgency and simple melodiousness that made her debut a soulful folk-rock classic. There's maturity here, exemplified by recurring spiritual metaphors. On "Unsung Psalm" she imagines her funeral, singing, "I'd have a halo and flowing white robes / If I live right." "Wedding Song" offers the plainspoken, devotional line, "I reach out for your hand / For you I'd don a veil." The musical arrangements, too, are pared-down, with ghostly banjo, silvery fiddle, and guitar woven into subtle drum loops. Though not as immediately captivating as her debut, Telling Stories is a focused return to form for Chapman. --Lucy O'Brien

Customer Reviews

Another Amazing Work
Amidst all of the dark stories generated by most facets of the media, here is a woman who just beems with light! Even her most heart wrenching songs seems to call up hope from somewhere deep. It is easy to develope expectations from a particular artist in how they should sound based upon previous projects. However, people progress and evolve (most, anyway). I've read reviews by some who say she doesn't groove on "Telling Stories" like she had in the past. That may be. But relax and give this disc a few listens, beginning to end. You'll find it has a powerful and delicious flavor, although delicate. Like a fine wine or a very good scotch. Swirl it around a bit; really taste it! "Telling Stories" is very thoughtful, warm, and reflective. Tracy's voice cuts right into me, as always. Her band did a great job as well: again, very tasty yet subtle. Her music is an absolute blessing to the world! Beauty is only skin deep? Not at all. Tracy Chapman is saturated in it! Thank you, Tracy, for another incredible disc! P.S. - If you're looking for a drummer...

Masterful "Stories" returns to Tracy Chapman's roots
I've been a Tracy Chapman fan since I first heard "Baby Can I Hold You" way back in the 1980s. I thought her first album was incredible, but the followups left me a little disappointed. Even though there were very good songs on all the albums, there wasn't much depth or consistency. I got "Telling Stories" on Saturday and have been listening to it ever since. Reviews say it is similar to her first cd, "Tracy Chapman", but to me it seems more like a synthesis of that album and the style of some of her worthier competitors, like Natalie Merchant. If you like Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant, Julia Fordham, or early Everything But The Girl, you should enjoy this cd. One word of caution: the blues grooves that made "Give Me One Reason" such a big hit are missing from this album. The album also flows well from start to finish, for an amazing listening experience.

Chapman: A story to be told
Telling Stories is a classic Chapman release that will please all fans, but includes some new sounds and rythms that might surprise the first time around. The introductory track and "Speak the Word," the third extract, would not be included in the usual Tracy repertoire. "Unsung Psalm," the sixth song, is certainly the climax of the album; a very peaceful, poetic, and inspiring piece. The songs that follow are far more typical and equal to the standard set in previous Chapman albums. In general, a good release and a sure buy, despite lacking the brilliance of songs such as "Fast Car" or "So."