Music CD - Mary Chapin Carpenter: The Calling

	Music CD: The Calling Artist: Mary Chapin Carpenter List Price: $17.98 Our Price: $10.49 Your Save: $ 7.49 ( 42% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Zoe Records
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Tracks: 1. The Calling 2. We're All Right 3. Twilight 4. It Must Have Happened 5. On And On It Goes 6. Your Life Story 7. Houston 8. Leaving Song 9. On With The Song 10. Closer And Closer Apart 11. Here I Am 12. Why Shouldn't We 13. Bright Morning Star
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0601143111129 Label: Zoe Records Manufacturer: Zoe Records Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Zoe Records Release Date: 2007-03-06 Studio: Zoe Records
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Better when she doesn't try to preach politics. Comment: I like it better when an artist doesn't try to tell me how right thier way of thinking is and how wrong any other political view has to be. I mean they should just stick to entertaining since none of them are smart enough to do more than that. That aside this is just okay music compared to much of her other work. If you happen to be a big fan (like me) you will likely want this cd (and mostly enjoy it). If you are looking to give Mary Chapin Carpenter a try then I would look into Stones in the Road for a first purchase. Customer Rating: Summary: BEST MCC YET ,SHE'S MATURED LIKE A FINE WINE! Comment: This album is her best yet. If you're looking for some of her more hook heavy styled songs like ,SHUT UP&KISS ME ,I FEEL LUCKY& PASSIONET KISSES,this may not be the album for you.If you're looking for songs with depth, passion and strong lyrical and musical content,BUY IT! She has come a long way since her early days. The more you listen to it the more you will love it. The songs have real heart, depth and meaning. Her vocals are as strong as I have ever heard fom her,both musically&recorded. The recording is impeccable,both strong&clear,with vocals that are super strong. The songs are all strong & meaningful.IF you are not moved by "HOUSTON" there is something wrong with you! THIS IS TRUE AMERICANA at it's finest!!!!!!!!!! Customer Rating: Summary: Inspirational Comment: Although this album didn't win the grammy for which it was nominated - it is well worth adding to your collection of awesome music! Most inspirational album - another great one that could only come from the talents of Mary Chapin Carpenter! Customer Rating: Summary: Perhaps her best yet Comment: This may be MCCs best release yet. Houston is incredible, Leaving Song, On With the Song :) WOW! Just get this CD and superglue it in your CD Player. :) Customer Rating: Summary: A disappointment Comment: I am a huge fan of MCC, owning every CD she released. I agree with the reviewer who longs for her poetry of previous releases versus the heavy handed message on "Calling". Where is the brilliance and subtle storytelling of "I am a Town", "Stones in the Road" or "This Shirt", the exuberance of "Twist & Shout" the strength of "The Hard Way" or the wistfulness of "Swept Away"? Politics aside, what I look for from any artist are compelling lyrics and memorable arrangements and melodies. Repeating "twilight" 50 million times until your audience is asleep has none of those no matter how strong the vocal. That said, I am always turned off by editorial opinions disguised as entertainment and the Bush bashing with a uptempo beat is really lame. I always got strong visual images and emotions listening to MCC, but none of that here. The tunes were derivative, the lyrics stilted and uninspired and the arrangements slick and predictable. "Houston" was probably the strongest and most reminiscent of what she is capable of, telling the personal story instead of packaged lines. It deserved being surrounded by a better collection. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: In recent years, Mary Chapin Carpenter--once among the most promising stars of the folkie infiltration of Nashville ("Down at the Twist and Shout," "I Feel Lucky")--abandoned all desire to dot the country music charts. Free of that ill-fitting yoke she returned to being what she really was all along: A literate acoustic singer-songwriter. In 2004, she released a tour de force, Between Here and Gone, which combined affecting social commentary on the events of 9/11 with personal meditations on her changed life as a married woman living in rural Virginia. The Calling picks up where that album left off, using the same co-producer, pianist Matt Rollings, and core musicians, including John Jennings, who helped Carpenter shape her sonic landscape some 20 years ago. If the new album goes farther in advocating a political conscience--"On with the Song" takes jabs at the jingoistic rubes who dissed the Dixie Chicks, while "Why Shouldn't We" insists we'll have worthy heroes in office again one day--it largely invokes the same quiet, warm, and conversational tone as its predecessor. On the whisper-soft "Twilight," which frames a perfect, peaceful evening with a nearly spiritual grace, a listener might easily imagine himself chatting with the artist about long-held secrets and shared experiences, the Blue Ridge Mountains looming in the background. That is part of Carpenter's gift--connecting with her audience's shadow self, using her deeply nuanced alto to fill even the simplest words with profound knowing. As a pure craftsman, however, she ranks with the giants of past generations in capturing the small, bruised hearts seemingly lost in the chaos of a catastrophic event. "Houston," one such song here, recalls Woody Guthrie's great "Deportee" in its power and the pathos of the Hurricane Katrina victims who were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving everything behind but fear and hope. "Mama's got her baby/Sleeping in a grocery cart," it begins, at once setting up a picture of wrenching desperation. Carpenter, no stranger to blue moods herself, knows how tough it is to emerge from a dark period of pained restlessness to find one's very self again. The album's soothing closer, "Bright Morning Star," like much of the record as a whole, offers a beacon of light and safe harbor for those shipwrecked on life's rocky shores. --Alanna Nash