Customer Reviews

Our Bright Future

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is so much to love about this album--but it doesn't quite reach Tracy's highest standards of excellence. Tracy Chapman has one of the most distinctive and warm voices in music, and from a straight vocal standpoint, everything is as beautiful as it has ever been. Her vibrato is as strong as ever, no hint of effort on her part. Every note seems channeled from some inner well of grace. Her intonations are perfect--floating over her guitar at moments of emotional delicacy, punching on the beat when she decries injustice. Her lyrics are poignant, insightful, but not searing. She no longer sounds as angry as she once was, but just sadder. This is perhaps understandable--she is more than 20 years on from where we first her Talkin' 'bout a Revolution, but I know that the fire that she has showed in the past is still there, and I was hoping for a little more to rise to the surface.

This is not an album that you can get on the first listen, and indeed, the melodies improve and stick in the memory more with repeated spins, but there is nothing here that will even rise as high as "Bang Bang Bang" in terms of memorable tunes.

Ultimately, if you are a fan of this amazing lady, then you are going to enjoy this disc a lot. If you find that the last several of her discs have started sounding similar one to another, then this disc will hold no surprises for you. I don't think that is a bad thing, but it is a true thing. Tracy has been our travelling companion for two decades, reminding us of how love hurts but is still worth it (mostly), of how America has some real wonders, but how we have a great responsibility incurred by simply living here, and how sometimes people are not what they seem. She was right then, she is right now. This is a good disc, a warm disc, but a sad disc. On Conditional, Tracy sums up exactly what is required to love this album well: "There are strings attatched/tied to me/I want something back/if you agree/to be in love with me". If you agree to give back the effort it takes to love these songs, they will deepen for you and make this disc something to keep warm by this winter; if you give it a cursory listen, you might miss the point entirely. I know that Tracy can do better than this, but for now, this is a beautiful interlude, and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

At 44, Tracy Chapman has written another of her archetypal protest songs, one which makes its point eloquently but is delivered in somewhat sleepy fashion.
The title track turns out to be more bittersweet than its title suggests - the full lyric is "our bright future is in our past". The tastefully downbeat arrangement defuses the angry, questioning lyrics, robbing them of potential power and turning what could have been a trenchant anti-war song into a downcast acceptance of the inevitable.
"Something To See" is another protest song that doesn't protest too hard.
Unlike Sam Cooke on A Change Is Gonna Come, Chapman does not sing with passionate conviction. Even though it is all there in the lyrics, she never strays from her trademark mild delivery.
It's been 20 years since "Fast Car" first alerted the world to Tracy Chapman.
Eight albums later, not a lot has changed. That voice is intact, although her lyrical concerns are now more focused on love. A posse of veteran players ensure that "Our Bright Future" has a professional sheen, everything tasteful and underplayed. This type of well-mannered pop/folk is perhaps not to everyone's taste, but if you are in a quiet mood, these sweet and earnest melodies might touch a lost.
With a lush production by Larry Klein (frequent musical collaborator, and ex-husband, of Joni Mitchell, and producer of female singers like Holly Cole, Mary White, Shawn Colvin, Julia Fordham and Madeleine Peyroux), the result could easily be predicted.
Despite the optimistic-sounding title, Chapman has not come over all saccharine, though.
Her strident earnestness has been tempered, leaving a wry warmth that turns even such political numbers as "Something to See (No War)" into something intimate and beguiling.
A highlight is the older-and-wiser sigh of "A Theory". This is actually a pretty witty number, in which Chapman woos a potential lover using cerebral terminology ("in theory I could propose and in theory you could affirm that you were meant for me").
Yes,songs namecheck Katrina, Obama et al - but there's also a playful, reflective quality as Chapman looks back at the way music has shaped her life. She is terrific on obsessive love, while on "Conditional", a riposte to commitment-phobes, she rails, "There are strings attached... I want something back".
The arrangement has a light, jazzy feel with sashaying clarinet and tinkling piano.
"Our Bright Future" is a potentially stimulating album, but it has been rendered in a gentle hush-and-rustle soothing manner that it will eventually wash over the listener when it could have better expressed the challenges of these particular, difficult times.

Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964

When I say I'm a Tracy Chapman fan, that's an understatement. The last time I saw her was in Tucson for the Westward Swing Vote. She was, once again, amazing. I think I'm simply the fan of Tracy and her guitar. I think her past two albums, Where You Live and Let It Rain are my all time favorites and I haven't loved one of her albums that much since Crossroads. They both left me singing the tunes and every song had such an emotional message that made me think. I was INCREDIBLY excited for Our Bright Future and I can't figure out what happened.

Every song blends into the next and they all sound the same. It has many religious undertones, which is fine if I wanted a Christian album. Her voice is IMMACULATE and still gives me goosebumps. I guess I miss the variety of all her songs on an album. The same thing seems to be said on most of the songs on this album. I do like I Did It All and Conditional but I can't find my place in the others because they all sound the same. This is SO hard for me to say. I guess I miss those heart wrenching and simplistic acoustic songs like The Promise, Be Careful Of My Heart, Don't Dwell, Goodbye, In the Dark, The Love That You Had, or For You. They were greatly missed on this album and that is classic Tracy. I still plan on going wherever she is close to KC but I hope she does much from her past albums. Still love her!

Tracy Chapman's new CD stands out because of her depth as songwriter, powerful vocal performance & unique sound. "Save Us All" is one of my favorite tracks on the CD with its slap-happy rhythm & joyful expression of tolerance, "I've heard that your God's older, Buddha, Allah, Krishna, manifest with many faces, worshipped the world over in foreign places; I assume your God must love you." Chapman revisits the theme about the need for redemption on the hauntingly lovely title track, "To our Father, what good may come to let the children walk alone, to fear to fail & need no savior to be at peace in our bright future?" "For a Dream" also has a spiritually soothing quality. "Thinking of You" glides on Dean Parks' pixie-like guitar, "You floated on the air, far away at light speed; I guess some objects do defy the laws that we conceive." "Something to See" envisions a day when war is a history on a lovely track. Chapman examines many religious beliefs with a joyful, tender spirit. From track to track, "Our Bright Future" is a consistently excellent, a pleasure. Bravo!

"Our Bright Future" marks 20 years of Tracy Chapman, and from the first time I saw the video for "Fast Car" in 1988 I was sold. I went out and immediately bought her self titled debut at age 15. I appreciated Chapman's stark approach compared to what I was listening to at the time. She stood out. Of course now, years later, I understand Joan Armatrading, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and a host of others paved the way for Tracy, but I have continued to buy everything from her during her 20 year tenure.

"Our Bright Future" continues the Chapman tradition of writing straightforward, but heartfelt songs about love like "Sing For You", "Thinking Of You" and "A Theory". Or wry takes on celebrity like "I Did It All". Or an analysis of deities on "Save Us All". Chapman is a master wordsmith, and while the songs on "Our Bright Future" may not grab you quite the way the songs did on her debut, she does continue to grow and mature (although she was always mature).

"Our Bright Future" is not as jubilant as its title suggests. Chapman is never one to really get all bright and happy. She takes more of a cautionary approach, a skepticism that has made her music more enduring than many of her contemporaries.

Here's how "Our Bright Future" adds up:

1988 Tracy Chapman: Five Stars
1989 Crossroads: Five Stars
1992 Matters Of The Heart: Four Stars
1995 New Beginning: Four Stars
2000 Telling Stories: Three Stars
2002 Let It Rain: Three Stars
2005 Where You Live: Four Stars
2008 Our Bright Future: Three and a Half Stars

In the twenty-year long run since 'Fast Car' raced into the American psyche, Tracy Chapman has delighted, wooed, soothed, and even befuddled those of us who tend toward meaningful folk-pop. Perhaps the only downfall of Chapman's latest release, then, is simply one of timing. Released on November 11th, 2008, 'Our Bright Future' could have picked up on the sweeping, historical energy propugated by the election of Barak Obama to the Presidency a week earlier. Instead, Chapman's CD exudes a quiet, introspective intimacy that, in fact, opines that 'our bright future' is actually 'in our past'... Huh? In this current political context, this rhetoric simply contradicts the newfound sense of hope many Americans felt with the kind of presidential election many of us thought would not occur during our lifetime. Gone are the sharp, stinging lyrics of people 'talking about a revolution' or requesting that the president be given 'my honest regards; for disregarding me'. Older now, and understandably more complacent, Chapman sounds like one who has become comfortable reflecting on the state of our world instead of hoping to make grandiose stands on how to somehow change it.
'Our Bright Future' pays equal attention to matters political as well as personal: 'Conditional', 'A Theory', and 'Thinking of You' reveal the uncertainties and the highs and lows where matters of the heart are concerned. 'I Did It All' captures Chapman at her reflective and witty best as she looks back on a life and a career fraught with few regrets (despite the fact that most of her 20's were admittedly 'lived in a haze'). 'Something to See' and 'The First Person on Earth' imagine a world without war and an exploration of 'original sin' and how that still impacts us all today. Stand out cuts, however, are the CD's opening cut 'Sing For You' and the yearning plea of 'Save Us All'. 'Sing For You' manages to wrap itself around the listener with understated and simple lyrics and a melody that is one of Chapman's most endearing to date. This song's best quality, however, is its ability to stir emotion and engender contemplation with a chorus that is 'sung' without words... Quite simply, this song must be experienced to be truly and wholly appreciated. 'Save Us All' is Chapman's cry to religion as the vehicle that will (hopefully) one day be our ultimate salvation. Though she sings of Jesus with commitment and conviction, Chapman also acknowledges the faith of others around the world and eventually comes to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter what God you worship...but, hopefully, one of these Gods will one day 'Save Us All...and love the sinners, too'. For some, this song, and this CD in total, may come off as a whitewashed, watered-down, weary-minded complacency that lacks the drive and the fire of much of Tracy Chapman's early works. But Chapman, now in her mid-40's, should be allowed to write from that place in her life where her heart, mind, and soul presently reside. Understandably, the meteoric zoom and rise of her 'fast car' has slowed to a reflective cruise... The question, though, that many long-time listeners of this gifted singer may be haunted with is 'Has Chapman shifted into a state of cruise control?'... As for me, I prefer to think not. I am, however, unable to forget about the notion that music- and especially folk/rock- plays best when it is rooted in the current times and the present psyche of the world at large. Inevitably, the downtrodden spirit of this disc contradicts with the exuberance of many in this time which may well go down as one of this nation's most crucial turning points of the last half-century. 'Our Bright Future', then, may, in fact, be ahead of us.

Attempting to write a worthy review of a single Tracy Chapman release is difficult, in the same way it would be hard to try and define a person you deeply love in a single paragraph; there's always the desire to go back and forth in time, the necessity to find a more perfect word or phrase or example deserving of the one who has so captured your heart. And so it is with this remarkable woman. Tracy Chapman has a voice equally capable of soothing a frightened child into a sound slumber, or awakening a generation to a social emergency. And as her muse has led her deep into a third decade of artistry, those wise enough to have accompanied her on her ascendant journey have undoubedly had their musical world deepened, ripened and enriched. Music should move you, but sometimes it should also shake you. Tracy knows this. If she'd not chosen to do music, I have little doubt that she would have found some other means of reaching us with her unwavering commitment to love, peace and social justice. Thankfully, she chose music, which for me is the most direct and accessible vehicle for inspiration.

I was immediately struck (and, I'll admit, a bit surprised) by the title of this release. It begged a number of questions, which is, of course, what Art should do. Is she referring to a lover? Could she possibly be so optimistic about our country's future? But just as I stated, a phrase-or in this case, a song title-could hardly hope to explain everything being said in this beautiful collection. Throughout, Tracy walks a narrow line between sadness and anger, but also with an ever-present undercurrent of hope that our "bright future may come to pass." There are personal stories, and there are songs trying to make sense of what has, and continues to go on across the planet. Through it all--the pain, the anger, the losses and the fears, she conveys, and convincingly, a genuine belief in what is still possible. Perhaps it is the most extraordinary thing about Chapman's music, and one of the reasons why people are still listening, waiting to hear what she has to say next. I think what I most love about Tracy is her ability to put her arms around any issue, large or small, personal or political, and somehow, with that rich and remarkable voice, make me feel that she is in my presence, breathing, singing only to me.

Three years ago I was privileged to see Tracy Chapman in concert, and to do so with a woman who, believe it or not, loves Tracy even more than I do. There were moments that night when the considerable distance between the stage and our seats seemed to go away, and it felt to me as if Tracy was singing only to us. And for a few minutes there, I knew she really was...

I was excited when I just recently discovered that Tracy released a new CD late in 2008. This album quickly became a favorite of mine, joining the ranks of her first album (although there isn't much likeness between the two albums). I find that a lot of Tracy Chapman albums require a couple of listenings to fully appreciate the music and become familiar with the lyrics, however, on "Our Bright Future" the songs stuck with me after the first listen.
My favorite songs from "Our Bright Future":
"Sing For You"
"Save us All"
"I Did it all"
"Our Bright Future"

Thanks for the great album Tracy!

I can't stop myself from humming these songs to myself all day at work - and for a hard-bitten engineer, that's saying a lot. There's a few songs that don't work but the others more than make up for it. Highly recommended.

It is seldom I purchase a CD and immediatley LOVE everything on it. Tracy Chapman's Our Bright Future is truly a rarity. The music and the lyrics are emotionally intelligent...hard to find these days. If she was not already one of my favorite artists, she certainly is now. If you like Tracy Chapman, you will love this CD. If you have never heard her but like soulful, thought provoking music with a purpose, this CD is for you.