Speed of Grace

Matraca Berg | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000008DDV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,081 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best ever cover of Jolene plus many great originals, September 7, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Speed of Grace (Audio CD)

Matraca has emerged as one of the most important songwriters in country music history, yet her attempts to establish herself as a singer failed utterly for reasons that remain a mystery to me.

Following on from Matraca's debut album, Lying to the moon, which yielded four minor hits on the country charts, her second album, The speed of grace, was released in 1991. This album was even less successful than its predecessor. Curiously, only nine of the songs were new - Lying to the moon, the title track of her debut, was also included here.

Although most of the songs here were co-written by Matraca, she did a truly outstanding cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene, giving it a new, fresh, almost spooky arrangement. Among the original songs, highlights are Slow poison, I won't let go, Waiting for the sky to fall and River of no return, but I enjoy all the songs here.

Following the failure of this album, Matraca focused entirely on her songwriting, although she tried again a few years later, also without success. This collection provides ample proof of Matraca's ability as both singer and songwriter. Her cover of Jolene also proves that she can interpret other people's songs. So the contrast between her success as a songwriter and her failure as a singer remains a mystery.

All the tracks from this album and its predecessor were released on the British compilation The masters. When I wrote this review, that compilation was still available in the UK but is now out of print.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars matraca=GREAT writting!, February 23, 2005

By 

Polexia - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speed of Grace (Audio CD)

my first knowledge of this cd was the lyrics. i bought her cd, sunday morning to saturday night and COMPLETLY fell in love with this womans music. so i checked out the lyrics to her other cds. and they TOTALY amazed me. she has also written/co-written songs that other artist have recorded, artist like, Trisha yearwood, Mindy MCCready, Martina McBride, Suzy Boggus, Pam Tillis, Deana Carter, Dixie Chicks.

there is not a song on this album that i DON'T like. But some songs are better then others. she opens the album with the slow-passed song; slow poison, then she continues with the a little more up-beat song Tall drink of water, that not only sounds great, it also have clever lyrics, the 3rd song is amazing,let's face it! and so the album carries on, with one amazing song after the other, track 5 is her version of Dolly Partons classic; Jolene.

what i love about Matraca Bergs music is the wonderful images she gives the listeners, the words she uses in adition to her voice and the music.

4.0 out of 5 stars Matraca Goes West Coast, November 18, 2009

By 

Christopher Henrici (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Speed of Grace (Audio CD)

Have to agree with everyone here about Matraca Berg. In 1993 I read a review of this in the now defunct Stereo Review magazine. That is when I learned of Matraca Berg's roots as a Nashville songwriter and bought this cd soon after. Though she had sucess as a songwriter for other people, her own solo recording career was not given enough attention. This album must have slipped by alot of people when it came out because Matraca Berg is the real deal. "Speed of Grace" goes for a more polished, atmospheric sound compared to her first one which was more true country, this is closer to "pop country" and maybe a slight departure from what Matraca herself considers her real sound (she left RCA shortly after this). Yet it is my favorite album by her. With all the public acclaim "Country-Pop" has garnered since then this album would have been more sucessful if properly promoted and released today- that's how far ahead of its time it was. "Speed of Grace" has top west coast session men, excellent recorded sound, and great cd mastering by Bernie Grundman. For what it's worth, this is the cd my friend asked me to bring over anytime he bought new "high end" stereo gear. The quality is "audiophile". Great songs and a sincere performance from Berg make this little known disc a gem.