Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hits on all cylinders, February 4, 2000
While some of MCC's work fails to hit the target with me, her muse apparently was sparking on all cylinders on this fine CD.Mary is a good writer, but on other CDs, particularly "Stones in the Road," I have occasionally found her ballads tedious with little of musical interest to recommend them. She suffers no such missteps on "State of the Heart." The CD's great opener, "How Do," perks right along, then she changes pace with the poignant "Something of a Dreamer." That variety offers the key to the album's success. There isn't a dull moment or a poorly conceived tune. If you want hooks, try "Quittin' Time" or "Never Had It So Good." "This Shirt" and "Mary's Land" are fine singer/songwriter vehicles. Throughout, the thoughtful lyrics are aided by tight arrangements. This is an intelligent CD for folks who like to actually listen to the music they buy, not use it for background sound. I'm not a big country fan, but it's impossible not to appreciate the effort here.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Mary Chapin Carpenter Classic, January 25, 2001
"State of the Heart" has to be my other all time favorite album of Mary's, next to "Stones in the Road". I can literally hear the heartache come through on "Never Had It So Good" and "Goodbye Again". The beauty of Mary Chapin Carpenter's music is that it is honest and often heartbreaking. Plus there is none of that annoying twanginess you normally hear in most country music. "Slow Country Dance" is a charming ballad that almost makes me want to dance with someone to this song. I have been a longtime ardent fan of Mary's music for a long time and I continue to do so for as long as she puts out music.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Down in Mary's Land, January 30, 2004
State of the Heart is one of the few albums I kept from my brief high school country music craze. It was one of my favorites at the time and I played it over and over while laying in the hot summer sun trying to get a tan to impress someone (who, I did not know). In fact, a lot of this record is about women watching as time wastes away while they're hopelessly waiting for something or, more specifically, somebody. One of Carpenter's subjects is waiting for a love that will never be ("Something of a Dreamer") or, worse, coming apart at the seams when the married man with whom an aging woman is infatuated never leaves his family for her ("Goodbye Again"). She sings of a woman who loses her boyfriend to his ex ("Never Had It So Good") or of women who try too hard to attract men at a bar that they become the objects of ridicule ("Slow Country Dance"). But there are songs where the woman takes charge "How Do," "Read My Lips," "It Don't Bring You." And there is some happiness on this album "down in Mary's land": "When you don't need nothing but some beer and a bushel."Muscially, besides the ordinary honky tonk tracks "How Do," and "Read My Lips," State of the Heart is a very enjoyable and interesting album. "Never Had it So Good" and "Quittin' Time" (which I believe were two singles off this disc) are incredibly catchy. "Something of a Dreamer" is charming and "Down in Mary's Land" is fun yet restrained. "Goodbye Again" actually has a spookiness about it, as if she were singing of an old spinster woman long ago: "She keeps his picture tucked away. She thinks she'll have it framed one day. And maybe he'll come see it there. Hanging by her rocking chair." In "This Shirt," I think Carpenter tries too hard to write a stellar metaphorical song. Here, a shirt symbolizes a woman's life and love. She slept on it, made whoopie on it, kittens were born on it...Would anyone really keep wearing this shirt?? Also, the stanza I never could understand is when she lent it to her boyfriend. Did he want to wear it? Is this a unisex shirt? Anyway, the song seems to try to force sentiment. The track I think works better is the last one, "It Don't Bring You." Here, Carpenter's subject takes control of a bad relationship. She realizes it will never work, but instead of wasting away like some of the other subjects on this album, she lets her man go but will not accept all the blame: "I can't bring you kindness if you ain't kind." It is not a happy ending in the traditional sense, but it does hint that things will get better for this character. It is also a beautiful song.
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~ Mary Chapin Carpenter
~ Mary Chapin Carpenter
~ Mary Chapin Carpenter
~ Mary Chapin Carpenter
~ Mary Chapin Carpenter
by Mary Chapin Carpenter 
