Let It Rain

Tracy Chapman - Let It Rain

Let It Rain
List Price: $7.98
Our Price: $6.67
You Save: $1.31 (16%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.88 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

Music CD Cover

Artist: Tracy Chapman
Brand: CHAPMAN,TRACY
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-10-15
Music Label: Elektra / Wea
Soundtracks:
  1. Let It Rain
  2. Another Sun
  3. You're the One
  4. In the Dark
  5. Almost
  6. Hard Wired
  7. Say Hallelujah
  8. Broken
  9. Happy
  10. Goodbye
  11. Over in Love [Instrumental]
  12. I Am Yours

Free Music Notes for Let It Rain

Free Music Review: Unusually Rewarding
Hit: 5 Stars

When Tracy Chapman titled her gorgeous, 1992 album "Matters of the Heart," she not only came up with a title for a single album; she found the four words that most accurately describe her musical approach. Let it Rain's barrage of delicate, poignant melodies and confessions illustrates that every song is a matter of the heart for Tracy. While each Chapman album conveys a unique honesty and integrity, only this latest release captures a sound that does justice to the distinct and immediately gripping melancholy of her voice, deeply resonant with the Mississippi Delta's legendarily ghostly blues or the harrowing, broken-hearted chant of an Alabama chain gang.

"If I never see another sun . . . I'll gladly take my place/in the world beyond," Chapman croons on the bleak but exquisite "Another Sun," a poignant craving for escape from suffering and death's guaranteed repose. "If no love will comfort me/If no kind words come/To offer hope or peace/When I have fallen/If I be a stranger/Friend of no one," Chapman continues on one of the best songs of her career. These are songs of an emotional depth almost unheralded in today's musical climate of pop trash, lascivious music videos and a seemingly endless supply of bubble gum. Chapman's enduring refusal to produce her albums to death, despite her big deal with Elektra, is an act of heroism, with Let it Rain standing as her most courageous effort yet.

But while Chapman's work rarely lacks emotion, her songwriting has never pierced the heart with a sharper blade. These twelve new songs achieve a poetry that eclipses even her best work, as on the gospel-tinged death chant, "Hallellujah," a wickedly raw song that gushes with hand claps, tambourines, and a haunted acoustic guitar. "The sun will rise/the stars will shine/turning day to dusk/and night to dawn/We'll pass on," she bellows. More than just "songs," many of these pieces are evocative of prayer hymns. "The picture makes a promise/The flesh lets it be broken," she laments on the somber "Broken" as a sudden, seductive throb of drums stomps through the heart of the song. With its succession of brooding, understated ballads, Let it Rain amounts to an album about as cheerful as Leonard Cohen on a rainy day. These are songs of death, desire, heartbreak and mourning, and Chapman's piercing, blues-laden writing leaves little to be hoped for. On the eerie and appropriately titled "In The Dark," Chapman almost seems to pine for ruin, having abandoned hope for anything even a slight shade brighter. "Make me fumble/Make me fall/Make my heart stop and start/To tremble uncontrollably/Let my eyes see fear make desire/Keep those who long apart/Forbid the kiss/And leave us innocent/Of the things some do in the dark," she murmurs through the song's sultry, candle-lit ambiance.

Like Leonard Cohen's recent, deeply intimate Ten New Songs, Tracy Chapman, along with producer John Parish, keeps the polish to a minimum here, allowing the bare pain of her voice and words to resonate with absolute clarity. On many of her past albums, including the universally hailed debut, Tracy appeared to struggle for a sound of her own. A modest but still too slick 80's production mars the hushed, earnest intimacy of classics like "Fast Cars" and the signature "Talkin' Bout a Revolution." It is no wonder that Tracy's unaccompanied vocal performance on the stirring "Behind the Wall" rings like a stroke of genius. The folkish leanings of 1992's Matters of the Heart delivered a gorgeous album and a classic song in "Bang Bang Bang," but not until her breakthrough single, "Give Me On Reason," did she seem close to discovering the sound that fits her voice like a glove: the blues.

With success comes the pressure for continued success, however, and while the catchy single "Telling Stories" from 2000's album of the same name made for a compelling listen, still the album's most memorable tunes are confined to its concluding handful of stripped down ballads. Tracks like "First Try" are capable of ringing tears from the very first flicker of a mandolin, banjo or tambourine, reminiscent of the kind of pathos Emmylou Harris achieves on recent triumphs such as "Red Dirt Girl" or Wrecking Ball." Some songs on Telling Stories squandered the opportunity envisioned by its final few tracks, though, resorting to a radio-eager clutter of organs, electric guitars, synthetic backing vocals and beats that were just a bit too "hip." But beginning with "Unsung Psalm," the album's centerpiece, Chapman's voice comes alive amidst a faintly wailing musical atmosphere, an atmosphere that blossoms with astonishing power and grace on Let it Rain.

Chapman and Parish neglect the pressure for commercial success at every turn here, making for an album that is at once accessible and challenging. Some songs, such as the gorgeously fragile title track or the raw, barn-stomping and angry "Hard Wired," are like listening to a broken-hearted woman's whispered prayers from the other side of a bedroom wall. ""Give me hope/That help is coming/When I need it most," she pines on the title track, "Let it rain/let it flood these streets and wash me away/To where it makes no difference who I am." While this refusal to compromise her integrity serves up a couple of bland duds, such as the aimless "Goodbye" or the wandering instrumental, "Over in Love," this is an unusually rewarding album.

Let It Rain Poster

Tracy returns with Let It Rain, an album blossoming with stories that matter, songs that ring true, and of course her remarkable stirring voice. Elektra. 2002.
With Let It Rain, Tracy Chapman has found an almost perfect platform for her potent voice. She and coproducer John Parish have opted for a muted approach where guitars and tambourines stir among simple, unadorned rhythms. The singer's once boldly strummed acoustic guitar is here replaced by a more constant tidal flow, with handclaps, gospel-tinged choruses, and an open-barreled bass drum marking time. Chapman even goes trip-hopping on "In the Dark," a strangely shadowy highpoint featuring her artfully quavering vocal melody. The jumpy interludes on "Hard Wired" and the chamber interlude of "Over in Love" (which is reminiscent of the gorgeous interstitial tunes on Hem's debut) add color. This is an awesomely crafted folk-soul creation for seasoned fans and for those who love Beth Orton and Norah Jones. --Andrew Bartlett

Folk Music CDs

Music Genres
Top music charts in Folk Music CDs
Another Place ImageMargie Adam - Another Place
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops: $15.98
Road of the Heart ImageAnn Reed - Road of the Heart
Release date: 1994-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $29.99
Back & Forth ImageAnn Reed - Back & Forth
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops: $9.98
Rainbow Path ImageKay Gardner - Rainbow Path
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $12.53
Price in other shops: $17.99
Grant Me Eyes ImageJoanne Rand - Grant Me Eyes
Release date: 2001-08-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops: $14.98
Hello Betty! ImageBetty - Hello Betty!
Release date: 1994-03-21; Music CD
Price in other shops: $11.98
Amazon ImageKay Gardner - Amazon
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Price in other shops: $9.98
Stage 2: Human Heart ImageStage 2: Human Heart
Release date: 1997-04-11; Music CD
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops: $19.98
Heart Is the Only Nation ImageCyntia Smith, Ruth Barrett - Heart Is the Only Nation
Release date: 1996-07-17; Music CD
Best price: $96.66
Giants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and Tunes ImageGiants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and Tunes
by Jim Weiss
Greathall Productions, Inc.; Greathall Productions; Published: 1996-11-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $8.69
Price in other shops: $14.95
Top Rated Albums
Ophelia (Jewel) ImageNatalie Merchant - Ophelia (Jewel)
Release date: 1998-05-19; Music CD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops: $13.96
Tigerlily ImageNatalie Merchant - Tigerlily
MERCHANT,NATALIE; Release date: 1995-06-20; Music CD
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops: $7.98
Our Bright Future ImageTracy Chapman - Our Bright Future
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 2008-11-11; Music CD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $18.98
Matters of the Heart ImageTracy Chapman - Matters of the Heart
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 1992-04-28; Music CD
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops: $13.96
Telling Stories ImageTracy Chapman - Telling Stories
Release date: 2000-02-15; Published: 2000; Music CD
Best price: $4.07
Price in other shops: $7.98
Where You Live ImageTracy Chapman - Where You Live
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 2005-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $4.42
Price in other shops: $7.98
Crossroads ImageTracy Chapman - Crossroads
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 1989-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops: $7.98
Collection ImageTracy Chapman - Collection
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 2001-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $6.05
Price in other shops: $29.98
Tracy Chapman ImageTracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 1990-10-25; Published: 1990; Music CD
Best price: $5.34
Price in other shops: $11.98
New Beginning ImageTracy Chapman - New Beginning
CHAPMAN,TRACY; Release date: 1995-11-14; Published: 1995; Music CD
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops: $7.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles