Customer Reviews

Crossroads

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Took sometime without listening to this album, then decided to purchase it again, just to hear more of the magic, and it sounds better everyday. Bridges and Be careful Of my Heart are great tracks...the guiter quality and blend of instruments with Tracy's strong voice makes Damien Rice look like he got his stuff from this album.

Tracy Chapman is a true poet. When you listen to her songs you know those words and that music comes straight from her heart. There is nothing superficial about this artist. The highlights of this CD are "Bridges(the Best Tracy Chapman song ever), Born to Fight, All That You Have Is Your Soul, and This Time. She puts so much into these songs. As you listen you start to feel all those emotions she must have felt writing the songs. If you like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and all the other "folk" singers, then Tracy is the modern-day artis for you.

Every time I buy a Tracy Chapman CD I say, "this is the best one yet" and it's true. Crossroads is one of her first, the lyrics are enlightening and inspired. I highly recommend this CD.

Tracy's voice is wonderful, soulful and honest...but what is really amazing is her song-writing skill. Her lyrics always make you think about yourself and the world in which you live-- actually, quite a few of these songs have helped me out of dark times and given me hope that I thought I'd lost (specifically "All That You Have is Your Soul" --the final track on the disk). Some of her recent work cannot compare to this early album.

Track #3, "Freedom Now," and "Born to Fight" (track #7) are reasons enough to buy this CD. The lyrics are inspiring and the melodies are complex, but simple at the same time. If you like Tracy's later work, then you'll love this disk. The songs have the same deep feel, but they're presented in a much more positive way--the beat is up tempo and not as sleepy as her later works.

Buy this CD, you'll love it for sure.

This sophmore release by Tracy Chapman proves that her firstalbum was no accident. If there was any doubt, this poet, lyricist,song writer, singer and guitar player is incredibly talented. Her unique voice breathes life into one awesome song after another. Every song tells a story, whether it is a love story, a parable of the evils of material gain at the sacrifice of relationships or racial indifference. These aren't "preachy" songs... and you can listen to them w/o even paying attention to the lyrics if you want... the sounds are soft enough to play in the background while you're at work, or rockin' enough so you can jack up the volume on your car stereo and sing along. Tracy Chapman has a unique sound that really can't be compared to anything else you've heard before. A tremelo in her unique-sounding voice, the sounds of 6 and 12-string guitars, soft drums and an occaisional banjo makes this a little bit country, a lot of rock, a pinch of folk and just Tracy Chapman.

Owning Tracy Chapman and Telling Stories, I decided to give Crossroads a go. Luckily there are ten songs, so there is an easy way to rate this

Crossroads: 10/10. A truly amazing and spiritual track that uses percussive instruments well and utilizes amazing vocals.

Bridges: 8.5/10 A slower track, yet filled with moving guitar and piano, backed with her obviously stupendous vocals.

Freedom Now: 8.5/10 I'm not sure, but I can see a bunch of guys singing this as they work on the railroad. A fin track, and it's dedicated to a guy a really like (Nelson Mandela) so let's add a point to 9.5.

Material World: 9/10 This track must have written itself. Resembling some works on Tracy Chapman, this is an enjoyable song.

Be Careful of My Heart: 10/10 This is one of the most beautiful tracks, with guitars and heart wrenching vocals.

Subcity: 9.5/10 When I read the lyrics to this song, I thought it would be depressing, but it has a fun tune and beat.

Born To Fight: 9/10 This a tough, spunky song, with lot of great saxophone. It is really great to sing.

A Hundred Years: 8/10 Probably the weakest song on the album, yet still has a catchy tune.

This Time: 10/10 What a beautiful song, that rings true powerfully, and makes me want to singalong each time.

All That You Have is your Soul: 10/10 Like Be Careful of My Heart, a truly beautiful track.

How does it add up?.....93.5% or a whopping A+ or five star rating!

When it comes to songwriters, I rank Tracy Chapman up there with the best of them. True, most of her songs deal with the same subjects, but you can at least depend on her music to deliver thought-provoking views to such serious topics as racism, injustice, freedom and much more. The booklet accompanying the CD contains the words to the songs. "Freedom Now", a song she has dedicated to Nelson Mandela, really stands out as one of the CD's main focal songs. The CD ends with a slower melody, "All That You Have Is Your Soul", causing reflection on materialism, truth, and life. The second stanza reads: Don't be tempted by the shiny apple/Don't you eat of a bitter fruit/Hunger only for a taste of justice/Hunger only for a world of truth/'Cause all that you have is your soul. In this CD, Tracy Chapman delivers her songs with a piece of her soul in each song.

It's a shame that when an artist, such as Tracy Chapman, wins a Grammy for Best New Artist, she is then forgotten. I have been a fan right from the beginning, in 1988, with "Fast Car." I was 15 then, and Tracy touched a nerve for me. I thoroughly enjoyed her debut and was quite pleased that she won a Grammy. However, her following albums, Crossroads, Matters of the Heart, New Beginning and Telling Stories have all been dismissed by critics and Top 40 radio (with the exception of Give Me One Reason in 1996). I believe that Crossroads was just as great as her debut. It has ten solid tracks from "Crossroads", "Born To Fight", "All That You Have Is Your Soul" to "This Time", "Bridges", "Freedom Now" and "Subcity." It's a shame that Top 40 radio and teenagers turn away from great music that also has meaning in its lyrics. Crossroads is a great cd to have in your music collection.

I was recently given this c.d. as a present and couldn't believe how beautiful it was! Her voice is so phenomenally pure, different and really relaxing to listen to. You will NOT be disappointed if you get this.

Hi! fellow Tracy Chapman Fans, I believe this CD is implicitly dedicated to Nelson Mandela and if you are concerned with racism and dispise the supremacists of any sort, you'd better listen to this CD and say the racists that they are deceiving themselves and make other people suffer and 'one day they'll find they're walking lonely, lonely' or even if are not civilized enough to enjoy and appreciate the human nature diversity that God created , they'd better find another planet to live. For example I am African (kinky-haired, dark-skinned,and thick-lipped like Tracy)and I love myself a lot. I love, besides black women of course, to behold the beauty of Bengali women and sometimes I don't resist to the green eyes and golden hair of a Europeen girl. The songs in crossroads help you to let your emotions fly up to Madiba's cell,or devote a 100 years love to someone.It's a privilege being able to love. Trcacy can teach you with this CD

Go Tracy, go.

Avelino Monteiro de Freitas