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"Time* Sex* Love*"
On albums like State of the Heart, Shooting
Straight in the Dark, and Come on Come On, Mary Chapin Carpenter
melded folkie singer-songwriter concerns with melodies and hooks
that country (and, occasionally, adult-pop) radio programmers
could get behind foursquare. Since those late-'80s/early-'90s
high points, the Brown University graduate has often pushed niceties
such as catchiness to the artistic back burner. Despite some
too-languid stretches, Time* Sex* Love*, her first studio disc
since 1996, finds Carpenter recapturing some of the balance that
marked the best of those earlier records. "In the Name of
Love" lifts off with a trademark midtempo groove and a complex
lyric about attraction and independence. Other tracks subtly
spice Carpenter's formula with lovely, sighing vocal harmonies
and fleeting evocations of Beatles-era AM radio. Her need to
attempt major statements about the sad realities of grownup life
may ultimately be Time's biggest flaw; where's Carpenter hiding
her gifts for limning small moments (State's "This Shirt")
or events that few other songwriters would think to commit to
tape (Shooting's comet-appearance commemoration "Halley
Came to Jackson")? There's reality, and there's reality.
--Rickey Wright |
