TRACY CHAPMAN – DEBUT LP – Nr MINT 1988 ORIG

Tracy Chapman
(Elektra Records  1988  EKT44)
Matrix No’s: A2/B2

Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are a few light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her hits “Fast Car” and “Give Me One Reason”, along with other singles “Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution”, “Baby Can I Hold You”, “Crossroads”, “New Beginning”, and “Telling Stories”. She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award–winning artist.

Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released her critically acclaimed debut album Tracy Chapman, which became a multi-platinum worldwide hit. The album earned Chapman six Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year, three of which she won, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single “Fast Car”, and Best New Artist. Chapman released her second album Crossroads the following year, which garnered her an additional Grammy nomination. Since then, Chapman has experienced further success with six more studio albums, which include her multi-platinum fourth album New Beginning, for which she won a fourth Grammy Award, for Best Rock Song, for its lead single “Give Me One Reason”. Chapman’s most recent album is Our Bright Future, released in 2008.

Tracy Chapman is the self-titled debut album by singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released on April 5, 1988 by Elektra Records. The album was recorded all in Hollywood, California. In 1987, Chapman was discovered by fellow Tufts University student Brian Koppelman. He offered to show her talent to his father, who owned a successful publishing company, however she did not consider. However, after multiple performances, Koppelman found a demo tape of her singing her single “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution“, where he took it to radio stations, and was eventually signed to Elektra Records.

Through the production of the album, many producers turned down Chapman as they did not favor her musical direction. However, David Kershenbaum wanted to produce the studio album and songs, as he has always wanted to record acoustic music. The album was recorded all in Hollywood, California within only eight weeks of recording. Most of the writing is based on political and social causes.

Tracy Chapman was critically acclaimed from basically all music critics, praising the simplicity, Chapman’s vocal ability and the lyrical content. Critics also noted that because of Chapman’s recording and writing back in the 80’s era, critics said it has benefited off other mainstream artists. They also noticed the political and social lyrical content. Tracy Chapman received commercial success in most countries it charted in. The album peaked in the top spot in countries including Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The album also peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200, and was certified 6x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with sales exceeding over six million copies in the United States alone.

Three singles were released from the album, with the most commercial successful single being “Fast Car”. The song was performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute, which made it rise inside the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also charted in countries including Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom and other European countries.

Track listing

All songs written by Tracy Chapman.

Personnel

• Tracy Chapman – acoustic guitar, percussion, rhythm guitar, vocals
• Ed Black – steel guitar
• Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
• Denny Fongheiser – percussion, drums
• Jack Holder – organ, dulcimer, dobro, piano, electric guitar, Hammond organ, sitar
• Steve Kaplan – harmonica, keyboard
• Larry Klein – bass
• David LaFlamme – electric violin
• Bob Marlette – keyboard

Production

• David Kershenbaum – production
• Brian Koppelman, Don Rubin – executive production
• Kevin Smith – engineering
• Kevin Smith – mixing
• Carol Bobolts – art direction
• Matt Mahurin – photography