Tracy Chapman: Our Bright Future - 2008

This was actually Tracy Chapman's last album to date. By now, you don't need me to tell you that it is made up of intelligent, sensitive, meaningful and evocative songs delivered in reassuringly warm fashion and backed by immaculately played and never intrusive music. 

Bar a bit of additionally robust backing from her third album onwards, Tracy has been the same for twenty years. She does what she does and she tells it as it is. The world was better for having her music in it for those twenty years. 

Highlights are the gently catchy and surprisingly light (for Tracy) Sing For You, the gospel/country shuffle of Save Us All, the attractively rhythmic Thinking Of You, the similarly snappy A Theory and the pleasingly organ-backed Something To See. I can't really analyse each song individually because I would simply describe the songs as "warm", "evocative", "moving", "gentle" etc etc. That is what they are, simple as that. I love her for it. 

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