In 2001, Mary Chapin Carpenter released the slightly uneven, but still stellar, Time*Sex*Love*, which to me was her first brush with excellence since 1992's Come On Come On.

Several months ago, with a wedding ring now on her finger, Chapin released Between Here And Gone. I was interested in it only after I had listened to quite a bit of it on CMT's Listening Party. Guess I wasn't listening closely enough. :)

What Would You Say To Me is a moderately midtempo number, packed with fiddles and dobros, and a big nod toward country, but it has nothing to say, which is odd, considering the title.

Each verse is three lines long, and the first two repeat themselves. And the reason for the question in the title? She wants to know what he'd say to her if they ran into each other again, after their break-up. Groundbreaking, yes?

I believe Luna is a typo. I think it was supposed to be Loony, but maybe that was a rumor. Here's my problem with this song, and there are many: I don't know anyone named Luna, do you? Okay. So call the song "Amy," or something, just so we can relate, so we know this isn't a hallucinatory figure that you're speaking about.

Secondly, although Chapin's in fine voice here, except for the falsetto, the lyrics are about a girl who has disappeared, but the tone in Chapin's voice leaves one feeling nothing about her absence, and that just doesn't work.

And the lyrics are contradictory.

All day long I call her name... Luna's gone

So she's sad and missing her, right? Beats me.

Guess she couldn't resist the lure of the open spaces
You won't find her in Miami Beach or Vegas

Well, that narrows things down, so go find her! Song just doesn't work, and the tempo is way too similar to the opener.

Ah, but no one does a great ballad like Chapin does, and My Heaven is pretty cool.

Backed only by a guitar, Chapin's caramel apple alto soothes the soul with what her vision of heaven is. She even gives a nod to the late great Eva Cassidy (an astoundingly talented singer who died in her early thirties, but not before leaving behind a soul-wrenching rendition of Sting's Fields Of Gold), and I get goosebumps every time I hear these lines:

There's little white lights everywhere
Your childhood dog in Dad's old chair
And more memories than my heart can hold
When Eva's singing "Fields Of Gold"

And since I'm getting older, I can appreciate these few lines more than you can possibly know (unless you're aging, too)!

Nothing shatters, nothing breaks
Nothing hurts, and nothing aches
We got ourselves one hell of a place in my heaven

This song is good for the soul, and sweet to the ears, and even though she's written more powerful ballads, this one is still worth a listen.

And so is Goodnight America, a series of snippets from the road, through the eyes of a woman who still can't find her place in the world.

Soft guitars set the scene again, and Chapin's voice is haunted, lonely, and more than a bit weary. From Los Angeles to Houston to Charleston to the Bronx, she sings:

Yeah, I'm a stranger here, no one you would know
I'm from somewhere else... isn't everybody though?
I don't know where I'll be when the sun comes up
But till then, sweet dreams... goodnight America

Beautifully atmospheric song.

But the killer here is the title track, Between Here And Gone. Backed by just a piano this time, Chapin talks about those moments where we're tempted to walk away. From our home, from our spouse, from our boyfriend/girlfriend, from our grief, from our life, from our rage, from our dreams...

Yeah I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in a photograph, or a dashboard poet's song
Will I have missed my chance to right some ancient wrong
Should I find myself between here and gone

Having lived a lot of my life between here and gone, it's the last verse that speaks to me the most. Does that mean I'm growing up? God I hope so. :)

And after all of this, the truth that holds me here
Is that this emptiness is something not to fear
Yeah, I'll keep wondering how we know where we belong
After all the journeys made, and the journeys yet to come
When I feel like giving in, instead of going on
Somewhere in between...
Yeah I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in the arc of the moon leaving shadows on the lawn
In the path or fireflies, and a singing bird at dawn
Singing in between here and gone...

Happiness is in the small things. There will always be some feelings of emptiness, no matter how fulfilled we are, it's just part of our make-up. But if we have someone to sit and watch the fireflies or the moon with, then we'll probably be okay.

One Small Heart, on the other hand, seems to be the story of the woman who chose "gone" over here from the last song, but this story's a bore, and it's one more song on the "travel" list, which isn't a good sign. It means the writer keeps rehashing the same theme because they're running out of ideas.

This song is another ballad (and a very slow one at that), and it lacks the heart of its predecessors. But there's one good line in the song:

Then morning comes and desert sun rises like redemption
Another day to make your way from answer back to question

Then again, the question isn't all that interesting, and neither is the answer.

Beautiful Racket is a song that Chapin already wrote much better. On Time*Sex*Love* it was called The Long Way Home (and to a degree, Late For Your Life). Only those songs felt inspired, and the former even had a great sense of humor churning through it. As for this song, on this CD, it's just a generic musing on finding happiness in simplicity (again). And the racket here isn't beautiful.

If Girls Like Me had been written by an unknown artist, it might work better. On paper, its words echo the fear and insecurity of every guy's "girl pal," the wallflower no one dances with, the intellectual who only dreams about love, the girl the boy walks away from when he sees the girl he's hot for.

But coming from a grown-up, it doesn't sound right. And coming from someone as famous as Chapin, as lauded as Chapin, as wealthy and privileged as Chapin, it sounds downright wrong.

I understand what she's trying to do. She's trying to have girls relate to it, and let them know she's been there. But I don't know any teenagers who are listening to Chapin, do you?

This song is really, really slow, and it doesn't work at all.

So, the girl in the last song finally gets her guy, and writes River. Some abstract verses about the river, nature, etc., followed by this chorus:

Want to build the strongest bridge
Want to love you the best I can
Feel no fear upon the edge
Here's my heart, baby take my hand

But guess what? There is no emotion whatsoever in her voice!!!

What the heck is up with that? Just fall in the river, for God's sake, and get it over with.

Oh no, wait, we have to go to Grand Central Station first and be bored to tears with a guided tour. This song is incredibly slow also, and in this one, she's a working man. Okay. We go from girls like her to men like her?

I suppose this is a subtle ode to 9/11, but the difference between subtlety and meaningless is a fine one. She crosses it.

And continuing in the slow song lane, we have The Shelter Of Storms. With a piano backing her up, we hear the story of a man/woman who can't stand peace and quiet, or staying in one place for too long. Sound familiar? Of course it does. It's one of the main themes here.

But this song still could have been great. How do I know? Matraca Berg already wrote it. It's called, "I Will Not Let Go".

This song and the three before it are the equivalent of listening to someone speak to you in a monotone about a study on a fly's reproductive habits, just FYI.

And thankfully, it's over, closing with another snore-inducer called Elysium. (Elysium is a "place or condition of supreme delight." Oddly enough, Elysium, in Greek mythology it was also the land of the blessed dead. That seems more appropriate due to the lack of any sort of enthusiasm Chapin expresses here, in spite of her words.)

I won't bore you with many details, but Chapin went to Brown University, though one might think she's a Harvard grad, what with the lyrics she uses her to communicate the fact that she's in love:

I looked out the window and stared at the fields
Where the blue sky and green were colliding
I looked back at you and I knew we were sealed
By a fate that has ways of providing

Sealed?! Wow, I'm hot, talk dirtier, baby!! Man, I hate this passionless crap.

*************************

Overall Summary

Exceptional:

Between Here And Gone

Excellent:

Goodnight America

Very Good

My Heaven

Generic Pablum:

What Would You Say To Me
Luna's Gone
One Small Heart
Beautiful Racket
Girls Like Me
River
Grand Central Station
The Shelter Of Storms
Elysium


Mary Chapin Carpenter is someone I love as an artist, and what I know of her as a person. I've purchased every CD she's made. Sadly, I've sold a few. But the ones I kept, I treasure.

This is a woman who can sometimes meld the most breathtaking lyric with the most beautiful melody, and just leave your jaw hanging. As a writer, I am often in awe of her gift for detail, her simple truths, and her ability to tell a story that makes you feel like you're there with her.

With the exception of Time*Sex*Love*, however, Chapin hasn't awed me in nearly a decade.

Writers run out of things to write about. Or they try to write impersonally, of things they don't really know about. There are songs that ring true here, but they are so very few. And that angers me for her.

Perhaps she set the bar too high, for herself, and for others, who came through the doors she opened. And so perhaps she should just live now, and stop trying to grind it out. I don't want her to be late for her life.

But I don't want her to end it on this CD, either.

Download the title song if you can. Other than that, skip it.



Recommended: No

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep