Cheap State of the Heart (Music) (Mary Chapin Carpenter) Price

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Customer Reviews of State of the Heart

I think this album offers a lot of good tunes. The two tunes mentioned above allow you to relax to the strumming of guitar strings. My favorite track is "Quittin' Time", which seems to be a mix between 80s music and country.

Overall, this album is fun to listen to while you drive over long distances. There's just something about the melodies that make the drive a lot more enjoyable...

"Something of a" Gem
Mary Chapin Carpenter is one of those uniquely wonderful singer-songwriters who reminds us that the key to emotionally evocative songwriting is not neccesarily found in poetic density. And like all great folk and country performers, Mary knows how to tell one hell of a story, aided by the warmth and distinctiveness of her vocals.

On "State of the Heart," Mary skillfully balances both her country and folk leanings. The album is fun, moving, cohesive and the perfect length. My personal favorite track is "This Shirt," in which Mary skillfully uses an article of clothing as a vehicle to explore not only several formative years of her life, but also the relationship which defined them.

Most definately priced to buy (I bought it off a sale rack for 9 bucks), there is little excuse for not owning this album.

Down in Mary's Land
State of the Heart is one of the few albums I kept from my brief high school country music craze. It was one of my favorites at the time and I played it over and over while laying in the hot summer sun trying to get a tan to impress someone (who, I did not know). In fact, a lot of this record is about women watching as time wastes away while they're hopelessly waiting for something or, more specifically, somebody. One of Carpenter's subjects is waiting for a love that will never be ("Something of a Dreamer") or, worse, coming apart at the seams when the married man with whom an aging woman is infatuated never leaves his family for her ("Goodbye Again"). She sings of a woman who loses her boyfriend to his ex ("Never Had It So Good") or of women who try too hard to attract men at a bar that they become the objects of ridicule ("Slow Country Dance"). But there are songs where the woman takes charge "How Do," "Read My Lips," "It Don't Bring You." And there is some happiness on this album "down in Mary's land": "When you don't need nothing but some beer and a bushel."

Muscially, besides the ordinary honky tonk tracks "How Do," and "Read My Lips," State of the Heart is a very enjoyable and interesting album. "Never Had it So Good" and "Quittin' Time" (which I believe were two singles off this disc) are incredibly catchy. "Something of a Dreamer" is charming and "Down in Mary's Land" is fun yet restrained. "Goodbye Again" actually has a spookiness about it, as if she were singing of an old spinster woman long ago: "She keeps his picture tucked away. She thinks she'll have it framed one day. And maybe he'll come see it there. Hanging by her rocking chair." In "This Shirt," I think Carpenter tries too hard to write a stellar metaphorical song. Here, a shirt symbolizes a woman's life and love. She slept on it, made whoopie on it, kittens were born on it...Would anyone really keep wearing this shirt?? Also, the stanza I never could understand is when she lent it to her boyfriend. Did he want to wear it? Is this a unisex shirt? Anyway, the song seems to try to force sentiment. The track I think works better is the last one, "It Don't Bring You." Here, Carpenter's subject takes control of a bad relationship. She realizes it will never work, but instead of wasting away like some of the other subjects on this album, she lets her man go but will not accept all the blame: "I can't bring you kindness if you ain't kind." It is not a happy ending in the traditional sense, but it does hint that things will get better for this character. It is also a beautiful song.