Beth Nielsen Chapman Albums (6)
What The Critics Say
As a very successful and celebrated songwriter, Beth Nielsen Chapman has never chosen an easy road to that bounty. In fact, she's consistently managed to avoid trite sentimentality in her work. Her voice shines through her songs no matter who's singing them. This project is a departure for Chapman, though it is one she has been at work on in one form or another for nearly a decade. These hymns, mostly sung in Latin, come from a larger project of hymns from the religions of the world. Chapman grew up Catholic, and these songs were part of the pre-Vatican II liturgy. These pieces are scored for multiple voices. Chapman herself sings soprano as a lead vocalist and alto with songwriter Pam Rose, as well as tenor with her son Ernest in chorale. Her father, Robert Nielsen, is one of four bass singers; songwriter Mike Reid is another. While some of these pieces are a cappella, others feature spare accompaniment on stringed instruments from harps to cello to classical guitar. The material comes from the Roman liturgy, whether it be processional hymns such as "Veni Veni Emmanuel" to devotionals such as "Salve Regina" and responsorials such as "Dona Nobis Pacem" and "O Sanctissima." There are two pieces in English, with one of them, "Hymn to Mary," an original. These performances are humble in scope. They do not reflect the awe of the heavens as many classical performances do, but instead a smaller, more human spirituality and grace. They are earthy, humble, and deeply moving for the limit of their scope. These songs portray the response of the human soul speaking to the God who speaks within, rather than the one that echoes thunderously from the margins of the universe. But there is something else here that makes Chapman's recording of these age-old pieces so compelling. The weight of history can make a song, especially a devotional, feel oppressive and constraining -- i.e., it needs to be performed "correctly." Chapman feels no such burden on Hymns. These beautiful antiquities are sung reverently with a simple grace that frees them from their chains and makes them resonate, underscoring their meaning, solace, beauty, and stillness. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Look is the album Beth Nielsen Chapman was working on when she released Hymns (part of her long-term project documenting the world's religious music). One of her finest qualities as an artist is that you can see exactly where she's at in each album. Unlike most songwriters, she makes no attempt to mask or detach herself from her own life in her work. Look is a collection of solidly constructed, emotionally taut love songs that examines a relationship from its initial attraction to its full fruition to its dissolution and back again. And while these are deeply romantic tunes, they are far from giddy or sentimental. Chapman co-produced Look with Peter Collins, and Annie Roboff. She collaborated with a group of fine songwriters, too, including Harlan Howard, Eric Kaz, Roboff, Patrick Doyle, Bill Lloyd, David Wilcox, and even Andy Bey. It's a big, wide-open record that rings even in its quietest moments. It sounds more like Franklin, Tennessee than Nashville. These 11 songs run the gamut from the spare pop balladry of the opener "Trying to Love You" -- an awesome testament to the graininess of love's stages in the everyday life of a committed couple -- to the finger-popping R&B of "Right Back Into the Feeling" that celebrates the fun in passion. It's one of two tracks on which Michael McDonald contributes backing vocals. "Free," written with Roboff, is a rhythm-driven rocker as testament to personal liberation with an African backbeat. "Time Won't Tell," written with Howard, is an honest to goodness country song, and it's one of the collection's stellar tracks. A broken love song, Chapman's water-like vocal is backed by a lilting pedal steel, and open, reedy acoustic guitars, John Catchings' cello and McDonald's backing vocal. They help crack open the emotion from the song's core and bring it to the fore, letting it fall freely. Look is another leap forward in aesthetic excellence for a diverse, savvy songwriter who never flinches in exposing the vulnerable, the dark, and the difficult while never giving into them, instead surrounding them with streams of light and a wonderful ability to share these things with consummate craft and accessibility. Look is full of grace and mystery. ~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Biblical imagery mixes with down-home poetics on Deeper Still. With a sound stripped of studio tinsel, Chapman delivers her material in earnest understatement over crisp, if antiseptic, accompaniment. When supporting her own vocals on piano during tracks like "Every December Sky," she achieves a special intimacy; the band's entry, though discrete, somewhat dilutes the effect. No such diminution mars her performance of the Celtic-flavored "Feathers Bones and Shells," largely a piano and vocal piece with touches of cello, or "Deeper Still," on which the absence of drums allows Chapman to ride a delicate rubato, with a subtle but electrifying acceleration when Vince Gill enters with harmony on the chorus. On up-tempo numbers she allows herself less elasticity in both phrasing and writing; "Shake My Soul," with beat pumping and Bonnie Raitt joining in on backup vocals, locks the lyric into a choppy pattern that emphasizes rhythm more than shaded meaning ("Gonna shake my soul/And release my hold/Givin' up control/And let the rest unfold"). At its best moments, Deeper Still displays a strong confessional perspective, plenty of sensitive arrangement, and the occasional surprise; there are moments in "All Comes Down to Love" that even recall the Beatles, from the pinched production in one short segment to a "yeah, yeah, yeah" riff on the fade. On every cut she maintains the high level of craftsmanship that has long made her a hometown heroine in Nashville; her match of lyric to rhythm in "World of Hurt" has an especially Music Row resonance. Nothing, however, seriously challenges any commercial conventions. Deeper Still is in fact more broad than deep, polished and pleasing but a step shy of profound. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Although the arrangements on Sand and Water are slicker than anything on Beth Nielsen Chapman's previous albums, boasting everything from country to pop influences, her songwriting remains incisive, melodic and altogether striking, resulting in another stunningly accomplished record. ~ Thom Owens, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While known as a crack Nashville songwriter, Beth Nielson Chapman works inside the pop realm on You Hold the Key, her second effort for Reprise. But pop for Chapman isn't all easy-to-digest nuggets. A talented songwriter, she moves in fluid motion between hearty pop, heart-tugging piano balladry, and burnished adult contemporary groove. She flirts with smoky piano jazz on the coy "Dance With Me Slow," imbues the first-person, fibrous title track with uplifting grace, and sells the smooth Paul Carrack duet "In the Time It Takes" with precision. But she's just as comfortable with the brassy, Bonnie Raitt-style blues-rock of "You Say You Will" or the quietly surging "Faithful Heart," where violins, harp, pipes, and a reverent choir of voices combine with her own fervent vocal for a truly moving experience. It's all in a day's work for Chapman, a wonderful performer who elevates the few scant weak moments of You Hold the Key with pure talent. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Beth Nielsen Chapman had established herself as a Nashville-based songwriter and session vocalist by the time of her self-titled debut in 1990. Although much of her previous work was more country oriented, Beth Nielsen Chapman reveals more pop-minded sensibilities and she is backed by an array of top session players from Nashville and L.A. "Life Holds On" is a wide-eyed affirmation of life graced by Mark Casstevens mandolin playing. The scope of most of the album is more focused on relationships, and Chapman delivers songs like "All I Have," "Avalanche," and "Down on My Knees" with a beautiful, crystal-clear voice. Intelligent and mature, she is a gifted artist who comfortably fits alongside '70s singer/songwriters like Carole King and Carly Simon. ~ Tom Demalon, All Music Guide
