Harry Chapin Albums (12)
'Remember When the Music'
Release Date 10/17/1990
Tracks 12
Label DCC
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Legends of the Lost & Found'
Release Date 1/1/1979
Tracks 16
Label Elektra
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Listening to Living Room Suite today, you'd never know that it marked the commercial nadir of Harry Chapin's career -- the songs have such touching and startling intimacy, and are so beautifully produced that it's just a damn imposing record, just in the listening. Coming at the tail-end of the second disco boom, the cresting of punk, and the full flourishing of power pop, however, it got buried. When he opened up his heart on "Jenny," it was a phenomenally personal moment, but that wasn't the kind of love song that was selling in 1978; "Poor Damn Fool" was a wonderful song as well, with a glorious sound, but in tone and sound it was a million miles from "My Sharona"; "Flowers Are Red" was a startling ode to non-conformity, a subject much too serious for a pop record at the end of the 1970s; and "Dancin' Boy" and "I Wonder What Would Happen to This World," with their bluesy and gospel sounds, respectively, were even farther from what radio stations were playing. Of course, the very attributes that made Living Room Suite seem so dated in 1978 that neither of its singles charted make it seem completely timeless and enduring today, as a body of music and a personal statement. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'Dance Band on the Titanic'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 14
Label Elektra
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Who would have figured, listening to the heart-on-his-sleeve sensibilities of Heads & Tales in 1972, that Harry Chapin would or could ever generate a wry, sly, sardonic double-LP (single CD) album like this? The diversity of this album is its strong point, the core of the record made up of straightforward, serious songs, most notably "We Grew up a Little Bit" and the gorgeous ballads "Mismatch" (arguably Chapin's prettiest song) and "I Do It for You, Jane" (of which the latter could have been a smash done countrypolitan style in Nashville), and there's one lean vignette into traditional music ("Bluesman"). But those are surrounded by some of the most bittersweet work of his career, including the title track, "Mercenaries," and "Manhood," not to mention the satirical, phantasmagoric "There Only Was One Choice," a 14-minute conceptual piece that conflates a bitter, sardonic look at the music business and the history of the United States, all looping back to the opener, "Dance Band on the Titanic." The whole album is dazzling in its range, from full-blown orchestrated numbers to solo acoustic-style tracks, and moods running from wide-eyed innocence to seething anger and frustration, all of it interesting and 95 percent of it highly entertaining as well. As with most of Chapin's work -- but perhaps more so throughout this album -- one gets the sense of an artist who desperately needed to break out of the boundaries of recording, onto a larger canvas; on this record, the music is so effective that he nearly made it, without ever actually breaking out to another format. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'On the Road to Kingdom Come'
Release Date 1/1/1976
Tracks 9
Label Elektra
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
On the Road to Kingdom Come sounded more like a rock album than anything Harry Chapin had done to date. In the hands of sympathetic producer/arranger Stephen Chapin, Harry's songs are infused with clever and often humorous bits of musical commentary -- horns, electric guitars, keyboards, backing vocals, and various sound effects pop up at opportune times throughout -- that makes much of the material instantly ingratiating. While the record failed to capture commercial interest (singer/songwriters were out, disco was in), song for song this is one of his strongest efforts. As a musical storyteller, Chapin has few peers; both the potent tale of a duplicitous potentate on "The Mayor of Candor Lied" and the heartwarming "Corey's Coming" are masterfully conceived. Harry's humorous side, which somehow got stifled in the studio, here comes out of the closet for the title track and "Laugh Man," though both have their barbs. The album also included two of his prettiest songs, "Caroline" (co-written with wife Sandy Chapin) and "If My Mary Were Here." A track dedicated to the recently fallen Phil Ochs, "The Parade's Still Passing By," is also featured. Compared to some of his earlier work, which was often dry and dour, these songs are vigorous and saturated in sound. Some might charge that the record's resemblance to Elton John's contemporary work renders it lightweight, but Chapin's wit was sharpening with age and his romantic visions remained keen. For the faithful, getting On the Road to Kingdom Come is a good idea. ~ Dave Connolly, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Verities & Balderdash is a very strange and wonderful album. "Cat's in the Cradle" was the driving force behind the album's sales, but there's a lot more to appeal to listeners, along with enough personal, topical material to make it seem a bit didactic at the time, but Chapin was cultivating a politically committed audience. Verities & Balderdash walked several fine lines, between topical songwriting and an almost (but not quite) pretentious sense of its own importance, humor and seriousness, and balladry and punditry, all intermingled with catchy, highly commercial ballads such as "I Wanna Learn a Love Song" (which is about as pretty a song as he ever wrote). Chapin is in good voice and thrives in the more commercial sound of this album, which includes lots of electric guitars and overdubbed orchestra and choruses. He still loves to tell stories -- most are like little screenplays, with "Shooting Star" offering details and textures and a sense of drama akin to a finished film (in the manner of "Taxi"). The "haunt count" on this album is extremely high, boosted by gorgeous ballads like "She Sings Songs Without Words." "What Made America Famous" may be the one song that comes off as dated, a parable -- perhaps reflecting the near-meltdown of politics surrounding the Nixon resignation of 1974 -- about long-haired teens and crew-cutted firemen who discover a mutual dependence and respect for each other and reconciliation; it seems like ancient history and probably will be incomprehensible to anyone born after 1968. Chapin also lapses into excessive dramatics in the finale, which shamelessly borrows a couple of lines from one song out of the musical 1776. The album also offers a pair of humorous numbers on "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" and "Six String Orchestra," not the most significant songs in Chapin's repertory, but both adding balance to the mood. Producer Paul Leka (the commercial genius behind Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye") retained some elements of the relatively lean sound that characterized Chapin's debut album, embellishing it only enough to give the album some potentially wider commercial appeal. Even the cover art seems to reflect the two delightfully contradictory thrusts of this album: an image of Chapin posed like Uncle Sam on the military recruiting poster with a wry smile on his face. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The pensive tales of personal relationships on Short Stories belong to a bygone era, when the summer of love was yielding to the autumn of adulthood and the mundane realities that attended it. Like Jim Croce and James Taylor, Harry Chapin observes the melancholy side of life in self-contained character studies: the midlife assessment of a failed career and marriage on the poignant "WOLD," a dry cleaner whose pretense to a singing career is exposed on "Mr. Tanner," the meager dreams of a poor farmer and his mail-order bride on "Mail Order Annie." Yet the album's overall tone is sober rather than somber. Perhaps "Song for Myself" expresses it best when Chapin offers up the challenge: "Are we all gonna sit here with a stoned out smile and simply watch the world go 'way?" For the songwriter, it's a rhetorical question. If the subjects are flawed, unhappy, unable to appreciate or hold on to love, it's the reality left in the wake of the '60s overweening idealism. The loss of free love is lamented on "They Call Her Easy," replaced by the cynicism of experience in "Changes." Musically, the album has much in common with the work of Cat Stevens, leaning on Paul Leka's orchestral arrangements to embellish otherwise dry songs. Chapin lacks Stevens' affection for inventive melodies and off-kilter rhythms, but compared to a toned-down record like Catch Bull at Four, the two are strikingly similar. The fact remains that casual fans will be better served with a greatest-hits compilation that includes "WOLD" than wading through all of Short Stories. Those with a predilection for Chapin's bittersweet muse will be better served by the whole album. ~ Dave Connolly, All Music Guide
