STACK #246 April 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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There’s nothing quite like taking home some fresh vinyl and putting it on the turntable for the first time. It’s a total experience. Each month we pull together a collection of reissues, JB-exclusives, or just straight-up classic long-players to add to any burgeoning collection. Words: Paul Jones, Jeff Jenkins V I N Y L V I T A L TRACY CHAPMAN TRACY CHAPMAN (1988) 180GM VINYL REISSUE

Tracy Chapman’s eponymous album

more vulnerable moments are when the songwriter peels back the layers of her own personal experiences of love in Baby Can I Hold You, For My Lover, and For You . Timeless is an oft used word when classic albums are pulled into focus, but the reference here is fully deserved. Its sonic minimalism belies the powerful political and social commentary behind its words. It could well be one of the best debut albums in the history of recorded music.

broke with convention, shattered expectations, and went straight for the heart. The first single from the album, Fast Car , is a haunting melody that unveils a deeply personal story. It would hint at what was behind the curtain and would be followed by the gentle protest song, Talkin’ Bout a Revolution . Chapman strips folk music back to its essence – every note matters, and every word carries weight. The

unaccompanied vocals on Behind the Wall are stark and chilling, detailing a domestic violence case and police inaction. Some of the album’s Chapman strips folk music back to its essence – every note matters

I t’s 1988. The charts while MTV ruled the airwaves. Amidst this wall of excess, a quiet singer-songwriter from are dominated by hair metal and synthpop,

Cleveland, Ohio, silently slipped through a side door and conquered the world with nothing more than an acoustic guitar,

a story to tell, and a spellbinding voice.

YOU AM I HI FI WAY (1995) REISSUE

album Hi Fi Way because everyone was going on about lo-fi at the time.” Many critics have hailed Hi Fi Way as the finest Australian album of the ’90s. A line in Purple Sneakers leaps out: “ But do you need somebody to feel somebody? ” As an artist, does Tim Rogers need the validation of critics and fans, to tell him that no, he didn’t totally f-ck up his band’s second record? “You get enough brickbats, especially today with social media. It affects me because I’ve got very thin skin. So, perhaps my dismissal of needing anybody in my life for validation... actually, I probably do. “But as we all know, you can get a thousand compliments and then one bad review or someone calling you a fraud, and that’s my day ruined.”

come up with a more elegant descriptor than sh-t.” You Am I made Hi Fi Way in just seven days in New York at the end of their American tour with Soundgarden. The record entered the Australian charts at number one, knocking off Janet Jackson’s Janet . Rogers can’t recall where he was when he heard the news. “I guess we were on tour in the States? If we were at home, we would have gone to the Rose in Chippendale and drunk our fill.” Strangely, the first single, Cathy’s Clown , shared a title with an Everly Brothers hit from 1960. “I honestly don’t know why we went with that title. I guess it was our little sense of humour, which is probably why we called the

T im Rogers initially didn’t think You Am I’s second album was any good. When it was finished, he said: “I was totally freaked out. I thought, ‘I’ve totally f-cked up this record, this is sh-t.’” Thirty years later, he laughs when he’s reminded of that quote. “I could have put it far more eloquently – I could have

32 APRIL 2025

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