After a five-year hiatus, Chapman returned with a leaner, more acoustic sound. Telling Stories is an album about the act of creation itself. The production, helmed by John Parish and Chapman, uses close-miking techniques that are ruthlessly revealing. An MP3 destroys that intimacy. With EAC-FLAC, the title track feels like she’s sitting three feet away. Less Than Strangers has a shuffle beat that only reveals its complex ghost notes in lossless reproduction. For collectors, this album is the hidden gem of the six.
Furthermore, New Beginning contains some of her most dynamic environmental warnings ( Cold Feet , The Rape of the World ). The FLAC encoding preserves the massive dynamic shifts: from a whisper of a verse to a full-orchestra roar. You haven’t truly heard this album until you’ve heard the EAC rip. Tracy Chapman - 6 Albums -EAC-FLAC-
