Harry Chapin: Story Book - The Elektra Albums 1972 - 1978, 6CD Box Set

 Nine-album, 6CD clamshell box set presentation of the late, American singer/ songwriter, Harry Chapin

• Features 2022 remasters of Chapin’s work for Elektra Records, including the enduring hits ‘Taxi’, ‘WOLD’ and ‘Cat’s In The Cradle’

• Beautifully presented with colour reproductions of album sleeves, picture-sleeve singles, ephemera, trade ads and promotional photographs

With 4000-word notes, placing Chapin’s career in context, and arguing for his elevation in the cultural hierarchy, by Record Collector contributor, Charles Donovan

Acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter, Harry Chapin, who was born in New York, was a pioneer of the elaborate story-song, a style whose roots lay in folk and country music.
Chapin explored the very limits of the genre, with songs often breaching the ten-minute mark. After working in documentary film-making, Chapin signed with Elektra just before turning 30. He was immediately successful with his first single ‘Taxi’ and the album ‘Heads And Tales’ (1972).

More popular with listeners than critics, Chapin toured relentlessly. His bestselling album was 1974’s ‘Verities And Balderdash’, which included ‘Cat’s In The Cradle’, his sole US No1 single. He began using his enlarged platform to campaign for an end to world hunger, founding several charities and increasingly spurning payment for his performances so that the proceeds could go towards his favoured causes.

This 6CD box – the first serious, multi-disc reappraisal of Chapin’s work – presents the nine albums he issued from 1972 to 1978; ‘Heads And Tales’, ‘Sniper And Other Love Songs’, ‘Short Stories’, ‘Verities And Balderdash’, ‘Portrait Gallery’, ‘Greatest Stories Live’, ‘On The Road To Kingdom Come’, ‘Dance Band On The Titanic’, and ‘Living Room Suite’. After Elektra, Chapin signed with Boardwalk for a final album before dying tragically and prematurely in a car accident in 1981.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE:

Heads & Tails
1 Could You Put Your Light On, Please
2 Greyhound
3 Everybody’s Lonely
4 Sometime, Somewhere Wife
5 Empty
6 Taxi
7 Any Old Kind Of Day
8 Dogtown
9 Same Sad Singer Sniper And Other Love Songs
10 Sunday Morning Sunshine
11 Sniper
12 And The Baby Never Cries
13 Burning Herself
14 Barefoot Boy
15 Better Place To Be

DISC TWO:

1 Circle
2 Woman Child
3 Winter Song Short Stories
4 Short Stories
5 WOLD
6 Song For Myself
7 Song Man
8 Changes
9 They Call Her Easy
10 Mr Tanner
11 Mail Order Annie
12 There’s A Lot Of Lonely People Tonight
13 Old College Avenue Verities And Balderdash
14 Cat’s In The Cradle
15 I Wanna Learn A love Song
16 Shooting Star
17 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas
18 She Sings Songs Without Words

DISC THREE:

1 What Made America Famous?
2 Vacancy
3 Halfway To Heaven
4 Six String Orchestra Portrait Gallery
5 Dreams Go By
6 Tangled Up Puppet
7 Star Tripper
8 Babysitter
9 Someone Keeps Calling My Name
10 The Rock
11 Sandy
12 Dirt Gets Under The Fingernails
13 Bummer
14 Stop Singing These Sad Songs

Greatest Stories Live
15 Dreams Go By
16 WOLD

DISC FOUR:

1 Saturday Morning
2 I Wanna Learn A Love Song
3 Mr Tanner
4 A Better Place To Be 5 Let Time Go Lightly
6 Cat’s In The Cradle
7 Taxi
8 Circle
9 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas
10 She Is Always Seventeen
11 Love Is Just Another Word
12 The Shortest Story

On The Road To Kingdom Come
13 On The Road To Kingdom Come
14 The Parade’s Still Passing By

DISC FIVE:

1 The Mayor Of Candor Lied
2 Laugh Man
3 Corey’s Coming
4 If My Mary Were Here
5 Fall In Love With Him
6 Caroline
7 Roll Down The River Dance Band On The Titanic
8 Dance Band On The Titanic
9 Why Should People Stay The Same
10 My Old Lady
11 We Grew Up A Little Bit
12 Bluesman
13 Country Dreams
14 I Do It For You, Jane
15 I Wonder What Happened To Him

DISC SIX:


1 Paint A Picture Of Yourself (Michael)
2 Mismatch
3 Mercenaries
4 Manhood
5 One Light In A Dark Alley (An Imitation Spiritual)
6 There Was Only One Choice

Living Room Suite
7 Dancin’ Boy
8 If You Want To Feel
9 Poor Damned Fool
10 I Wonder What Would Happen To This World
11 Jenny
12 It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains
13 Why Do Little Girls
14 Flowers Are Red
15 Somebody Said


Label : Strawberry QCRJAMBOX007
Barcode : 5013929430730