Time*Sex*Love

1	Whenever You're Ready 6:06
2	Simple Life 3:51
3	Swept Away 4:50
4	Slave to the Beauty 5:09
5	Maybe World 3:54
6	What Was it Like 4:01
7	King of Love 5:24
8	This is Me Leaving You 3:45
9	Someone Else's Prayer 4:37
10	The Dreaming Road 6:21
11	Alone But Not Lonely 4:26
12	The Long Way Home 4:55
13	In the Name of Love 4:22
14	Late for Your Life 11:39

Barnes & Noble

Mary Chapin Carpenter's Emersonian sense of self-reliance and her keen, John Updike-like eye for spotting the turmoil roiling beneath the surface of placid suburban lives is in full evidence on Time*Sex*Love. And while that might sound all heady and pretentious, it isn't; Carpenter loves a good rave-up just as much as a cutting lyric. Augmented by her most ambitious arrangements to date -- there are orchestral moments, sitars, synthesizers, and even an instrumental passage played backward (on "King of Love") -- Carpenter offers blunt portrayals of love and faith abused by those, usually the male of the species, who ought to treasure both. "The Long Way Home," which could be the sequel to "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" from her 1992 smash Come On Come On, turns a scornful eye on the soul-destroying drive of upward mobility, and with Carpenter's voice soaring over a big beat and jangly guitars, sarcasm has rarely sounded so triumphant. Austere as art songs, the dreamy "Swept Away" and somber "Maybe World" are two beautiful, mesmerizing heart-tuggers about love that works, and love that doesn't, respectively. "This Is Me Leaving You" is a quintessential Carpenter rocker, complete with a driving rhythm, slice-and-dice guitars, and a celebratory vocal announcing independence from a man who didn't recognize a good thing when he had it. Yeah, it gets dark in here, but the last half of the epic (11 1/2 minutes) album closer, "Late for Your Life," is a traditional country workout that seems to say, Hey, in the end it all happens for a reason, and broken hearts can love again. But oh, those men -- they can't be trusted. David McGee

All Music Guide

The asterisks following the words in the title to Mary Chapin Carpenter's seventh album of new material, Time* Sex* Love*, hide more words: the full title is "Time Is the Great Gift; Sex Is the Great Equalizer; Love Is the Great Mystery." If that sounds a bit overdone, it accurately introduces a collection given over to big statements. After four and a half years, Carpenter weighs in with a 73-plus-minute disc that thoughtfully examines important issues. Songs like "Simple Life" and "Maybe the World" take on the uncertainty of life at midstream, a subject also addressed in specifically careerist terms in "The Long Way Home" and philosophically in "Late for Your Life." But if that's the "time" part of the record, "sex" and "love" take primary place. Simply put, the better part of the album consists of torch songs that depict romantic and sexual obsession. Titles like "Swept Away" and "Slave to the Beauty" reveal the theme, and even attempted recoveries like "This Is Me Leaving You" reinforce it. The narrator of that song sounds like she'd be happier singing, "This is me crawling back to you." Working against the theme are the musical elements. Recording in Sir George Martin's Air Studios, Carpenter harks back to the Beatles' Rubber Soul for the album's sound, which lightens the mood. And her singing never supports the victimization in her lyrics, always maintaining its calm, murmuring tone. But the point is unmistakable. It's hard to see what any of this has to do with country radio, which, in any case, has been increasingly resistant to Carpenter. This album may not be a country blockbuster, ending the sleight of hand by which an artist who is essentially a folk-rock singer/songwriter has succeeded in Nashville, but it is a mature examination of life and love. William Ruhlmann