Come On Come On
isn't just
Mary Chapin Carpenter
's most popular album, with sales of 3 million copies. It's also a contemporary country landmark. No less than seven of its songs became country hits: ¿I Feel Lucky,¿ ¿I Take My Chances,¿ ¿Not Too Much to Ask,¿ ¿The Hard Way,¿ ¿He Thinks He'll Keep Her,¿ and two inspired covers, of
Dire Straits
' ¿The Bug¿ and
Lucinda Williams
' ¿Passionate Kisses.¿ More importantly, though, this 1992 release pointed the way towards what country music would become in the 21st century with its savvy seasoning of pop and soft-rock sounds into a more personal style of country songwriting from a female point of view. If you're thinking that sounds familiar, you're not wrong;
's prodigious commercial prowess isn't the only thing this record has in common with the early work of
Taylor Swift
. But, it also crossed over into the rock realm in a way that, arguably,
Swift
's records have not; the flourishing Americana and alt-country audiences of the early '90s ate this album up, and guest stars like
Rosanne Cash
,
the Indigo Girls
, and
Shawn Colvin
just upped its street cred. Somehow, this classic record has never (come on!) made it to vinyl; we're making up for a whole lot of lost time with a yellow jacket vinyl pressing (limited to 750 copies, exclusive to Barnes & Noble) housed inside a color inner sleeve with lyrics. Essential!