release date: Oct. 26, 1993
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Paul Fox
label: Elektra - nationality: USA
Final album release by 10,000 Maniacs featuring Nathalie Merchant is a live album of a recording made in the Spring '93. It contains acoustic versions of material from the years 1987-1992 with a majority of seven tracks taken from the most recent album Our Time in Eden (Sep. 1992), only two from Blind Man's Zoo (May 1989), and four tracks from In My Tribe (Jul. 1987), which makes a total of 13 out of the 14-tracklist - the last being a cover version of "Because the Night" (written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen, and first recorded by Patti Smith and appearing on her album Easter from 1978).
The album is mighty fine, and both the band and Merchant all perform very well, but it never really seem as an essential release. Nathalie Merchant initiated her long solo career after the album release and was substituted by Mary Ramsey.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]
