release date: Jul. 27, 1987
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Peter Asher
label: Elektra - nationality: USA
Tracklist: 1. "What's the Matter Here?" (5 / 5) - 2. "Hey Jack Kerouac" (4 / 5) - 3. "Like the Weather" (4 / 5) - 4. "Cherry Tree" - 5. "The Painted Desert" - 6. "Don't Talk" (4 / 5) - 7. "Gun Shy" - 8. "My Sister Rose" (4 / 5) - 9. "A Campfire Song" (feat. Michael Stipe) - 10. "City of Angels" - 11. "Verdi Cries" (4 / 5) (Nathalie Merchant live)
3rd studio album by 10,000 Maniacs released on Elektra. A year before releasing the album, guitarist and songwriter John Lombardo left the band, reducing it to a quintet, and Natalie Merchant and Robert Buck initiated their collaborative works on composing songs for the new album. The production sound has improved with more focus on uptempo 'jangle pop' compositions centered around guitar, drums and vocal, and the mandolin, accordion, and more traditional folk instrumentation, including tam-tam drums are barely noticeable.
In the late '80s U2 and R.E.M. were among my favourite bands, and the music scene of Athens, Georgia was on everyone's lips, and I found that this band was very interesting, although, their style is much more folk-minded and perhaps for a more mature audience. Several things brought me to the attention of the band. All members of R.E.M. occasionally met and played with the band, whose guitarist is Peter Buck's younger brother, Robert, and Michael Stipe participates on "A Campfire Song", which may have been the reason why I decided to check their music in the first place. Another thing that caught my interest for the band, was a look at the tracklisting and finding a song titled "Hey Jack Kerouac". I had just read his famous novel "On the Road" and then deduced that their music couldn't be all bad! Nathalie Merchant shines all over the album, and together with Our Time in Eden (1992), this release shows the band at their very best.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]
