release date: Oct. 26, 1993
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
Last album release by 10,000 Maniacs featuring Nathalie Merchant is a live album of a recording made in Spring '93. The album 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 (1992), only two from Blind Man's Zoo (1989), and four tracks from In My Tribe (1987), which makes a total of 13 out of the 14-tracklist - the last being a cover version of "Because the Night" (written by Springsteen, first released by Patti Smith).
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 later replaced by Mary Ramsey, and former member John Lombardo also returned to the band.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]
