release date: Sep. 23, 1985
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Joe Boyd
label: Elektra Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Can't Ignore the Train" - 3. "Just as the Tide Was a Flowing" - 4. "Lilydale" - 5. "Back O' the Moon" - 8. "Grey Victory" - 9. "Among the Americans" - 12. "Daktari" (4 / 5)
2nd studio album by 10,000 Maniacs after the self-released debut album Secrets of the I Ching (1983) and their first major release on Elektra Records. At this point the band consists of Natalie Merchant on vocals, Robert Buck on electric & acoustic guitar, mandolin, and pedal steel, John Lombardo on 6 & 12 string guitars (and bass), Steven Gustafson on bass (and guitar), Dennis Drew on keyboards (organ, piano, accordion), and with Jerome 'Jerry' Augustyniak on drums.
The style is folk-based jangle pop, often characterized by Robert Buck's mandolin, and the quartet of instrumentalists playing acoustic or electric guitars, producing a bold sound of strings, and of course on top of that: Merchant's beautiful, vibrant alto vocal all held together within a rather traditional folk frame, also secured by long-time folk-producer Joe Boyd - who has worked with many acclaimed folk and psychedelic rock artists in the 1960s and '70s including Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, and Nick Drake.
The Wishing Chair is not one of the band's best albums, imho, but it has its moments. The best track "Daktari" comes close to their best tracks on the successor In My Tribe (1987), but it only figures as a bonus track on the cd version of the album. I don't find the production sound that impressive and basically find it a bit of an anachronism with its 1960s [flat] sound.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]
