another night in clubland ...

[jordan@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Jordan Hayes)]

10,000 Maniacs / Love Tractor / Friday February 7, 1987 / Berkeley Square

[ after a long absence from this list, our humble author returns with a
  review of one of his favorite bands from his childhood youth, as it
  were, per se, and shit or what?  waxing nostalgic, I continue ... ]

Love Tractor, those ever-so-hip guys from ever-so-hip Athens, GA,
exploded onto the stage in a surprising barrage of jangling guitars,
thumping drums, and a feel for rock and roll that I, for one, hadn't
expected.  I thought, oh, just another REM-a-like, here to bore us for
a while as we all wait for the Maniacs to take the stage.  Impressive,
I'd say.  Impressive enough to make me buy the album, perhaps
tomorrow.

They seemed to do a lot of instrumentals, sortof reminiscent of the
Flying Tigers of years gone by (Allyn, what ever happened to them?).
Plus, one of the guitarists (they switched lead/rhythm roles, as well
as lead/back-up vocals several times), playing a slick Telecaster, had
that special touch required for ska-chords, the likes of which haven't
been seen by this reviewer since he saw The Specials in '82.  The
vocals were what gave away their roots, as the falsetto broke all
records since the last time Bronski Beat made it around these shores.
A silly version of `Disco Inferno (Burn-Baby-Burn)' was a highlight, as
was the bassist's shot at a solo guitar-n-croon in the Appalacian/Blues
style.  For an encore, Natalie (from the Maniacs) sang her own version
of one of Love Tractor's songs.  In fact, the bassist remarked when
leaving the stage that "I didn't know that song had words ..." -- ah,
memories of a dark church in Buffalo with ice cold Foster's ...

The Maniacs spent the day driving up from LA minus their main music
writer and spokesman of earlier times (and rhythm guitarist/part-time
backup vocalist) John Lombardo, who left the band in sort of a shroud
of controversy only a few months ago.  Natalie explained that they saw
many-a-road-kill while `getting lost on I-580', and she felt bad
because all of them had families ...  a few people laughed but were
quickly non-plussed by her quiet `It's not really all that funny.'

Other than the absence of John, the so-called "original" lineup
("so-called" because Jerry Augustyniak replaced the actual original
drummer shortly before they left for their first major tour -- Jerry,
however, was not on the first album, as he was still in The Elements at
the time) was all there ... Natalie Merchant belting out an almost
Celtic-Gospel (does that work?) wall of vocal, Robert Buck on his
highly-active silver/grey Gibson Custom (also playing part-time a new
Hammer `Prototype'), Steven Gustafson on Bass, and Dennis Drew on
keyboards and accordion (plus a little lounge-act commentary between
songs).

They played a lot of new material, since they are about to enter the
studio for a new album, and most of it was well-received.  Natalie's
in-between-song ditties/unfinished-ballads were more direct than
before, and the crowd listened quietly (the silence between songs was
deafening!) -- "... and it spilled into the water ... and they said it
would be cleaned up in a week, but that was two years ago ... my wife
and I drank that water all our life ... (now talking) and it goes on
like that."

They played for at least 70 minutes, and only really played 5 or 6
oldies for us ... `Can't ignore the train' was recognized by most, and
`Just as the Tide was A-Flowing' found Natalie doing mostly an
impromptu Jig.  `Scorpio Rising' and `Lily Dale' rounded out the
representation from their 2nd album `The Wishing Chair' ... they
finished the set with Robert Buck's blistering solo from a memory whose
title, alas, has escaped me.

A three song encore followed, with Dennis playing accordion on the
last.  Just before that song, I yelled out `Do you miss John?' and
Natalie's expression changed markedly.  Steven shot back playfully, `Do
you?' and Natalie answered slowly, `Yes ... yes, but you know ...
people change ...  we can talk about it later, if you like ...' and
proceeded to mention that Jerry played drums on the album for John's
new group, The New Dylans, and started to sing a few bars from their
single, as Jerry tapped quietly and smiled.

They are playing again tonight, alone, for two sets (apparently to get
as much time with the new material as possible), and I may take Natalie
up on her offer to talk about the changes the band has gone through if
I go.  They play at the I-Beam in SF Monday night with some other band
whose poster around Berzerkeley displays their name prominently, with a
small "plus 10,000 Maniacs" at the bottom.  Promises to be a major
lose.

/jordan