Re: which maniac?, looks, sundays

[as010b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (andrew david simchik)]

In <23813.9211111658@subnode.aiai.ed.ac.uk> jeff@aiai.edinburgh.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton) writes:

>> >For some reason I woke up this morning with a strong urge to buy some 10,000
>> >Maniacs. So I put forth the never answerable question: With which album
>> >should I start?

>> DON'T start with the new album, Our Time In Eden...it really bites.

>I don't know about _bites_, but don't start with it.

Well, bites is a strong word...but when only 1/3 of the album is really
worth listening to, I get pretty disappointed.  I love the Maniacs and I
wish they had made a different album...maybe it's Paul Fox's fault, maybe
not.

>> The Wishing Chair is kind of folksy/indie, In My Tribe is poppy but 
>> well-made, Blind Man's Zoo is alternative and dark.  I started with
>> BMZ and then IMT, and I would recommend either one highly.  The
>> rerelease album, Hope Chest, is also cool but I wouldn't start with it.

>I say: don't start with Blind Man's Zoo.  No, no, no.

Why not?  Blind Man's Zoo is coherent, well-made, lyrically excellent, dark
and lush...in a word, wonderful.  If I hadn't started with this album I
might not have listened to them at all...I think it's the best one they've
made.

>Start with The Wishing Chair or In My Tribe or Hope Chest or
>(if you can get it) Secrets of the I Ching (is that the right
>title?).  All of these are incredibly excellent play again and
>again and again items that everyone ought to have.

I think it might be difficult to get S of the IC, as to my knowledge it's no
longer being pressed.  Most of the music from it went onto Hope Chest.  And
I play BMZ again and again and again and it still sounds great.  What's your
problem with it?

Still, from the sound of your musical tastes maybe you'd be best off
starting with Hope Chest or In My Tribe--probably IMT.  Wishing Chair is
good but pretty simplistic as far as style and chords go...it's better left
to the experienced 10,000 Maniacs fan.

Drewcifer