In My Tribe

by

10,000 Maniacs

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In addition to being the band that launched Natalie Merchant's career, 10,000 Maniacs were among the best of the late 1980s college rock groups that gained popularity in the wake of R.E.M.'s success. "In My Tribe" was the Merchant and Company's best album, containing the ace single "Like the Weather," and accompanying material that is just as strong. Other highlights are the child abuse take "What's the Matter Here," the tribute "Hey Jack Kerouac," and the catchy "Don't Talk." Unfortunately, the band pulled their wonderful cover version of Cat Stevens's "Peace Train" off of subsequent pressings of this album after Stevens's coversion to radical Islam and his support of Ayatolah Khomeni's call for Muslims to kill author Salmon Rushdie for publishing "The Satanic Verses." While I support the band's thinking, it robs the album of one of its best performances.

Overall, an excellent record that sounds as fresh today as when it was released in 1987.

I borrowed this CD from the library once when I was in high school. It was spring break, and I was alternating this CD with The Smiths' Meat Is Murder. I was also reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and a biography of Marie Antoinette. Now whenever I hear In My Tribe, it is inextricably tied to the memory of The Fountainhead (and likewise with Marie Antoinette and Meat is Murder). Some records are like that. You get them and they make an immediate and indelible impression. In My Tribe was like that, although I found Natalie Merchant's voice grating and the lyrics a bit preachy and condescending. However, there was something very original and compelling about the album that kept it in my CD player, got me some overdue fines, and eventually inspired me to buy the CD. I bought all the other Maniacs CDs, listened to them a few times, did not like them and eventually gave them away, so I can say safely that this is their finest work and transcends even critics like myself. I am not a 10,000 Maniacs fan, but this album has an energy and magnetism that make it hard to resist. I still love "Hey, Jack Kerouac", "The Painted Desert", "City of Angels" and "Verdi Cries". All are a bit melancholy, a little bit desolate, and these songs (particularly the last three I listed) seemed to fit the frame of mind, the book I was reading, the place I was in my life at the time. Like the ongoing soundtrack of life. So based on my personal experience I am not sure that I can recommend this album wholeheartedly saying it was something everyone would recognise as brilliant. I can say that at the time (and still) it serves its purpose and moves me to a comfortable and nostalgic place.