10,000 MANIACS: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE (2013)
1) I Don't Love You Too; 2)
When We Walked On Clouds; 3) Gold; 4) Triangles; 5) Live For The Time Of Your
Life; 6) It's A Beautiful Life; 7) Whippoorwill; 8) Fine Line; 9) Tiny Arrows;
10) Downhill; 11) Chautauqua Moon.
Okay, so I promised to let you know, after all,
and yes, our favorite band, Ten Billion Maniacs, are back with a brand new
album, although maybe not even all the fans know of its existence. Yes, three
of the original members (the rhythm section and Dennis Drew on keyboards) still
remain, and, after a long period of absence, Mary Ramsey is back, too. The
late Robert Buck has been replaced by Jeff Erickson, who not only handles the
guitar duties, but also sings lead vocals on a couple of numbers — is that a
first for the band or what?
Those who actually liked Love Among The Ruins, the band's friendly, but uninspired attempt
at carrying on after the loss of Merchant, will be pleased to know that very little
has changed — as of the early 2010s, guess what? they are still busy writing and recording friendly, but uninspired music.
Mary Ramsey sounds warm and lovable, more like a young happy mother cuddling
her child than a moody, insecure, guilt-ridden young girl; and her violin
always stays in tune with her vocals. The guitars and keyboards breathe with
folksy life, never subject to overproduction or encumbered with smart modern
sound effects. Even Dennis Drew, at liberty to do what he wants, gets a lead
vocal on the somberly waltzing ʽDownhillʼ, and it's a likable middle-aged
«croak» (or «quack»?) that fits the song's mood perfectly. So?..
So the only problem is that, just like before,
the individual songs never stick. Every second is more or less equally «pretty»
as every next or preceding one, and if this band never «tore it up» when it was
young, why should we even expect that it could add more dynamism when it got
old? The overall genteel atmosphere knocks on your door with the opening seconds
of ʽI Don't Love You Tooʼ (a message expressed by Ramsey with the outmost
courteousness and gallantry) and fizzles away with the closing seconds of
ʽChautaqua Moonʼ (a little chamber chat between violin and viola, probably
overdubbed by Mary as she is credited for both). And rarely shifts to anything
else, and practically never congeals into any memorable hooks.
On ʽIt's A Beautiful Lifeʼ, they dabble in a
bit of experimentation, changing from folk-pop to reggae-pop, while the lyrics
of the song present a slightly reworked version of ʽBig Rock Candy Mountainʼ.
They pull it off without embarrassment, but reggae is a limiting form by
itself, and they have no time or strength to do anything «special» with it
other than offering a brief repose from the more standard formula. Other than
that, I think I could only loosely single out ʽWhen We Walked On Cloudsʼ, with
its focus on fast acoustic picking, «cloudy» organ background, and dreamy
nostalgic singing, as a humble highlight that produces a «deeper» feeling than
anything else on the album. But only loosely.
That said, I reiterate that the band still
sounds adorable, and, at any rate, more enamored of and more sensitive towards this
kind of music than most indie bands of the 21st century trying out this
pastoral, idyllic, inoffensive brand of folk-rock. It might, indeed, be even
better than Love Among The Ruins,
since the band has aged and wisened up, and 10,000 Maniacs always tried to
sound like they were «so much older then», and now they're sort of getting
adequate, even if they do it at the expense of a near-total loss of songwriting
skill. (Okay, I'm just beginning to get something
back from the ringing electric riffs of ʽWhippoorwhillʼ... but it's such a
thin, «wimpy» sound, it's going to take a while to woo these ears).
Anyway, no thumbs up, no thumbs down — strictly
for the fans, but if you're a fan, seek it out while there still remains a micro-blip
of it on the news radar. And that title: it's almost as if they knew they were releasing an album
designed strictly for background listening!
Check "Music From The Motion Picture" (CD) on Amazon
Check "Music From The Motion Picture" (MP3) on Amazon
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