10.000 Maniacs: Original Album Series 1985 - 1993 + Hope Chest (The Fredonia Recordings 1982 - 1983)

 

10,000 Maniacs is an American alternative rock band that was founded in 1981. They have released

nine studio albums, six EPs, and five live albums. They achieved their most significant success between 1987 and 1993, when they released four albums that charted in the top 50 in the US: In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man's Zoo (1989), Our Time in Eden (1992) and the live album MTV Unplugged (1993). After the recording but before the release of MTV Unplugged, original lead singer and main songwriter Natalie Merchant left the band to pursue a solo career. She was replaced by Mary Ramsey, who was the lead singer from 1993 to 2001 and then from 2007 to the present.
                                   

An acclaimed, multi-platinum selling American alternative rock outfit whose agreeable blend of jangle

pop and folk-rock helped to define college rock scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, 10,000 Maniacs (named after the low-budget horror movie 2,000 Maniacs) were formed in Jamestown, New York, in 1981 by singer Natalie Merchant and guitarist John Lombardo. Other members of the sextet were Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew (keyboards), and Jerry Augustyniak (drums).
                                  

The group gigged extensively and recorded independently before signing with Elektra and making The

Wishing Chair in 1985. Co-founder Lombardo left the band in 1986, and they continued as a quintet, releasing their second album, In My Tribe, in 1987. This album broke into the charts, where it stayed 77 weeks, peaking at number 37. Blind Man's Zoo, the 1989 follow-up, hit number 13 and went gold.
                               

After 1992's Our Time in Eden had finished its run on the charts, Merchant announced that she was leaving for a solo career. MTV Unplugged was released a few months after her departure. The remaining 10,000 Maniacs decided to continue performing, adding the folk-rock duo John & Mary

(original member Lombardo and violinist/vocalist Mary Ramsey). The new lineup released Love Among the Ruins. Merchant released her first solo album, Tigerlily, in the summer of 1995 and a follow-up, Ophelia, in 1998. In 1999, the remaining Maniacs released The Earth Pressed Flat on Bar/None. Sadly, a year later lead guitarist and founding member Robert Buck, who co-wrote some of the band's classics like "Hey Jack Kerouac," "What's the Matter Here?," and "These Are Days," died of liver failure on December 19, 2000. He was 42.
                               

Following Buck's death, 10,0000 Maniacs took a year-long hiatus, reconvening in December 2001 to

play a benefit concert with Jeff Erickson (now playing guitar). After this concert, Gustafson, Drew, and Augustyniak assembled a new lineup of 10,000 Maniacs featuring guitarist Erickson and vocalist Oskar Saville, who previously sang with Rubygrass.
                                      

Over the next four years, this version of the Maniacs toured regularly, their profile was raised somewhat

in 2004 when Rhino released the career retrospective Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure & Unknown Recordings, and in 2006, Mary Ramsey began playing the occasional concert with the band. Saville left the band in 2007 and Ramsey returned to her role as frontwoman.
                                     

10,000 Maniacs remained a staple on the folk-rock circuit right into the new decade, and in 2011 they

released their first new recording in a decade: an EP called Triangles, which appeared on their label, Ruby Wristwatch. That year, the group also played two 30th anniversary concerts in their hometown of Jamestown, New York, then set out to record a new album in 2012. The resulting Music from the Motion Picture, the first new 10,000 Maniacs album in 14 years, appeared in February 2013.
                                             

Not long after its release, Bob Wachter (who had played drums with the group back in 1981

before Augustyniak joined on full-time basis) died at the age of 49. John Lombardo re-joined the band in 2014 as they were recording the album that became Twice Told Tales, a 2015 collection of British folk covers. The following year saw the band celebrating their 35th anniversary with the release of Playing Favorites, a collection of their best-known songs recorded live in Jamestown, New York.
(By William Ruhlmann)

THE WHISHING CHAIR 1985

                                                     

TRACKS

                                                       

01. Can't Ignore The Train    2:44
02. Scorpio Rising    3:13
03. Just As The Tide Was A Flowing   2:18
(Arranged By [Lyric] – 10,000 Maniacs/Music By – Traditional)
04. Lilydale    3:12
05. Back O' The Moon    3:32
06. Maddox Table    3:19
07. The Colonial Wing    4:05
08. Grey Victory    3:07
09. Among The Americans    3:07
10. Everyone A Puzzle Lover    3:17
11. Cotton Alley    3:23
12. Daktari   4:29
(Lyrics By – John Lombardo)
13. My Mother The War   3:32
(Lyrics By – Michael Walsh)
14. Tension Makes A Tangle    3:32
15. Arbor Day    2:17

MP3 @ 320 Size: 118 MB
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IN MY TRIBE 1987

                                                   

TRACKS

                                                    

01. What's The Matter Here?   4:51
Written-By – Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck
02. Hey Jack Kerouac   3:26
Written-By – Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck
03. Like The Weather   3:57
Written-By – Natalie Merchant
04. Cherry Tree   3:14
Written-By – Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck
05. The Painted Desert   3:39
Written-By – Jerome Augustyniak, Natalie Merchant
06. Don't Talk   5:04
Written-By – Dennis Drew, Natalie Merchant
07. Peace Train   3:27
Written-By – Cat Stevens
08. Gun Shy   4:12
Written-By – Natalie Merchant
09. My Sister Rose   3:13
Written-By – Jerome Augustyniak, Natalie Merchant
10. A Campfire Song   3:15
Voice [Other Voice] – Michael Stipe
Written-By – Natalie Merchant
11. City Of Angels   4:17
Written-By – Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck
12. Verdi Cries   4:21
Arranged By [String Arrangement] – David Campbell
Bass – Bob Magnusson
Cello – Dennis Karmazyn
Piano – Don Grolnick
Viola – Novi
Written-By – Natalie Merchant

HEY JACK KEROUAC

                                                             

Hey Jack Kerouac ,
I thing of your mother and the tears she cried
she cried for none other than her little boy
lost in our little world
that hated and that dared to drag him down .

Hey Jack
You chose your words
from mouths of babes
got lost in the wood
Cool junk booting madmen
street minded girls in Harlem howling at night .

You've gone away without saying goodbye . Hey Jack
Of the San Francisco beat boys
you were the favorite .
Allen baby , why so jaded ?
Have the boys all grown up
and their beauty faded ?

MP3 @ 320 Size: 113 MB
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BLIND MAN'S ZOO 1989

TRACKS

                                                   

01. Eat For Two    3:26
02. Please Forgive Us    3:22
03. The Big Parade    4:00
04. Trouble Me    3:08
Backing Vocals – Jevetta Steele
05. You Happy Puppet    3:35
06. Headstrong    4:13
07. Poison In The Well    3:05
08. Dust Bowl    4:11
09. The Lion's Share    3:00
10. Hateful Hate   4:28
Organ, Piano – Natalie Merchant
11. Jubilee   5:59
Arranged By – Jason Osborn
Bassoon – Dennis Godburn
Cello – Myron Lutzke
Double Bass – Frank Luther
Guitar – Scott Kuney
Harpsichord – Robert Wolinsky
Viola – Louise Schulman
Violin – Krista Bennion Feeney, Mitsuru Tsubota

MP3 @ 320 Size: 104 MB
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OUR TIME IN EDEN 1992

   

TRACKS

                                

01. Noah's Dove    4:29
02. These Are Days   3:40
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
03. Eden    4:07
04. Few And Far Between   3:13
Alto Saxophone – Maceo Parker
Tenor Saxophone – Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis
Trombone – Fred Wesley
05. Stockton Gala Days   4:18
Violin – Mary Ramsey
06. Gold Rush Brides   3:22
Harmonica – Charles Fleischer
07. Jezebel   4:00
Arranged By [String Quartet], Conductor [String Quartet] – Paul Buckmaster
Cello – Larry Corbett
Viola – Pamela Goldsmith
Violin – Bruce Dukov, Ralph Morrison
08. How You've Grown   3:39
Viola – Mary Ramsey
09. Candy Everybody Wants   3:04
Alto Saxophone – Maceo Parker
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
Tenor Saxophone – Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis
Trombone – Fred Wesley
10. Tolerance    4:13
11. Circle Dream   3:25
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
12. If You Intend    3:01
13. I'm Not The Man   3:24
Bassoon – Atsuko Sato, Kim Laskowski

MP3 @ 320 Size: 117 MB
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MTV UNPLAGGED 1993

   

TRACKS

                                           

01. These Are Days   4:22
Written-By – Merchant, Buck
02. Eat For Two   4:12
Written-By – Merchant
03. Candy Everybody Wants   3:19
Written-By – Drew, Merchant
04. I'm Not The Man   3:46
Written-By – Merchant
05. Don't Talk   5:22
Written-By – Drew, Merchant
06. Hey Jack Kerouac   3:29
Written-By – Merchant, Buck
07. What's The Matter Here?   4:50
Written-By – Merchant, Buck
08. Gold Rush Brides   4:12
Written-By – Merchant, Buck
09. Like The Weather   4:15
Written-By – Merchant
10. Trouble Me   3:40
Written-By – Drew, Merchant
11. Jezebel   4:20
Written-By – Merchant
12. Because The Night   3:44
Written-By – Springsteen, Smith
13. Stockton Gala Day   5:25
Written-By – Drew, Augustyniak, Merchant, Buck, Gustafson
14. Noah's Dove   5:07
Written-By – Merchant

MP3 @ 320 Size: 146 MB
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HOPE CHEST - (THE FREDONIA RECORDINGS 1982 - 1983) 1990

                                           

Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982–1983, also known as just Hope Chest, is a compilation album of songs by American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs, released in 1990 by Elektra Records. It compiles tracks from their early releases Human Conflict Number Five (1982) and Secrets

of the I Ching (1983). All tracks on the album are remixed from their original versions.
The original version of "Tension" from Human Conflict Number Five is not included on this compilation; only the re-recorded version of the song that was included on Secrets of the I Ching. Other than that, all of the songs from both releases are included on this disc—even "National Education Week", which had been dropped from later pressings of Secrets of the I Ching.
Two tracks on the album—"The Latin One" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth"—contain lyrics adapted from the works of British World War I poet Wilfred Owen, the latter being unique in the band's canon, as it features a lead vocal from guitarist John Lombardo.
                                    

Hope Chest (The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983) is a compilation album that contains all the material from the bands first two releases - their 1982 E.P. 10,000 Maniacs - Human Conflict Number Five, and

their 1983 LP 10,000 Maniacs - Secrets Of The I Ching, both released on the U.S. based Mark Records before their 1985 major label debut on Elektra Records. Both releases were originally only released on vinyl record, unavailable on cassette tape as separate recordings, and are still (as of 2021) only available as vinyl record releases.

10,000 Maniacs – Hope Chest (The Fredonia Recordings 1982 - 1983)
Label: Elektra – 9 60962-2
Format:    CD, Compilation, Club Edition
Country: US
Released: 1990
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock, Soft Rock

TRACKS

                                                  

01. Planned Obsolescence    4:29
02. The Latin One    2:59
03. Katrina's Fair    2:57
04. Poor De Chirico    3:09
05. Grey Victory    2:59
06. National Education Week    2:57
07. Death Of Manolete    3:52
08. Orange    2:23
09. Tension    3:30
10. Anthem For Doomed Youth    2:48
11. Daktari    4:10
12. Groove Dub    3:18
13. Pit Viper    3:51
14. My Mother The War    3:30

MP3 @ 320 Size: 113 MB
Flac  Size: 300 MB

Bokomolech: Xero 1995

Alternative Rock band formed in 1991 in Athens, Greece. Their name is a misspelling of the name of Ukrainian physiologist Alexander A. Bogomolets (1881-1946) who made research on life extension,

producing also a serum of the same name. On 13/7/1996 they performed live at 'Rock Of Gods' (Piraeus) along with 'Violent Femmes', 'Jesus And Mary Chain', 'Paradise Lost', 'Dead Moon' & 'Bad Religion'.
On 16/7/1998 they performed at 'Rockwave Festival' (Piraeus) along with 'Pulp', 'Sonic Youth', 'Closer ', 'Puressence' & 'Τα Ξύλινα Σπαθιά'.
They performed live at Indie Free Festival (Athens) in 1992, 1993 & 2010.
                                                                          

Their debut album, "Xero" (LP-1995, CD-1996, Lazy Dog) was hailed by critics of the time (and not only) as one of the best Greek English albums ever released. Soon, they gained the justified reputation of one of the most exciting concert bands of the Athenian scene.
                                                     

Bokomolech began in 1991 in Athens, first as a relaxed company of friends and from 1993 onwards, with a stable line-up that lasted a decade. After 9 years of absence, they come back with new members in the band composition. After Evi Fragedaki’s withdrawal, Christina Kassesian and Tassos Protopapas

joined the initial members: Dimitris Ioannou, Vlassis Karayannis, Lila Katerinaki and Kostas Ragoussis and their contribution fueled the band with ideas and energy. Tassos and Christina were invited, coincidentally, at the same rehearsal sometime in early 2008. The result was quickly obvious and everyone liked it and so they decided to continue together. The broad musical education of both contributed positively to the new compositions and further facilitated their smooth integration into the team and the way it operated and still operates.
                                                                 

Something that has not changed at all after so many years and continues to dominate is the composing process: a fully interactive, while silent, collaboration in which everyone contributes in their own way and means and from which results both the composition of sounds – instruments and the structure of

each track. On the other hand there is an interesting change of the creative process of the album. As many of the ideas of the tracks came some time before the recording, and because of the intense desire to return to the studio, the experience of recording with the new line-up proved highly interesting. Although the recording was essentially live, it was followed by a long period of listenings and re-recording. The digital recordings, at Noizlab studio of Paris Tekidis, allowed more processing to the home studio infrastructure and consecutive tests during mixing.
                                                            

The first complete result of the new assembly is “Mass Vulture”, which according to Bokomolech is

their most mature and complete work. It was worked within the last two years, under their full artistic direction and production and it combines, with an even clearer idiosyncratic way, elements from all their previous works: the sensitivity and musicality of “Xero” and “Insect (songs)”, the homogeneity of SNP “Jet Lag”, the acoustic elegance of “Slowburner” and the energy of “Exit: Trance”.
                                                 

The lyrics are as always open to different interpretations, but this is overall the most “political” album of Bokomolech. This is also reflected in the title of the album, which is an attempt to compress the two basic positions developed in the public discourse about the Greek 'crisis’, positions that can be encoded

around the dipole guilt-victimization, and together a position that combines them. “Mass Vulture” refers more to a process (schematically, the application of “The shock doctrine” in a society) rather than a subject. Simultaneously, however, it refers to those mechanisms of mass culture that systematically brought out (and, depending on the establishment and defense of each, imposed) a model of thinking and behavior that made the society a convenient and vulnerable target for such attacks. This idea of the world, that loses its cohesion and crumbles, was captured in an ingenious way on the album cover, made by db.
                                                       

Seven years after the release of their acclaimed “Mass Vulture” LP, Bokomolech are back with a new EP titled “Bright New Darkness”, for the production of which they collaborated with renowned producer and musician Coti K. (The Man from Managra, Mohammad). “Bright New Darkness” comprises a small set of songs that took form through the band’s recent live appearances, characterized by a common compositional and lyrical theme: How can one keep, as both an individual and a member of a collective –be it a family, a band or even society at large-, the flame of their world alive in the midst of consecutive, embedded crises threatening to bring it down.
                                         

This agony to find light in the surrounding darkness informed the record’s title, but it also emerges out of both the lyrics of the six songs (the titles of which can be read in sequence as the EP’s main

narrative) and the dense electric/electronic instrumentation that, thanks to Coti K’s mastery, tightly embraces the insistent melodies without drowning them. As the record’s artwork by Petros Voulgaris suggests, “Bright New Darkness” is a balancing act, or a dialectical composition of contrasts: within its chaotic soundscape, it retains a pop sensibility; within the old it discovers the new; amongst the ruins it senses a future still unclear; within the darkness it finds a blinding spark of light.
                                                                  

Oι Bokomolech είναι ένα συγκρότημα από την Αθήνα. Τα μέλη του συναντήθηκαν το 1991 στο Πολυτεχνείο, όπου σπούδαζαν αρχιτεκτονική. Μετά από μια περίοδο πειραματισμού με τη σύνθεση, κατά την οποία εμφανίστηκαν στα δύο πρώτα Indie Free Festival (1992-93), κατέληξαν στο συνδυασμό ενός τραγουδιστή (Δημήτρης Ιωάννου), δύο κιθαριστών (Κώστας Ραγκούσης, Εύη Φραγγεδάκη), μιας μπασίστριας (Λίλα Κατερινάκη) και ενός ντράμερ (Βλάσης Καραγιάννης). Η σύνθεση αυτή διάρκεσε μια δεκαετία.
                                          

Όπως ακριβώς θα περίμενε κανείς από τον συνδυασμό ενός τόσο συνηθισμένου line-up και ενός τόσο παράξενου ονόματος (που αποτελεί παραγραφή του ονόματος του Ουκρανού φυσιολόγου Oleksandr

Bogomoletz, ο οποίος, τη δεκαετία του 1940, συνέθεσε ένα ελιξίριο για την παράταση της ζωής ως τα 140 χρόνια), τα τραγούδια τους αποτελούν ιδιόμορφες μίξεις συνηθισμένων στοιχείων. Αυτό οφείλεται, τόσο στη συνθετική διαδικασία, που συνίσταται στο συλλογικό αυτοσχεδιασμό πάνω σε μελωδικές γραμμές που προτείνονται (συνήθως από τον Κ.Ρ.) κατά τις πρόβες, όσο και στις ποικίλες επιρροές τους.
                                               

Το ντεμπούτο άλμπουμ τους, “Xero” (LP-1995, CD-1996, Lazy Dog) χαιρετίστηκε από τους κριτικούς της εποχής (και όχι μόνο) ως ένα από τα καλύτερα ελληνικά αγγλόφωνα άλμπουμ που κυκλοφόρησαν ποτέ. Σύντομα, απέκτησαν τη δικαιολογημένη φήμη ενός από τα πιο συναρπαστικά

συναυλιακά συγκροτήματα της αθηναϊκής σκηνής. Οι επόμενες τέσσερις κυκλοφορίες τους έγιναν από τη Hitch Hyke, το σημαντικότερο ελληνικό label της εποχής. Το “Insect (songs)” (mini-LP, CD, 1997), το “Jet Lag” (2LP, CD, 1997) που ηχογραφήθηκε στο στούντιο του Steve Albini στο Σικάγο, το “Slowburner” (CD, 1999) για το οποίο συνεργάστηκαν με τον Coti K. και το “Exit: Trance” (CD, 2003) και πάλι με τον Albini, αυτή τη φορά στο Black Box, στη δυτική Γαλλία. Λίγο πριν από την κυκλοφορία του τελευταίου άλμπουμ, η Εύη αποχώρησε από το συγκρότημα.
                                        

Όλο αυτό το διάστημα, οι Bokomolech εμφανίστηκαν πολλές φορές στην Αθήνα, τη Θεσσαλονίκη και άλλες ελληνικές πόλεις. Συμμετείχαν μεταξύ άλλων στο Rock of Gods festival και στα δύο πρώτα Rockwave, ενώ έπαιξαν ως support band με τους dEUS, την PJ Harvey, τους Shellac, τον Steve

Wynn, τον Bonnie “Prince” Billy και τους Zita Swoon. Ακολούθησε μια περίοδος εσωστρέφειας και σπάνιων εμφανίσεων, έως το 2008 όταν, στους τέσσερις πια Bokomolech, προστέθηκαν ο Τάσος Πρωτόπαπας (keyboards και λούπες) και η Χριστίνα Κασσεσιάν (κιθάρα). Τα νέα μέλη έδωσαν μια νέα δυναμική στο σχήμα που οδηγήθηκε και πάλι στο στούντιο το καλοκαίρι του 2009. Μετά από μια αργή αλλά επίμονη διαδικασία επιλογών και επεξεργασίας, οι Bokomolech κατέληξαν στα δέκα κομμάτια του “Mass Vulture”, που κυκλοφορεί τον Φεβρουάριο του 2012, σε LP και CD από την Inner Ear.

Οι Bokomolech είναι οι:

                                                                          

Δημήτρης Ιωάννου
Βλάσης Καραγιάννης
Χριστίνα Κασσεσιάν
Λίλα Κατερινάκη
Τάσος Πρωτόπαπας
Κώστας Ραγκούσης

Bokomolech – Xero
Label: Lazy Dog Records – LZD 014
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Greece
Released: 1995
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

SIDE A

                                                              

A1.     Sin River
A2.     Dove
A3.     Afraid
A4.    Between Out & Inside
A5.    Prove Me Wrong

SIDE B

                                            

B1.     Give It Up
B2.     As A Game
B3.     Dignity As An Excuse
B4.     My Words

Recorded At – 111 Studio
Recorded At – Studio 5, Athens, Greece
Mixed At – 111 Studio
Mixed At – Studio 5, Athens, Greece
Pressed By – Gramofonové Závody – MZE 3039
Pressed By – Gramofonové Závody – MZE 3040
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Lazy Dog Records
Copyright © – Lazy Dog Records
Printed By – Αστέριος Χ. Γούσιος

Artwork – Knoway Grafi
Bass, Vocals – Lila Katerinaki
Drums, Percussion – Sakis Karagiannis
Guitar, Vocals – Eve Fraggedaki, Kostas Ragoussis
Noises [Helped With All That Noise] – Kostas Kouzoulos (tracks: A4, A5)
Photography By – Dimitris "Chick" Cottas, Dimitris Ioannou
Photography By [Band] – Dimitris "Chick" Cottas
Piano – Mary Zoura (tracks: A2)
Producer – Bokomolech (tracks: A2, A4, A5, B2), Leo Papadakis (tracks: A1, A3, B1, B3, B4)
Recorded By [At 111 Studios], Mixed By [At 111 Studios] – Kostas Arniotis (tracks: A1, A3, B1, B3, B4)
Recorded By [At Studio 5], Mixed By [At Studio 5] – Greg Papanagiotou (tracks: A2, A4, A5, B2)
Songwriter [All Songs] – Bokomolech
Vocals, Tambourine – Dimitris Ioannou
Words By – Dimitris (tracks: A1 to B1, B3, B4), Eve (tracks: B2)

DISCOGRAPHY

                                                                         

Xero   Lazy Dog Records         1995
Jet Lag  Hitch-Hyke Records         1997
Insect (Songs)   Hitch-Hyke Records     1997
Exit (Trance)   Hitch-Hyke Records     2003
Mass Vulture  Inner Ear, Inner Ear     2012

MP3 @ 320 Size: 90 MB
Flac  Size: 254 MB