Coming on 180g vinyl: Natalie Merchant's
Motherland
http://www.musicdirect.com/p-145825-...import-lp.aspx
Natalie Merchant Motherland on Limited Edition 180g Import LP
By 1992, 10,000 Maniacs had been with the Elektra family for some eight years, and had recorded four highly successful albums for the label (preceded by two indie releases). Vocalist/songwriter Natalie Merchant, who had co-founded the band when she was 17, was about to turn 30, and she decided the time had come to set off on her own. Although the band enjoyed their greatest sales success with 1993’s triple-platinum MTV Unplugged, Merchant had already announced she was leaving the group.
Two years later, Merchant re-emerged with her acclaimed solo debut. Tigerlily was an artistic triumph and a commercial smash, surpassing 10,000 Maniacs on the sales front and certified 5-times platinum. The album, whose first single was “Carnival,” was entirely written and produced by Merchant, a clear break from her band identity that found one of modern music’s most distinctive voices expressing a need to “project further,” as she said at the time.
Tigerlily was followed in 1998 by Ophelia, which coincided with her participation in the second Lilith Fair tour. She released a live album in 1999, and concluded her Elektra contract in 2001 with her third solo album Motherland. Co-produced with T-Bone Burnett and featuring the rhythm section of Graham Maby (Joe Jackson) and Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos) along with a guest appearance by Mavis Staples, the atmospheric 12-song set was completed two days before the 9/11 attacks and is dedicated to the victims.
Natalie Merchant Motherland Track Listing:
1. The House Is On Fire
2. Motherland
3. Saint Judas
4. Put The Law On You
5. Build A Levee
6. Golden Boy
7. The Ballad Of Henry Darger
8. The Worst Thing
9. Tell Yourself
10. Just Can't Last
11. Not In This Life
12. I'm Not Gonna Beg