Mike Broadman

Natalie Merchant- Motherland

I remember when Tigerlily first came out, I liked the singles off the album so much that I picked up the album, despite not liking female vocalists at all at the time (I have recently been changing that opinion) and even got into 10,000 Maniacs a little.

I've always found the best songs on Tigerlily to be melodic, tightly arranged, and contain pleasant and interesting musical textures, not to mention Merchant's angelic voice.

I never appreciated Ophelia the same way. It has its moments, and Merchant herself sounds beautiful, but the songs get directionless and even a little trite sometimes. While the musical and lyrical themes became more sensitive, they also became more boring.

I finally got around to picking up her latest, Motherland, and it is, IMO, by far her best. It combines the focus and musicality of Tigerlily with the maturity of Ophelia. It is also the only Merchant album in which I like every single song.

My favorite tunes are:

Motherland- beautiful and catchy melody, great song

Put the Law on You- a blues, kinda

The Worst Thing- touching lyrics with a little Spanish flourish at the end

Just Can't Last


For anyone looking to get some nice, sophisticated but catchy female pop or if you lost interest in Merchant before, I highly recommend this one.

Btw, I also must say that I like 10,000 Maniacs after Merchant left, maybe even a little more.

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Carlo Medina

Will have to give that a shot. One of the things I loved best about Tigerlily was Jennifer Turner on the guitar (she is now in her own band www.innergalactic.com ) is the guitarist good for Motherland?

Mike Broadman

She uses a bunch of different cats on the album. I think the producer had a big hand on the album, which helped both sonically, giving the production a lush but intimate sound, and compositionally, streamlining Merchant's writing.

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Dennis Ellis

I have been a long time fan of 10000 maniacs/Natalie merchant.
You may be interested in her new album, The House Carpenter's Daughter.
It is being sold on her site right now. Look
here.
It is not avaialable in stores yet but you can order it from there.

I haven't had a chance to really listen to it alot but I do like it so far.

Sathyan

Sathyan Sundaram
System: http://members.fortunecity.com/sathyan/audio/index.htm
DVDs: http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mc.asp?alias=sathyan&type=A
CDs: http://members.fortunecity.com/sathy...pactDiscs.html

Mike Broadman

Thanks, Dennis. I'll probably just wait for it to be released in stores for now.

No plans to release anymore of her stuff on high-res, to my knowledge.

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George See

I would love more of her stuff on DVD-A me and my wife spin Tigerlily DVD-A at least once a week....I've picked up the House Carpenters Daughter from her website IMHO it's fantastic. But don't expect anything that sounds even remotly like Tigerlily. It's much more acoustic.