Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983

Performer: 10,000 Maniacs
Engineer: Joe Barbaria
Producer: 10,000 Maniacs
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: The first two 10,000 Maniacs records, 1982's HUMAN CONFLICT NUMBER FIVE EP and 1983's SECRETS OF THE I CHING album, were independently released by the band in fairly small editions. HOPE CHEST is a remixed and re-sequenced compilation of all but one of the songs from those two records. The most noticeable result of the remastering is a fuller drum sound. These songs find the band playing its own version of electric folk music, an interpretation layered with elements of everything from reggae and dub ("Poor De Chirico," "National Education Week") to punk rock ("Death Of Manolete"). "My Mother The War," which appeared along with three other songs in a re-recorded version on THE WISHING CHAIR, is a nearly perfect distillation of the Maniacs' early sound. Robert Buck's sharp-as-crystal guitar rings, Jerome Augustyniak's drumming is thunderous but spare, and Natalie Merchant delivers her strangely distant lyrics with a distinctive, odd enunciation.

Led by vocalist Natalie Merchant, 10,000 Maniacs combined danceable rhythms, jangly guitars, catchy melodies, and liberal politics to create a super-accessible version of 1980s college rock. The band broke into the mainstream with a cover of Cat Stevens's classic "Peace Train," and followed up with a string of successful, well-crafted albums. In 1993 the act scored a massive pop hit with a live cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Because the Night," off their MTV UNPLUGGED album. After Merchant left the band for a successful solo career, 10,000 Maniacs soldiered on with former member Mary Ramsey at the helm, never quite achieving the same level of success, but scoring a top 40 hit in 1997 with another cover (Roxy Music's "More Than This").

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