The Essential 10: 10,000 Maniacs

This edition of The Essential 10, our quickfire introduction to a wide range of my favourite artists, features 10,000 Maniacs; an act that managed 5 albums over a career that spanned 1981 to 1993 (this is point of Natalie Merchant's departure - they have been going since then with various line-ups and released 4 more albums).

I have trawled the entire catalogue to come up with ten of my favourite tracks by them, including a few surprises (although, if you don’t know much about them, they may all be surprises).

10,000 Maniacs came into my life in late 1992 through a friend at university. I was beguiled by Merchant's beautiful voice and immediately hooked. This, of course, meant that she announced her departure the following year before I ever got a chance to see them live!

1. Scorpio Rising: one of two tracks on 1985's The Wishing Chair that slightly belied their post-punk roots, slightly at odds with the rest of the records melodic folk tunes. Scorpio Rising starts with a bang and a crash and Robert Buck driving things along with a heavy (by their standards) guitar riff. The video sees Merchant doing her trademark whirling dervish dance to this - as she sings, "my head is shaken violent." (official music video)

2. Headstrong: another lively track, this time from Blind Man's Zoo, sees a 'headstrong' Merchant again full of frustration, seemingly with the protagonist and the other person on the receiving end of her tirade (a lover?). Guitar and keyboards build to an initial crescendo, before it settles into a forceful but slow paced rock track, punctuated by Jerry Augustyniak's relentless fills. (audio only)

3. Trouble Me: this is something of an antidote to much of the darker tones that permeate Blind Man's Zoo. Keyboard player Dennis Drew wrote the music, with Natalie Merchant adding lyrics inspired by her father, Anthony, hospitalised at the time. It resulted in the lightest tune on the album, a tender and uplifting tune, with R&B/Gospel singer Jevetta Steele providing the backing vocals. (audio only)

4. These Are Days: one of many great parting gifts Merchant left her fans on the excellent last album she recorded with the band, Our Time In Eden. It flows effortlessly along with Merchant soaring over the top; a band tight as anything after a decade together - and maybe putting everything into it, knowing that she would soon be leaving. (official music video)

5. The Painted Desert: one of those songs that really helps you paint (pun intended) a picture in your mind, through the words and the sounds entering your head. It is a wonderful, delicate song about being apart and yearning for someone, using Arizona's Painted Desert as its backdrop. You don't have to have been there (I haven't) to imagine it - "When I'm sure the rains have ended and the blooms have gone, Everyone killed by the morning frost. Is a cactus blooming there upon the Northern rim, Or in the ruins of the Hopi mesa dens?" (audio only)

6. My Mother The War: another one of the slightly heavier tunes from The Wishing Chair; My Mother The War finds a thundering (and uncharacteristic) bass intro from Steve Gustafson, a relentless Augustyniak pounding the drums with great gusto, while Buck conjures up a storm of squally guitar noise and Merchant sings with much urgency as she delivers her strong anti-war message, wrapped in her trademark visceral imagery. (live on The Tube, 1985)

7. Stockton Gala Days: probably my favourite tune from that last record, it builds acoustically into a bright and lustrous song that again paints pictures - of beautiful sunny days in the countryside in a time gone by. It rolls, sways and builds mini crescendos along the way - before the song (and presumably Merchant) collapse with delighted exhaustion. (live on MTV Unplugged, 1993)

8. Can't Ignore The Train: yes it's kind of a folk song - not my favourite genre - but this song has such urgency, thanks to Augustyniak's neat little drum licks and Buck's arpeggiated playing, driving it along. Merchant's charming and playful lyrics stir up images of a rural setting in times gone by. (audio only)

9. Don't Talk: well, In My Tribe is arguably the best of their albums and this brooding and poignant song about trying to endure a relationship with an alcoholic, possibly their greatest moment. Robert Buck's precisely strummed chords that beautifully waft into arpeggios, Augustyniak's slowly loping drums and Drew's measured organ give dramatic space for Merchant to use the incredible power of her voice to propel the song to dramatic heights. (official music video)

10. Hey Jack Kerouac: the main nominee for their signature song is another from In My Tribe, is of course an ode to everyone's favourite beat poet and "hip flask slinging madman", Jack Kerouac and the "steaming cafe flirts" he hung out with. It is again Buck's strident guitar that forms the centrepiece for the song, with Drew again adding the texture into the background. (audio only)