1,000 Maniacs' Songwriting Withstands The Test Of Time

Five years ago, I sat down with two friends, some beer and a pad of paper in a small apartment in Greeley, Colo., to write a year-end story for the local paper about what was "in" and what was "out." I've mercifully forgotten most of what we wrote, but one bold claim sticks with me. Throwing caution to the suds, we declared 10,000 Maniacs the best new band of 1988.

Nevermind that 10,000 Maniacs was actually a 7-year-old band at the time. So what if they had their first major-label release in 1985 and even the album that had inspired us, "In My Tribe," was released in 1987.

It took the breakthrough sound of songs such as "Like the Weather," that irresistibly catchy combination of upbeat, poppy music and vaguely ominous lyrics, for 10,000 Maniacs to reach the airwaves in Colorado, and we were grateful. Finally, we thought, a band with lyrics that make you think and music that makes you, if not dance, at least tap your hands on the steering wheel.

With their follow-up album, "Blind Man's Zoo," 10,000 Maniacs couldn't recapture the same spirit that had made "In My Tribe" such a success. Always a bit aloof, always intensely concerned with writing songs that fell on the proper side of all the dreaded "-isms" (sexism, environmentalism, militarism, whatever), 10,000 Maniacs had lost that precarious balance needed to write socially relevant pop songs without coming across as holier than thou. Natalie Merchant, the group's meat-free, alcohol-free, tobacco-free and certainly fur-free lead singer, seemed in danger of becoming nothing more than a politically correct poster child for the '90s.

So it was with some trepidation that I listened to "Our Time in Eden," 10,000 Maniacs' most recent album. Would the Greeley Three be shown up for what we undoubtedly were, naive poseurs to the taste-making throne?

On record sales, at least, we've been vindicated. The album has sold more than a million copies.

Artistically, too, our judgment stands up.

The songs on "Our Time in Eden" manage to explore social issues and personal experiences without becoming preachy. There's even a surprisingly upbeat song, "These Are the Days," with lyrics like, "These are days you'll remember. Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this."

Other songs on the album consider subjects like a girl's fleeting childhood, a man on death row, intolerance and the way the entertainment industry panders to "lust and hate." But the songs, this time around, steer clear from stridency by choosing subtle images over broad statements.

The music on "Our Time in Eden" doesn't break much new ground, but they've added some nice touches. There's the familiar tension between Merchant's cool, dreamy, knowing vocals and the perky music, but there's a richer feel to the music with the addition of saxophones, a trombone, the occasional violin and even a bassoon. Sometimes you wish they'd just get down and rock out a bit, but they never quite do.

Maybe they will in concert. The 10,000 Maniacs show Sunday night at the Paramount Theatre with the Wallflowers is sold out, but tickets are still available for a show 8 p.m. Saturday at the Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, B.C. ($32 Canadian; 628-0888).

If they manage to cut loose for a few songs, then maybe, just for old times' sake, I'll put them down as one of the best new bands of 1993.