ALBUMS THAT SHOULD EXIST | 10000 Maniacs, Linda Ronstadt (1976) , Patti Smith (1979)

10,000 Maniacs - Cover Songs, Volume 1: 1984-1992

Natalie Merchant, the former lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs, has an interesting and unique voice. It turns out she sang lots of cover songs that generally make it to studio albums when she was with 10,000 Maniacs. There's enough for two volumes. Here's the first one.

Generally speaking, all the songs on the band's studio albums were originals. One key exception is "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens. It first appeared on the 1987 album "In My Tribe," but then it was removed after Stevens made controversial comments about the fatwa on writer Salmon Rushdie. However, the band later included it on their best of collection, "Campfire Songs." I've included a version of the song here, but it's an unreleased, from a concert bootleg.

Only five of the 14 songs here have been released. "These Days" comes from a various artists compilation. "Wildwood Flower," "Hello in There," "I Hope that I Don't Fall in Love with You," and "Starman - Moonage Daydream" are B-sides.

Everything else comes from concert bootlegs. I was very selective about the sound quality. All, or at least most all, of the live songs come from soundboard bootlegs. I also used the MVSEP audio editing program to remove the crowd noise, to make the live tracks fit in with the studio tracks. I additionally used the UVR5 program to boost the lead vocals in the cases where they were low. 

There are a lot of interesting song choices here. For instance, I didn't expect songs from before World War II by the likes of the Andrews Sisters, Vera Lynn, and the Carter Family. 

This album is 42 minutes long. 

Here are the original artists for each song:

01 Rum and Coca Cola - Andrews Sisters
02 Burning Airlines Gives You So Much More - Brian Eno
03 Children, Go Where I Send Thee - traditional
04 Peace Train - Cat Stevens
05 Where the Soul Never Dies - traditional
06 From the Time You Say Goodbye - Vera Lynn
07 Wildwood Flower - Carter Family
08 Hello in There - John Prine
09 These Days - Jackson Browne
10 I Hope that I Don't Fall in Love with You - Tom Waits
11 Starman - Moonage Daydream - David Bowie
12 Needle in a Haystack - Velvelettes
13 Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
14 The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff

 

Paul at ATSE has posted another few worth checking out too. He is on FIRE lately!

Patti Smith - Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA, 5-13-1979

Linda Ronstadt - BBC Sessions, Old Grey Whistle Test, New Victoria Theatre, London, Britain, 11-13-1976