Love Among the Ruins

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Every song here sports the customized blend of sprightly guitars and warm-bath keyboards that marked this band's salad days. But Mary Ramsay is no Natalie Merchant, and her bland delivery ensures that these dozen tunes sound more or less identical, even if their ho-hum cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" was a big radio hit. --Jeff Bateman --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Love Among the Ruins
Average customer rating:

10,000 Stars?

Fantastic album, better than with Merchant

Natalie who?

Beauty and the Past...

Stop the comparisons

Love Among the Ruins
10,000 Maniacs
Manufacturer: Geffen Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Jangle Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Our Time in Eden

The Earth Pressed Flat

The Wishing Chair

Blind Man's Zoo

In My Tribe

ASIN: B000000OVT
Release Date: 1997-06-17

Tracks:

Rainy Day
Love Among The Ruins
Even With My Eyes Closed
Girl On A Train
Green Children
A Room For Everything
More Than This
Big Star
You Won't Find
All That Never Happens
Shining Light
Across the Fields

Amazon.com

Every song here sports the customized blend of sprightly guitars and warm-bath keyboards that marked this band's salad days. But Mary Ramsay is no Natalie Merchant, and her bland delivery ensures that these dozen tunes sound more or less identical, even if their ho-hum cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" was a big radio hit. --Jeff Bateman

Customer Reviews:

10,000 Stars?.......2007-04-07

This was the first XKM disc which I ever purchased, initially on the merits of the Roxy Music cover, "More Than This". I was very pleasantly surprised to really like the entire disc, rather than just a few tracks. Mary Ramsey has a wonderful voice with a warm, mellow, smooth quality. I would LOVE to talk to Mary over dinner, just to hear that voice. Because I heard Mary first, when I hear "10,000 Maniacs" I think "Mary Ramsey" and not "Natalie Merchant". I later did buy another disc (In My Tribe) which featured Natalie as lead vocalist, but found that, while it is a very good disc, I didn't like it any better than this one. Mary shouldn't be judged by how close to Natalie she sounds, rather, her vocal qualites and instrumental skills stand on their own.
Truly a great disc.

Fantastic album, better than with Merchant.......2006-01-20

I liked some of the 10,000 Maniac albums with Merchant, such as In My Tribe and Blind Man's Zoo--but Our Time in Eden was strange and fragmented, hard to understand. Merchant was so in love with writing odd lyrics that she forgot the main purpose of a song: to tell a story.

Mary's voice is beautiful, sweet and strong, and the title song "Love Among the Ruins" is just gorgeous. "Shining Light" is another strong song, and with this album it becomes clear that 10,000 Maniacs was never just about Merchant, though she'd have liked us to think so.

Natalie who?.......2005-10-02

I'm soooo sick and tired of the comparison of Mary Ramsey to Natalie Merchant. Mary's cover of Roxy Music's classic "More Than This" is, quite simply, beautiful. She does it in her own simple, smooth, and sultry style. As a matter of fact, her version was the first I'd ever heard of this peerless and dreamy song. Roxy Music's original will always be the best, but the 10,000 Maniacs version stands tall in its own right, too. Hey, there's a reason this song was such a popular radio play in the late 90's.

There's no need to be so harsh on Mary Ramsey's singing talents ... besides, most of her critics wish they could sing half as well as she can! So, enjoy this song and the album for what it is, a nice work from a talented group of musicians.

Beauty and the Past..........2005-08-15

Yep, I agree, let's leave the comparisons with Natalie out of the picture. This is a superb album, despite the all-too common lousy editorial review (where do Amazon find these clowns?)

I discovered this album by accident when I went into the TV room and was captivated by Mary's beauty in the band's cover of Bryan Ferry's stunnning song More Than This. It was only at the end of the video that I realized that it was the Maniacs.

This is an exceptional album, which stands on its own.

Stop the comparisons.......2005-07-31

I remember, back when this album was released in 1997, hearing a radio DJ, in an attempt to promote the album, proclaim, "Mary Ramsey sounds just like Natalie Merchant!!" And I remember thinking to myself, "No she doesn't; what in the world is he listening to?" Because it was just that kind of comparison, I think, which doomed this lineup of 10,000 Maniacs right from the start.

I will say that Mary Ramsey's voice is just as distinctive as Natalie Merchant's. But it is very different--neither better nor worse--just different. The rest of the band, though, sound like classic Maniacs. Their music reminds me more of their "Blind Man's Zoo" era than anything else.

But what is clear upon listening to this album is not only that Ramsey sounds different from Merchant, but that when Merchant left the band to pursue a solo career, she also took with her the band's social and political consciousness. The songs on this album lack the anti-war, pro-liberal, pro-feminist commentary that the earlier 10,000 Maniacs albums are known for (which demonstrates just how much of a powerful creative influence Merchant had over the band). Instead, we have a dozen of your typical mid-nineties adult-contemporary-style love songs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but again, it makes for a very different "10,000 Maniacs experience". The songs here are pleasant, upbeat, and catchy.

When Merchant left the band and Ramsey was brought in, the wise thing to do would have been to give this new lineup a different name. That way, they could have had a fresh start without the never-ending (mostly negative) comparisons between Ramsey and Merchant. I think if that had happened, then the former Maniacs might have seen a lot more post-Merchant success than they did.

Because when you strip away all of the old-10,000 Maniacs baggage, when you free this band from their anxiety of influence, when you stop trying to compare Ramsey to Merchant, when you stop trying to compare this album to "Our Time in Eden" or "In My Tribe," when you are willing to listen to this band not as "10,000 Maniacs" but simply as a group of talented musicians, then you find that "Love Among the Ruins" really is a very good album that deserves to be judged by its own merits and not forever compared to a different lineup--indeed, a different band altogether.

Average customer rating:

Love Among The Ruins
Lies Damned Lies
Manufacturer: Siren
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000092AGB

Average customer rating:

Love Among The Ruins
10 , and 000 Maniacs
Manufacturer: Geffen
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000LXQCLC

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