10,000 Maniacs
Album: Twice Told Tales
Label: Cleopatra
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.maniacs.com

I have always owed 10 000 Maniacs a great depth of gratitude, they were the band that introduced me to Cambridge Folk Festival and now some thirty years later they have delivered an album of British Folk Songs, "Twice Told Tales", that deserves to be spoken of in the same sentence as Oysterband & June Tabor's "Freedom And Rain", in fact there is one track, "Dark Eyed Sailor" that spans both, a real honour indeed.

With the exception of "The Song Of Wandering Aengus", penned by WB Yeats and set to an arrangement by Christy Moore, this is an album of fourteen songs that covers nearly three hundred years of British folk song, which through the lilting tones of Mary Ramsey has rarely sounded sweeter.

Having a Mary Ramsey, as your vocal lead makes one of the tracks "Lady Mary Ramsey" an easy one to take from the songbook, so easy in fact, 10 000 Maniacs have done it twice, opening the album with the aforementioned song and closing it with the alternative "Lady Mary Ramsay II", note the alternate spelling, which serves as a great marker for how songs get changed and reinterpreted as years go by.

Although better know in their early years as either alt.rock or college rock, take your pick, 10 000 Maniacs have always had a leaning towards folk songs. I'll probably be proved wrong, but I think they might even have played "Do You Love An Apple?" when they made that appearance at Cherry Hinton, either way folk has often put an appearance in their repertoire, a process that accelerated when Mary Ramsey came in as the principle vocalist.

Whilst I might suggest that the band have been relatively safe in their track selection, their interpretation of the likes of "Misty Moisty Morning", "She Moved Through The Fair" and "Wild Mountain Thyme" really do capture the spirit of the songs through a 10 000 Maniacs body and it's a combination that lingers in the mind long after the last note has faded.

This album, if given the right exposure, may prove to be a meth amphetamine folk album, bringing many into its spell and addiction, I know I'm hooked. With no UK tour dates listed on their site, this will continue to be a fix until I can see them perform it live. "Twice Told Tales" is an album to buy and breathe in deep.

Neil King