Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings [LP]

by Natalie Merchant

Overview

When Natalie Merchant left 10,000 Maniacs in 1994, she had given the band two years notice and was ready to embark on a solo career. Given her high profile, she could have done anything she wanted -- and she did. She bucked conventional music biz wisdom, hired her own band, and self-produced the multi-platinum-selling Tigerlily. Some of its songs are still part of her live set and the classic album endures with fans and continues to find new ones. Twenty years later, Merchant presents Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings. It's completely re-recorded, re-arranged, and revisioned. The obvious question -- why mess with a classic? -- is answered convincingly. She's learned a lot about these songs in the interim. Her approach remains holistic; her optimism has not been tempered by time as much as deepened with it. The running order is very different. "Wonder," for instance, is now the album's closer. It has been stripped of electric instruments and adorned by acoustic piano, guitars, and a brushed trap kit. "River," an elegy for the late actor River Phoenix, remains a lament. The electric guitars are still there, but a string quartet bears up Merchant's voice. It continues to reflect her anger at the sensationalistic coverage of his death, but it's balanced now by an enduring sense of loss imbued with the weight of the heart's memory. A backing chorus featuring Gail Ann Dorsey and Elizabeth Mitchell adds spiritual resonance to her delivery. This version of "The Letter" is nearly twice as long. Merchant's vocal is accompanied only by an upright bass and the string quartet. "Cowboy Romance" offers a taut, upright bassline, a lonesome violin, a wafting accordion, and brushed snare. Merchant's voice is much deeper now, but also richer; it carries the authority of a personal truth that's been lived in. The wide-eyed innocent who delivered the line "...There's no man born that can rule meâ?¦" is gone. There is a nearly militant emphasis on those words here, offering the poignancy of experience as a testament. The rock & roll core of "Jealousy" has been replaced by a vintage R&B feel. Simi Stone's Motown-esque duet vocals and Sharel Cassity's tenor saxophone provide organic counterweights to Merchant's in-the-rear-view delivery and finally free of frustrated desire; the evidence of a lesson learned the hard way. On Paradise Is There, her songs thrive in new presentations. Their meanings have shifted and grown. This is not just a nostalgic look back at a classic album, but Merchant fully inhabiting the material in the present tense. The depth in these recordings makes it a welcome companion to Tigerlily. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	11/06/2015
Label:	Nonesuch
UPC:	0075597950175
Rank:	1923

Tracks

Disc 1

1. San Andreas Fault
2. Beloved Wife
3. Carnival
4. River
5. The Letter
6. Where I Go

Disc 2

7. I May Know the Word
8. Seven Years
9. Cowboy Romance
10. Jealousy
11. Wonder

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Natalie Merchant   Primary Artist,Vocals
Gabriel Gordon   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Gail Ann Dorsey   Vocals (Background)
Jesse Murphy   Bass,Bass (Acoustic),Bass (Electric)
Uri Sharlin   Piano,Accordion
Allison Miller   Drums,Percussion
Elizabeth Mitchell   Vocals (Background)
Sharel Cassity   Sax (Tenor)
Scott Moore   Violin
Simi Stone   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Stanley Moore   Cello
Bella Blasko   Vocals (Background)
Shawn Moore   Violin
Marandi Hostetter   Viola

Technical Credits

Scott Hull   Mastering
Natalie Merchant   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes
Uri Sharlin   String Arrangements
Arthur Moorhead   Production Coordination
Stephen Barber   String Arrangements
George Cowan   Engineer
Tony Finno   Adaptation,String Arrangements
Karina Beznicki   Production Supervisor
Sean O'Loughlin   String Arrangements
Robert Edridge-Waks   Editorial Coordinator
Matthew Rankin   Project Coordinator
Eli Walker   Mixing,Editing,Engineer
John Huba   Photography
Bella Blasko   Assistant
Randall Craig Fleischer   Orchestration
Summer Damon   Project Coordinator
Jennifer McKinley   Project Coordinator