''Our Time in Eden'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

10,000 Maniacs 10,000 Maniacs are an American alternative rock band founded in 1981. They have released nine studio albums, six EPs, and five live albums. They achieved their most significant success between 1987 and 1993, when they released four albums that c ...

. It was released in 1992 on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. The release is 10,000 Maniacs' last studio album with original lead singer

Natalie Merchant Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first seven albums before ...

. The album included her future replacement Mary Ramsey on violin and viola on such tracks as "Stockton Gala Days" and "How You've Grown". Singles released from the album were " These Are Days", " Candy Everybody Wants" and "Few and Far Between". The brass and woodwind section is covered by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

's band

the J.B.'s The J.B.'s (sometimes punctuated The JB's or The J.B.s) was James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records, the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul Train, Mace ...

. The album had the working title ''African Violet Society''.

Critical reception

In ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Anthony DeCurtis said that Natalie Merchant's lyrics reflect a "struggle between fervent hope and a kind of wide-eyed despair" and give ''Our Time in Eden'' "a provocative, unnerving power", and "the sonic allure of the Maniacs' music and Merchant's voice is a seduction into songs that are charged, complex and troubling." Steve Morse of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' wrote that "these are some of erchant'sfinest songs yet—intellectually challenging, lyrically brilliant and filled with intricate, dream-weaving melodies sparked by multi-instrumentalist Rob Buck (on guitars, sitar, banjo, pedal steel and mandocello)."

Track listing

All songs written by

, except as noted.

Personnel

;10,000 Maniacs *

– vocals, piano * Robert Buck – electric and acoustic guitars,

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric string instrument designed to mimic the sound of the sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instru ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, pedal and

lap steel The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of play ...

guitars,

mandocello The mandocello () is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in ...

Dennis Drew Dennis Arnold Drew (born August 8, 1957) is the keyboardist for the American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. He has been with the band since its inception in 1981 and is one of three founding members along with Steve Gustafson and John Lo ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, piano, keyboards,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

* Steven Gustafson – bass guitar * Jerome Augustyniak – drums, percussion ;Additional musicians * The J.B. horns – horns on "Few and Far Between" and "Candy Everybody Wants": **

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of ...

– alto saxophone ** Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis – tenor saxophone **

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s, and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band le ...

– trombone * Mary Ramsey – violin on "Stockton Gala Days", viola on "How You've Grown" *

Paulinho Da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion on "These Are Days", "Candy Everybody Wants" and "Circle Dream" *Charles Fleischer – harmonica on "Gold Rush Brides" *Kim Laskowski – bassoon on "I'm Not the Man" *Atsuko Sato – bassoon on "I'm Not the Man" ;String quartet on "Jezebel" *Larry Corbett – cello *Bruce Dukov – violin *Pamela Goldsmith – viola *Ralph Morrison – violin ;Technical * Paul Fox – producer *Ed Thacker – engineer, mixing *

Paul Buckmaster Paul John Buckmaster (13 June 1946 – 7 November 2017) was a British cellist, arranger, conductor and composer, with a career spanning five decades. He is best known for his orchestral collaborations with David Bowie, Shawn Phillips, Elton Joh ...

– string quartet arranger and conductor *Michael Reiter – second engineer *Scott Blockland – second engineer (mixing) *

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and distri ...

– mastering *Rob Marinissen – photography *Frank Olinsky – package design *Natalie Merchant – package design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 10,000 Maniacs albums 1992 albums Albums produced by Paul Fox (record producer) Elektra Records albums