Our Time in Eden

Our Time in Eden is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. It was released in 1992 on Elektra Records. The release is 10,000 Maniacs' last studio album with original lead singer Natalie Merchant. 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's band the J.B.'s. The album had the working title African Violet Society.

Critical reception

In Rolling Stone, 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 wrote that "these are some of [Merchant's] finest 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 Natalie Merchant, except as noted.

Personnel

10,000 Maniacs

• Natalie Merchant – vocals, piano
• Robert Buck – electric and acoustic guitars, electric sitar, banjo, pedal and lap steel guitars, mandocello
• Dennis Drew – Hammond organ, piano, keyboards, accordion
• 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 – alto saxophone Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis – tenor saxophone Fred Wesley – trombone
• Mary Ramsey – violin on "Stockton Gala Days", viola on "How You've Grown"
• Paulinho Da Costa – 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 – string quartet arranger and conductor
• Michael Reiter – second engineer
• Scott Blockland – second engineer (mixing)
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering
• Rob Marinissen – photography
• Frank Olinsky – package design
• Natalie Merchant – package design

Charts

Certifications