1987 Breakthrough a College-Rock Staple and Band’s Introduction to Mainstream

AUS Press-  Vinyl VG+, Sleeve VG + (has some age spots on front and back of cover) 

Along with R.E.M. and XTC, 10,000 Maniacs epitomized 1980s “college rock” in terms of sound, style, expression, and attitude. A staple of the underground, independent, and university scenes, In My Tribe remains a landmark recording, an ideal synthesis of fundamental eclecticism, roots music, and personalized narratives anchored by Natalie Merchant’s inimitable singing.

Unlike most of their contemporaries, and in particular, the alt-country acts that followed in their wake, 10,000 Maniacs were truly a product of their environment—a small-town Appalachian setting that informs their songwriting, approaches, and arrangements. In reflecting on the band’s ascendance, Merchant described the group’s essence as such:

“We called the music we made ‘proletariat,’ aware of the fact that we were blue-collar small-town dwellers, geographically and culturally isolated. We were beginning to feel the country’s shift to the right at the threshold of the Reagan-Bush era. We had a growing understanding that the recession of post-industrial towns like ours might not be temporary and we were coming of age in an atmosphere of nostalgia and decay.”
--Merchant, liner notes to Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure & Unknown Recordings of 10,000 Maniacs

1. What's the Matter Here?
2. Hey Jack Kerouac
3. Like the Weather
4. Cherry Tree
5. The Painted Desert
6. Don't Talk
7. Gun Shy
8. My Sister Rose
9. A Campfire Song
10. City of Angels
11. Verdi Cries