Take the outstretched hand of the one that needs you

The journey continues...

Our Time In Eden (1992)

I had to wait for this to come out, but it was purchased pretty quickly after its release - I didn't know it at the time, but it was their last studio album featuring Natalie, so let's hope she goes out on a high...

1. Noah's Dove
Well, from the first few notes you can tell they've got a stronger production team in here - the sound is just "better". And it's a decent song too although I (and the internet) am unsure exactly what it's about. It's something to do with deceit, with the singer either being lied to or lying to herself - "you win a prize for that, for telling lies like that - so well that I believed it and never felt cheated". There's a nice theory out there that's it's about her fooling herself that she was happy with the band and telling herself to take a risk to leave - "in your reckless eyes, it's never too late for a chance to seize some final breath of freedom" but of course Natalie's not going to explain it.

2. These Are Days
And this is another decent song I've no clue what it's about - it's basically saying that things are never going to be as good as this, but it's not clear whether the "this" is now or a time in the past.

3. Eden
Some nice twinkly guitar to start, but the overall tone is a bit darker - it's another one about not fully appreciating our time, but the exact details are unclear. Overall, the lyrics (so far, at least) have been a lot less direct without pushing the subject matter down our throats and they're also a lot more poetic and literary with some lovely examples here - "waiting for the light arisen to flood inside the prison" and "the clock is another demon that devours in time in Eden" jump out for me.

4. Few And Far Between
This is another one with very decent lyrics but it took me a long time to realise because the song barrels along at such a rate that you don't immediately pick them up. It's another one with a general theme of self-understanding though - "Times are far between, and few I bet, when we can look upon our lives without regret. Of all the things I have done, you think I'm proud of every one?". I really like this one.

5. Stockton Gala Days
This is one that's definitely looking back to the past ("that summer fields grew high with foxglove stalks and ivy") but also comparing with now ("how I've learned to hide, how I've locked inside, you'd be surprised if shown") - Natalie's in contemplative mood on this album (and we know with hindsight that she made some pretty big decisions as a result).

6. Gold Rush Brides
At first listen, this is a more standard 10,000 Maniacs song, with its subject (frontier women) being obvious and clearly described - however, in the light of the previous songs, people on the Internet have made the argument that we're also meant to compare their situation with our own. And who am I to argue with people on the Internet?

7. Jezebel
This is another one with an ostensibly obvious subject, a woman thinking of leaving her husband - feeling dreadful about it ("I know your feelings are tender and that inside you the embers still glow"), but unable to stay because of her unhappiness ("I've no more ways to hide that I'm a desolate and empty, hollow place inside"). But wait! Wasn't Natalie thinking of leaving the band - could it possibly relate to that?

8. How You've Grown
This is a nice song from a mother to a daughter, understanding how she wants to grow up quickly but privately hating that time is flying by, knowing she'll never get that child back. "Because we can't make up for the time that we've lost, I must let these memories provide - no little girl can stop her world to wait for me". Yup - we've got some more looking back going on.

9. Candy Everybody Wants
We've a bit of a change of tone here with something a bit more frantic and less subtle - it's fair to say Natalie isn't a fan of the mainstream media. Although, of course, a lot of the point to it was completely missed by the mainstream media.

10. Tolerance
We're frantic again - I think it's American society she's not happy with here ("this house divided, we live inside it") but I'm not entirely sure.

11. Circle Dream
We're not at all frantic here - it's nicely floaty and dreamy. It's fine, but not one of my favourites - and I've absolutely no idea what it's about.

12. If You Intend
This is another "live in the moment" song, but combined with a "buck your ideas up" theme - it bustles along nicely with its bossiness. I like this one.

13. I'm Not The Man
And we end, like last time, with a slower song with a strong social message - a man in jail waiting for the death sentence for a crime he didn't commit. It's powerful but again not one of my favourites.

Overall, I think this is probably their best album - there are obviously arguments that other albums feature better tracks (because there are always such arguments). But, for me, their earlier offerings came across as a collection of well-written (but often unsubtle) short stories, whereas this album is more of a novel with a mostly consistent theme, with the added advantage of not smacking you in the face quite so often with its messages. It's a nicely ambiguous title as well - is it saying we're in Eden now or looking back to the good old days? Picking tracks for the playlist is a tricky one - I'm going for "Noah's Dove", "Eden", "Few And Far Between", "Gold Rush Brides" and "If You Intend" but there are several tracks which are unlucky not to make the cut.

Wikipedia doesn't have loads on the album other than telling us this is Natalie's last studio album with them with her replacement, Mary Ramsey, appearing on viola and violin. It also tells us that the brass and woodwind (which is much more prominent here than on previous albums) is done by James Brown's backing band, the JBs - which feels like a brave choice but it works well. Critical comment was a lot more positive than previous albums, with Rolling Stone getting it about right for me when they said it was a "struggle between fervent hope and a kind of wide-eyed despair". Commercially, it didn't do quite as well as Blind Man's Zoo, getting to #33 in the UK and #28 in the US.

At first listen, I liked this album but thought it was very different from its predecessor - as I've listened to it more, I think I view it more as another step on their journey. And, as we now know, it was almost Natalie's final step on the journey - apparently they all knew she was off whilst they were recording the album and it freed the process up somewhat. And it certainly doesn't feel like an unhappy album - there's a lot of people making some very nice and skilful noises on it, all of which contribute to what I think is a very fine album.

I say it's almost Natalie's final step because she also appears on a live album which we'd normally leave to the end but, just this once, we'll take things chronologically to complete the first phase of our time with her before moving on to her solo stuff.

Blind Man's Zoo - another step on the journey