Has former 10,000 Maniacs front woman Natalie Merchant really been a solo artist for over twenty years now? Where has the time gone?
Although she hasn’t had a “hit song” since “Life Is Sweet” from her second album, Ophelia, in 1998, Natalie Merchant has consistently been creating interesting new music across her seven studio albums. While that album and her 1995 solo debut, Tigerlily, may contain her most recognizable songs, I think perhaps her boldest album was Leave Your Sleep in 2010. That double album was, for all intents and purposes, a concept album, featuring Merchant reinterpreting 19th/20th century poetry about children into new folk songs.
If you’ve lost track of Natalie Merchant over the years, The Natalie Merchant Collection may be the perfect opportunity for you to get reacquainted. This new 10 CD set gathers her seven studio albums (8 discs) and pairs them with a disc of new music (a new album entitled Butterfly) and a disc of career-spanning rarities. In advance of the collection’s June 23 release, Merchant has shared a new song, “Frozen Charlotte.”
The Natalie Merchant Collection includes these complete albums:
- Tigerlily (1995)
- Ophelia (1998)
- Motherland (2001)
- The House Carpenter’s Daughter (2003)
- Leave Your Sleep (2010)
- Natalie Merchant (2014)
- Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings (2015)
The new album, Butterfly, offers four new songs along with six reinterpreted songs from her previous albums, reworked for a string quartet accompaniment. Here is the Butterfly track list:
01. Butterfly
02. She Devil
03. Baby Mine
04. Frozen Charlotte
05. Ophelia
06. The Worst Thing
07. The Man in the Wilderness
08. My Skin
09. Vain and Careless
10. Andalucia
The final disc in the set gathers the following 15 rarities:
01. The Village Green Preservation Society (Ray Davies)
02. Too Long at the Fair (Joel Zoss)
03. Order 1081 (David Byrne)
04. To Love Is to Bury (Mike Timmins & Margo Timmins)
05. Saint Judas
06. Birds & Ships (Woody Guthrie)
07. The Lowlands of Holland (Traditional arr. Paddy Maloney)
08. Sonnet 73 (William Shakespeare arr. Natalie Merchant)
09. Learning the Game (Buddy Holly)
10. My Little Sweet Baby (Traditional)
11. Political Science (Randy Newman)
12. Build a Levee
13. Sit Down Sister (Traditional)
14. The Gulf of Araby (Katell Keineg)
15. Portofino
The package also includes a 100 page book of photos and lyrics. Orders placed via the Natalie Merchant website can also receive an autographed limited edition print.
