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Motherland
 
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Motherland [CD]

Natalie Merchant | Format: Audio CD
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Price: £8.78 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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Frequently Bought Together

Motherland + Tigerlily + Ophelia
Price For All Three: £22.93

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  • In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Tigerlily ~ Natalie Merchant Audio CD £4.17

    In stock.
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    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Ophelia ~ Natalie Merchant Audio CD £9.98

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Product details

  • Audio CD (12 Nov 2001)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: CD
  • Label: ATLANTIC
  • ASIN: B00005R1Q5
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 20,463 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. This House Is On Fire (LP Version) 4:39£0.69
Listen  2. Motherland (LP Version) 4:42£0.69
Listen  3. Saint Judas (LP Version) 5:42£0.69
Listen  4. Put The Law On You (LP Version) 4:59£0.69
Listen  5. Build A Levee (LP Version) 4:44£0.69
Listen  6. Golden Boy (LP Version) 4:08£0.69
Listen  7. The Ballad Of Henry Darger (LP Version) 4:23£0.69
Listen  8. The Worst Thing (LP Version) 5:44£0.69
Listen  9. Tell Yourself (LP Version) 5:12£0.69
Listen10. Just Can't Last (LP Version) 4:31£0.69
Listen11. Not In This Life (LP Version) 5:20£0.69
Listen12. I'm Not Gonna Beg (LP Version) 3:38£0.69

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Just as Natalie Merchant donned a mythical persona for her last proper solo release, 1998's Ophelia, the buttery-voiced performer enjoys another stint as a quick-change artist on her latest, Motherland. From the trilling Middle Eastern-flavour of opener "This House Is On Fire" to the evocative Latin classical guitar tones on "The Worst Thing", Merchant seems to enjoy pressing her steadfast throaty vocals into new terrain as much as she does trying on dresses and high heels. While most of Motherland resides in the down-tempo, ballad-heavy world that Ophelia did, most of the singer's diehard fans will appreciate her thoughtful phrasing and pastel soundscapes. There may not be fireworks, but the ex-10,000 Maniacs frontwoman knows her way around a sad song: "Golden Boy" excels as a wispy November poem, while Merchant wiggles into torch-singer mode on "Put The Law On You". But the record's true standout is "Tell Yourself", an almost sprightly tune with sunny acoustics that resemble the Maniacs' "Don't Talk". Merchant may not be inherently comfortable in her own skin, but she's excellent at transforming her surroundings without sacrificing her creative soul. --Kristy Martin

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
Most of today's musical artists don't write their own material. Most artists are constantly seeking that extra dollar. Most artists don't take on such weighty causes as homelessness, religious freedom, self-image, and abortion rights. Most artists are never quoted regularly in textbooks and scholarly journals. Most artists who leave a band to go solo rarely regain their former magic. Well, most artists aren't Natalie Merchant, who, on her third studio solo album, "Motherland," lives up to her bill as representing all that is good and true in pop-alternative-folk rock.

"Motherland" is an exquisite display of Merchant's talent: her corduroy voice coupled with poetic verse (fitting for the stuff you read in your college English course, perhaps even more so) shines throughout the album, in what will undoubtedly go down as her most ambitious work to date.

In "The Ballad of Henry Darger," Merchant's voice sends us chills as she eulogizes a relatively unknown folk artist (whose 15,000 page epic, discovered only after his death, is now on display at the American Folk Art Museum in New York): "Who'll tell the story of him, Henry Darger, Henry Darger/Who'll tell it all to the world/Henry, Henry, Oh Henry/Oh Henry." The centerpiece of the album, this song is worthy of Merchant's other middle-album songs written in the past, such as the haunting "I May Know the Word" (Tigerlily, 1995) and evocative "My Skin"(Ophelia, 1998).

Make no mistake, "Motherland" is not a collection of somber ballads (though, coming from her I doubt many would really mind). In "Tell Yourself," Merchant comes to the rescue of the typical American teen who finds themselves constantly up against the likes of glitzy boy-girl bands: "Tell yourself that you're not pretty/Look at you/You're beautiful/Tell yourself that no one sees/ Plain Jane, invisible me/Just Tell yourself/Tell Yourself/You'll never be like the anorexic cuties in the magazine." Again, she comes back with more comforts in her upbeat single "Just Can't Last": "If I could just explain it/If I could help you understand/I can see that your hurting/ Way down like a beast of burden/About to break your back/God only knows that you're human/Believe me they don't understand/That you have the weight of the world on your back."

"Motherland" also has elements of reggae, folk, and funk instilled in it, thanks mainly to legendary producer T-Bone Burnett (Counting Crows, "O Brother Where Art Thou?) and help from The Wallflowers, talented folk songstress Gillian Welsh, and alternative-rock icons such as Freedy Johnston. At times the album sounds straight out of 1960's soul and 1970's reggae -- the first track, "This House is On Fire" could have been written by Bob Marley -- yet it is ever so relevant: in this age of thoughtless lyrics and top-40 tunes, Merchant's music stands up against cliche, commercialism, and just plain bad music.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
Natalie Merchant revels in her obscurity. Because her music is so massively different from that of the mainstream trash, the singers posing as artists, the "anorexic beauties" and the thoughtless maddening nonsense that saturates the charts, she remains uncorrupted by the trivialities of being "popular".

Her music is beautiful, unique, intruiging and diverse. The song "Motherland" is a meditation on the loss of innocence and nostalia. Other notable songs include "This House Is On Fire", about the divided nature of the United States during the Presidential election and "Golden Boy", a haunting song about the glorification of violence and the celebrities made out of violence in our society.

The album is a must for old fans and new fans alike. But a word of warning - the first time you listen you will not like her new sound. It has obviously been heavily influence by producer T-Bone Burnett, and sound more soulish (if the word exists). Listen to it again and you appreciate its brilliance, a shining diamond in the rough of today's commertialism and thoughlessness.

Comment | 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Laurence Upton TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
Recording for this album finished in New York on 9 September 2001, two days before the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville PA attacks, and it is dedicated to all the victims. Some of the songs seem to allude to the event, especially the song Motherland, although obviously they could not without a very uncanny prescience. Perhaps it is the overall mood of wistful melancholia that captures something of the zeitgeist. 
Motherland continues in the opulent style of its 1998 predecessor Ophelia, with an exemplary team of supporting musicians.
The inimitable Mavis Staples helps out on the ironic gospel-flavoured St Judas and on the devil-banishing Build A Levee, while the beautiful song Henry Darger benefits from a full-scale orchestra, arranged and conducted by Stephen Barber
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not quite the motherload
I bought this as I noticed Natalie was playing the Cambridge FF this year and as I knew nothing about her I thought I'd check her out. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Gizmophobic
What a voice.
Superb. After listening to this artist on radio 2's Steve Wright in the Afternoon am now pleased to be able to hear her anytime. The sulky smooth voice calms any hectic day.
Published on 7 Mar 2010 by Mrs. S. E. P. Harding
Surprise Merchant
I was prepared not to like this album since a number of reviews on Amazon were very critical of it. So it was a nice surprise to find that I liked it from first hearing. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by D. Carmichael
Try this!
What a voice, what a composer what a storyteller. Been one of my top favourites for years.
Published on 15 Aug 2009 by Anne Katrine Hald
Darkly Beautiful, but not for depressives
Natalie Merchant doesn't sing at you. She takes you with her into her world. There's beauty in that world, but there is darkness also and I don't recommend this album to anyone... Read more
Published on 1 April 2003 by Neal C. Reynolds
Dissappointing initially but it grows on you
My one and only Natalie Merchant CD up until now was Ophelia and Motherland came as a shock. Where Ophelia seems to be an integrated album with one track leading on one from... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2003
Sorely Disappointed
Having been a Maniacs fan since the late 80's and an avid follower of Natalie's music since she left the band (I walked down the aisle to Kind and Generous) I was really... Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2002
More of the same - and why not?
Natalie Merchant, with her clear smooth vocals, has made honey-dipped sad songs her meat and drink. Ophelia was a magnificent collection of touching and almost too sweet ballads... Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2002
Not gonna be a classic!
I'm a big fan of Natalie Merchant but this sounded a little more like a Tracy Chapman album in parts. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2002 by LIAM MEEHAN
Different, depressing, but still excellent
When I had heard that Natalie Merchant had come out with a new CD, I expected songs similar to those from her previous albums. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2002
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