This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
On her first live album, erstwhile 10,000 Maniacs vocalist Natalie Merchant covers both David Bowie’s Space Oddity and Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush.
That pretty much sums up the two sides to her musical personality: On the one hand, exploring artist; on the other, earnest folkie. Both are clearly on display here as this quirky Lilith fairy recreates 11 typically intimate tracks from her catalog. Oddly enough, she spends half the set on songs from her 1995 Tigerlily album — and even does two Maniacs tunes — while offering only the title track to the more recent Ophelia. If there’s a reason, you won’t hear it from Merchant; here, her only spoken words are ‘Thank you’ and ‘Goodnight.’ Her music communicates everything else, presumably.
