Yeah, yeah, yeah--10,000 Maniacs is dead; Mary Ramsey is no Natalie Merchant; This isn't the same band.... yadda, yadda, yadda. Listen, this is a GREAT album. Mary Ramsey's voice is soothing and the band is as finely tuned as ever. If this CD had been released by a group with a different name, fans of the Maniacs would be singing its praises--instead these bitter fans are still crying in their beer. Get over it! They're right though; 10,000 Maniacs isn't the same group without Natalie, but that doesn't mean "different" is bad. KEEP ON SINGING, MARY! (BTW I've also bought Natalie's solo albums and love them too.)

Love Among the Ruins is the first new studio album from 10,000 Maniacs since 1992's Our Time in Eden.

Leaving soon-after the release of MTV Unplugged in 1993, Natalie Merchant was replaced by Mary Ramsey. Mary, part of the duo John & Mary, brings new life into the band. She adds a vocal quality similar to Natalie's, but also brings a unique contributiion in her excellent viola playing.

More Than This and Rainy Day, singles from the album, are good pop songs that are sure to please. Green Children will cast aside any doubts of Mary's vocal ability.

With Love Among the Ruins, the musical style of 10,000 Maniacs has returned somewhat to the early days of the band. LAtR sounds very similar to The Wishing Chair, reflecting the return of John Lombardo, also of John & Mary. Although Mary Ramsey is frequently referred to as 10KM's "new" lead singer, it should be noted that she contributed to both Our Time in Eden and MTV Unplugged as well. John Lombardo, having left the band after the release of the The Wishing Chair, is a welcome return. His excellent guitar work is heard throughout Love Among the Ruins. In short, the integration of John & Mary into the band has produced a hybrid of old and new that can only be described as excellent.

Natalie Merchant may have been the lyrical muse of 10,000 Maniacs, but this album (and Merchant's solo works) show that the compositional genius rested with Buck et al. I bought this album on a whim, not having heard any of it, and I was very plesantly surprised. Even without Merchant's distinctive voice this is very definitely a 10,000 Maniacs album, with all the distinctive melodies and arrangements we expect from the band. It's a pity that the reformed Maniacs haven't gotten the same press that Merchant has, as I think their post-breakup musical output has, in general, been superior to hers.

So Natalie Merchant's gone... this album proves that Mary Ramsey handily fills her shoes. The band has taken a slight detour on its musical path, not for better or worse, but simply different, yet delivering more of the same good sound as always. And Ms. Ramsey's vocals go a long way in delivering that sound. Yes, I'll miss Ms. Merchant (who, now solo, just isn't as good, in my opinion), but I eagerly await the future of 10,000 Maniacs, a future made complete by Ms. Ramsey's talents.

I remember, back when this album was released in 1997, hearing a radio DJ, in an attempt to promote the album, proclaim, "Mary Ramsey sounds just like Natalie Merchant!!" And I remember thinking to myself, "No she doesn't; what in the world is he listening to?" Because it was just that kind of comparison, I think, which doomed this lineup of 10,000 Maniacs right from the start.

I will say that Mary Ramsey's voice is just as distinctive as Natalie Merchant's. But it is very different--neither better nor worse--just different. The rest of the band, though, sound like classic Maniacs. Their music reminds me more of their "Blind Man's Zoo" era than anything else.

But what is clear upon listening to this album is not only that Ramsey sounds different from Merchant, but that when Merchant left the band to pursue a solo career, she also took with her the band's social and political consciousness. The songs on this album lack the anti-war, pro-liberal, pro-feminist commentary that the earlier 10,000 Maniacs albums are known for (which demonstrates just how much of a powerful creative influence Merchant had over the band). Instead, we have a dozen of your typical mid-nineties adult-contemporary-style love songs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but again, it makes for a very different "10,000 Maniacs experience". The songs here are pleasant, upbeat, and catchy.

When Merchant left the band and Ramsey was brought in, the wise thing to do would have been to give this new lineup a different name. That way, they could have had a fresh start without the never-ending (mostly negative) comparisons between Ramsey and Merchant. I think if that had happened, then the former Maniacs might have seen a lot more post-Merchant success than they did.

Because when you strip away all of the old-10,000 Maniacs baggage, when you free this band from their anxiety of influence, when you stop trying to compare Ramsey to Merchant, when you stop trying to compare this album to "Our Time in Eden" or "In My Tribe," when you are willing to listen to this band not as "10,000 Maniacs" but simply as a group of talented musicians, then you find that "Love Among the Ruins" really is a very good album that deserves to be judged by its own merits and not forever compared to a different lineup--indeed, a different band altogether.