The Wishing Chair (album)

The Wishing Chair
Studio album by 10,000 Maniacs
Released	23 September 1985
Recorded	Livingstone Studios, London,[1] June 1984 - May 1985
Genre	Rock
Length	49:38
Label	Elektra Records (US/Europe/Germany/Canada)[2]
Producer	Joe Boyd
10,000 Maniacs chronology
Secrets of the I Ching (1983) The Wishing Chair (1985) In My Tribe (1987)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Rolling Stone	(Not Rated) [4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]

The Wishing Chair is the first major-label album by 10,000 Maniacs, released in 1985 by Elektra Records. Recorded in London, the album did not achieve the commercial success some of their later releases would receive, but received mostly favorable reviews and brought the band more visibility than had their previous independent releases. A live concert video of "Scorpio Rising" was produced and received a moderate amount of airplay on MTV.

Track listing

All songs written by Natalie Merchant and John Lombardo, except where noted.

1. "Can't Ignore the Train"  – 2:43
2. "Scorpio Rising"  (Robert Buck, Merchant) – 3:06
3. "Just as the Tide Was A Flowing"  (Traditional) – 2:25
4. "Lilydale"  (Buck, Merchant) – 3:11
5. "Back o' the Moon"  (Dennis Drew, Merchant) – 3:32
6. "Maddox Table"  (Buck, Merchant) – 3:19
7. "The Colonial Wing" **  (Buck, Merchant) – 4:02
8. "Grey Victory"  (Buck, Merchant) – 3:07
9. "Among the Americans"  (Drew, Merchant) – 3:07
10. "Everyone a Puzzle Lover" – (Lombardo, Merchant) - 3:17
11. "Cotton Alley"  (Buck, Merchant);– 3:23
12. "Daktari" (Buck, Merchant) -** – 4:23
13. "My Mother the War"  (Merchant, Lombardo, Michael Walsh) – 3:31
14. "Tension Makes a Tangle" (Lombardo, Merchant)  – 3:33
15. "Arbor Day"  (Lombardo, Merchant) – 2:59

(**) These tracks were not on the original vinyl release, which had the running order 1, 3, 2, 4, 6, 10, 15, 5, 14, 9, 8, 11, 13. They were originally released on the 12" single of "Can't Ignore the Train" along with "Grey Victory".

"Grey Victory", "Daktari", "My Mother the War" and "Tension Makes a Tangle" are rerecorded versions of songs that had previously appeared on the band's 1983 release Secrets of the I Ching. (In fact, "Tension Makes a Tangle" also appeared in yet another version on the band's very first record, the 1982 EP Human Conflict Number Five, titled simply "Tension" as it was on Secrets of the I Ching).

Personnel

10,000 Maniacs

• Robert Buck - electric guitar/devices, acoustic guitar, mandolin, pedal steel
• Jerry Augustyniak - drums
• Steven Gustafson - bass guitar, electric guitar
• John Lombardo - 6 & 12 string guitars, bass guitar
• Dennis Drew - organ, piano, accordion
• Natalie Merchant - voice

Technical staff

• Barry Clempson - engineering
• Joe Boyd - production
• Jerry Boys, Tony Harris - engineering
• Jack Skinner  - mastering
• 10,000 Maniacs, T + CP  - design^[1]

References