My Mother the War
| Secrets of the I Ching | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by 10,000 Maniacs | ||||
| Released | 1983 | |||
| Recorded | March–July 1983 | |||
| Label | Christian Burial Music, Mark Recordings (1983 US/Germany) | |||
| 10,000 Maniacs chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |
  link
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| Robert Christgau | B− link |
| Rolling Stone |
Archived May 6, 2001, at the Wayback Machine. |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |
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Secrets of the I Ching is the first full length album by 10,000 Maniacs (following their 1982 EP release), released in 1983 by Christian Burial Music, the band's own label. The album was recorded at SUNY fredonia with only 500 copies made. This is also the first of their recordings with the new and permanent drummer Jerome Augustyniak. Rerecorded versions of the songs "Tension" (as "Tension Makes a Tangle"), "Grey Victory", "Daktari" and "My Mother the War" appeared on their 1985 album The Wishing Chair. The song "Tension" is itself a re-recording of a song that initially appeared on the band's debut EP, Human Conflict Number Five.
All the tracks on this LP, in remixed, remastered and resequenced form, appear as part of the 10,000 Maniacs compilation CD Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983.
All songs written by John Lombardo and Natalie Merchant, unless if noted
The above track listing is for the original Mark Records pressing for Christian Burial Music, the band's own label. Subsequent editions of this album are missing "National Education Week".
Robert Christgau, recalled Merchant, "said – and I'll inform you that I was only 17 years old, so it made a big impression on me – that I'd written the most pretentious lyrics since lysergic acid had been in flower. I was upset then but now I laugh about it because I've put Robert Christgau in perspective."
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Wikipedia