Natalie Merchant – London, England (03/25/88)

Natalie Merchant
Donmar Warehouse
London, England
March 25, 1988
(opening for Tracy Chapman)

Source: aud > ? > CD received in trade > extracted via iTunes > FLAC

Sound quality: B / B+

Tracklist:

  1. A Campfire Song
  2. Gun Shy
  3. Everyone a Puzzle Lover
  4. Don’t Talk
  5. The Painted Desert
  6. Lilydale
  7. What’s the Matter Here?
  8. Maddox Table
  9. Verdi Cries
  10. Like the Weather
  11. After Talking To Myself (unreleased)
  12. Where the Soul Never Dies (with Tracy Chapman)

Notes:

This was Natalie’s second-ever solo performance (she also performed at this same location on the previous day), serving as the opening act for Tracy Chapman. Most songs are Natalie performing entirely alone, accompanying herself on piano, although there is cello on at least one song and possibly some limited acoustic guitar on another. Tracy Chapman performs with Natalie
on the final track.

This recording is interesting not only for the rare solo performances of older songs, such as “Everyone a Puzzle Lover”, “Lilydale”, and “Maddox Table”, but also for the unreleased song “After Talking to Myself”. There is at least one other recording of Natalie performing a partial version of that song, and it is available on the Chicago 4/14/88 recording (uploaded separately).