Love Among the Ruins (1997) is the sixth studio album by American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs and the first to feature new lead singer Mary Ramsey, following Natalie Merchant's departure in 1993.

Background

The two singles from the album—a cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" and the original "Rainy Day"—were not initially intended to be included on the album. John Lombardo had just written "Rainy Day", which was deemed more radio-friendly than the other songs, and the record company insisted that the band record a cover song for inclusion. While Ramsey and Lombardo shared lyric writing duties, the band chose to credit the songs as group collaborations, so that all members would receive equal royalties. Ramsey wrote the music to "All That Never Happens". Guitarist John Lombardo wrote "Rainy Day", "Even with My Eyes Closed", "Big Star", "Shining Light" and "Across the Fields" and shared a writing credit with drummer Jerry Augustyniak on "Girl on a Train". Guitarist Rob Buck wrote "Love Among the Ruins" and keyboardist Dennis Drew wrote "A Room for Everything". A live version of "Rainy Day" was also included on their 2016 album Playing Favorites. The album title is adapted from Robert Browning's poem of the same name.

Track listing

All songs written by 10,000 Maniacs, except where noted.

Release

Love Among the Ruins sold 200,000 copies, 30,000 of those within three months of release. Despite this, Geffen Records, according to Dennis Drew, "dropped us after the first three months."

Personnel

Singles