Motherland (Natalie Merchant album)

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Motherland
NatalieMerchant Motherland.jpg
Studio album by
Natalie Merchant
ReleasedNovember 13, 2001 (2001-11-13)
RecordedJune 15 – September 9, 2001
Studio Allaire Studios (Shokan, New York); Clinton Studios (New York City, New York); Sunset Sound and Cello Studios (Hollywood, California).
Genre Folk rock [1]
Length58:22
Label Elektra
Producer
Natalie Merchant chronology
Live in Concert
(1999)		Motherland
(2001)		 The House Carpenter's Daughter
(2003)
Singles from Motherland
  1. "Just Can't Last"
    Released: September 2001
  2. "Build a Levee"
    Released: 2002
  3. "Tell Yourself"
    Released: 2002
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 79/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Billboard (Favorable) [3]
E! Online B+ [2]
Entertainment Weekly B [4]
Jam! (Favorable) [5]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Slant Magazine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [7]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Motherland is the third studio album by Natalie Merchant, released on November 13, 2001 by Elektra Records.

Contents

History

Originally, a song named "The End" was supposed to appear on the album instead of "Not In This Life". Merchant noted that: "I'd take out one song, 'Not in This Life,' because it seems frivolous to me now. And I'd put back a song called 'The End,' which probably would have gotten me in trouble. Part of the lyric goes: 'That'll be the end of war/ the end of the law of Bible, of Koran, Torah.' I really wanted to put it on the record, but I felt there was so much serious material already that I chose something lighter, for balance." [8] "The End" later appeared on Merchant's self-titled sixth studio album (2014).

Two tracks from Motherland, "Tell Yourself" and "Not in This Life", appeared on the television series Felicity and Alias respectively. [9] [10] The song "Henry Darger" is about "posthumously appreciated outsider artist" Henry Darger. [11]

Track listing

All songs written by Natalie Merchant. [12]

  1. "This House Is on Fire" – 4:42
  2. "Motherland" – 4:44
  3. "Saint Judas" – 5:44
  4. "Put the Law on You" – 5:01
  5. "Build a Levee" – 4:46
  6. "Golden Boy" – 4:10
  7. "Henry Darger" – 4:24
  8. "The Worst Thing" – 5:46
  9. "Tell Yourself" – 5:14
  10. "Just Can't Last" – 4:31
  11. "Not in This Life" – 5:22
  12. "I'm Not Gonna Beg" – 3:40

Personnel

String sections (1, 7, 8)

Production

Charts

Chart performance for Motherland
Chart (2001)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [13] 83
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [14] 11
US Billboard 200 [15] 30

References

  1. 1 2 AllMusic review
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Motherland by Natalie Merchant". Metacritic.com. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 1, 2001. p. 20. Retrieved November 13, 2024– via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Entertainment Weekly review". Archived from the original on April 25, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  5. ↑ Jam! review
  6. ↑ "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on January 15, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2007.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ "Slant review". Slant Magazine . Retrieved November 7, 2025.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ Singer, Barry (July 7, 2002). Natalie Merchant, Accidental Prophet. The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Various – Felicity. Senior Year". Discogs . Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Color Blind." Alias , season 1, episode 7, November 25, 2001. Directed by Jack Bender, written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman. American Broadcasting Company.
  11. ↑ "Natalie Merchant: Motherland : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". www.rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on September 12, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Motherland | Natalie Merchant". Nataliemerchant.com. May 4, 2017.
  13. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 185.
  14. ↑ "Charts.nz – Natalie Merchant – Motherland". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Natalie Merchant Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
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