by: Gary Graff (page 4E)

For most pop bands, the first hit is a signal to look towards the future and, hopefully, more of the same.

For 10,000 Maniacs, however, it's become an opportunity to look back.

Last year, the critically-lauded quintet from Jamestown, N.Y., enjoyed a minor hit single with Trouble Me, a song from its album Blind Man's Zoo. The Maniacs stepped from a cult favorite towards the cusp of mainstream success, with big things expected for their next project.

Instead of making a new record, however, the Maniacs have come out with Hope Chest, a compilation of its first two independent releases -- a 1982 EP called Human Conflict Number Five, and an album, Secrets of the I Ching, released a year later. The surprise isn't just that the material is old, but that it's drastically different from the subdued, folk-oriented sound of Blind Man's Zoo and 10,000 Maniacs other major label releases. There's an overwhelming reggae influence, as well as sounds and arrangement ideas taken from new wave bands like Blondie and New Order.

"There's kind of an archeological specter to it," acknowledges Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant, 26, who also writes the group's populist, political lyrics. "I think there are a lot of aspects of the music that are bound to surprise some people. . . . The songs are so painfully honest and sincere, really sweet and vulnerable, I think."

Then Merchant chuckles, perhaps realizing that she hasn't exactly said the songs were good. "Well," she says, "we usually got pretty charitable reviews for those records. I was pleased to find that our ability to play instruments has improved over the years. But the core of the reason we do the music is still the same."

10,000 Maniacs formed in Jamestown in 1981, forging its own sound from a variety of influences because, Merchant says, "there was no real local scene to fit into it." The chief influence at the time was John Lombardo, whose passion for reggae is amply evident on Hope Chest's 14 songs.

Personal economic problems and artistic frustration drove Lombardo out after the group's first major label album, 1985's The Wishing Chair. His departure left the Maniacs in a lurch; "We all said 'Who's going to write the songs?' " Merchant says. "The next record (1987's In My Tribe) took a long time to make. We had to develop . . . and we sort of stumbled on a technique that worked."

In My Tribe was, in fact, 10,000 Maniacs' breakthrough, attracting critical praise and a larger audience that grew even more with Blind Man's Zoo. Though Merchant says Lombardo "kept his distance for awhile," he helped re-mix the songs on Hope Chest and will perform with the group -- as well as open shows -- on its current "Time Capsule" tour.

But when the final concert is played later this month, 10,000 Maniacs intends to swivel heads again and start preparing for its next album. Having recently moved from the rural Jamestown to Manhattan, Merchant ventures a guess that "the material will be more urban influenced.