MERCURY REV. One of my favorite bands ever, on record and on stage.
The band was formed in 1989 by a bunch of students from the University at Buffalo
in New York. Their first three LPs (Yerself Is Steam – 1991 / Boces – 1993 / See You On
The Other Side – 1995) were dope-infused psych rock-out records. Check them on Spotify
The great breakthrough came in 1998 with the majestic masterpiece DESERTER’S SONGS.
From there on, I started to go and see them play live. The magic about them performing on stage is that it doesn’t feel like a rock concert, but rather a spiritual experience. Always spellbinding and hypnotic.
With goosebumps vocalist and co-songwritter Jonathan Donahue (who also played for
2 years with fairytale eccentrics The Flaming Lips) and musical orchestrator Grasshopper (born Sean Thomas Mackowiak) as the beating heart of the Rev, another 5 albums followed with The Light In You as the most recent one, released in 2015. Full discography here.
All that said, I’m warming up now to see/hear MR for the 12th time, the first show since they played Brussels in 2015. They play in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium this Friday, 23 June. For the occasion, I made a playlist of 12 magnificent Rev pearls. Actually, 12 I want them to play.
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Below photos and impressions of their 2015 gig in Brussels.
Band: MERCURY REV (Buffalo, New York) Active: 1989–present / 8 studio LPs so far
Anniversary album: ALL IS DREAM– 5th longplayer Released: 27 August 2001 – 20 years ago today
Pitchfork said: “Mercury Rev’s All Is Dream claims its share of
pop brilliance by taking up this position with enormous reserves
of intelligence, grace, and emotion.” Full review here. Score: 8.5.
Turn Up The Volume: Along with Deserter’s Songs my favorite Rev album.
A symhonoc tour de force creating a trance-like atmosphere, actually the state
of mind crystal voice Jonathan Donahue loves so much. Orchestral conductor Grasshopper displays his sparkling vision of how classical music can sound
like pop-ular music once again. A totally terrific accomplishment.
Singles/clips: The Dark Is Rising / Nite And Fog / Little Rhymes
Band: MERCURY REV (Buffalo, New York) Active: Since 1989 / 8 studio albums (so far), including their 1998 masterpiece Deserter’s Songs – one of the best longplayers of all time in my aural book.
In an interview with Turn Up The Volume (about 5 years ago) Grasshopper (guitarist
and Rev’s musical architect) told me that, after the chaotic recordings, nobody who
was involved, exactly knew how that their far-out musical sessions actually turned
into an album.
Fortunately, a video clip was made for the opening track Chasing A Bee
to give us a clear idea of the state of hazy mind of early Mercury Rev…
Also, after all these years, amnesia faded out and some early days memories came to
the surface. So here are some, as told by key members Grasshopper & Jonathan Donahue and producer Dave Fridmann in a 2015 interview with Magnet Classics…
Grasshopper (real name: Sean Thomas Mackowiak / Rev’s lead guitarist and musical architect) remembers the memory breakdowns: “In the studio, we switched instruments all the time. I’d play drums, Jimy or Suzanne would play bass. But we couldn’t really do that live. So, we’d have to learn the parts that each of us played, essentially teach ourselves how to play these studio creations in a live setting. We had taken the Brian Eno ‘studio as instrument’ approach to creating these songs, then we’d be like, ‘That’s crazy, I don’t even remember playing that.’”
Jonathan Donahue (co-founder/frontman-voice) about the impact of vocalist and
the band’s spokesman back then, David Baker: “Yerself Is Steam represents a stream
of consciousness, most of that being David Baker’s. He has a timeless delivery and wasn’t operating in the same time/space continuum as you and me. Remember, he’s not a singer,
he didn’t grow up vocalizing, playing in cover bands. His otherworldliness is what leaves the main impression from that album. I can’t stress that enough.”
(Key members Jonathan and Grasshopper – photo by Turn Up The Volume – Brussels 2015)
ProducerDave Fridmann (then-student and part-time recording engineer) looks back too in the same interview: “Nobody was planning or thinking ahead. There was no band, really. It was a recording project that turned into a band. There was no set agenda, no formula—just a bunch of people stumbling around trying to figure out how to write songs, and being recorded while that’s happening.”
The band’s lawyer: “You guys should take press photos with different people in
different combinations, because I don’t know how long you’re going to last together.”
The full steam team:
Jonathan Donahue – Silver pickup guitar, vocals Grasshopper – Unafon guitar reels Suzanne Thorpe – Point Red Flute Dave Fridmann – Bass Explore, Majestic Bellowphone, additional engineering David Baker – Vocals Jimy Chambers – Drumming, Blue-Line C. Gavazzi – Trumpet on “Car Wash Hair” Dean Wareham – Additional vocals, production on “Car Wash Hair” Keith Cleversley – Engineer Kristin Peterson – Photography Mooneyham – Artwork
THE NATIONAL‘s frontman MATT BERNINGER covered the tremendously moving song ‘HOLES‘ by one of my longtime favorite bands MERCURY REV. He did it for 7 inches for PLANNED PARENTHOOD joining other big-name acts such as Foo Fighters, St Vincent and Bon Iver who also contributed to the cause. Matt Berninger’s version is intimate, tender and just magical. A touching pearl that touches heart and soul.
Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…
28 September 2018
Band: MERCURY REV
Album: DESERTER’S SONGS – the band’s fourth album
Released: 29 September 1998 – 20 years ago
ALL MUSIC wrote back then: “Four albums in and ‘Mercury Rev’ remain as surprising and daring as ever, exchanging the volcanic noise and twisted sensibilities of earlier releases for ornate arrangements and ethereal strings, ‘Deserter’s Songs’ unlocks the beauty always hidden just below the band’s surface, its lush harmonics and soothing textures bathing in an almost unearthly light. Complete with its fractured instrumental interludes and odd effects, ‘Deserter’s Songs’ sounds like no other album, for that matter, it doesn’t even sound like Mercury Rev, yet there’s no mistaking the record’s brilliance for anyone else.” – Score: 4.5/5
TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: After hearing Rev‘s masterpiece Deserter’s Songs (thanks
to NME who voted it as their Album Of The Year in 1998) on repeat I discovered a totally other Rev than the chaotic group of the first LP’s. This felt immediately as an exceptional record. A symphonic phantasy from the magical start (Holes) to the playful end (Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp). A bit later, in January 1999 I saw Mercury Rev live for the very first time when they played an indoor festival in Antwerp, Belgium to promote Deserter’s Songs. Their captivating performance blew me away. It wasn’t a traditional concert, it was a spiritual and psychedelic happening. A starry-eyed trance-like event that left a lasting impression on my senses. I’ve seen them countless (about 20 shows if I remember well) times since, with their 2011 show at the Cirque Royal in Brussels as one of the most memorable and unforgettable ones, playing Deserter’s Songs in full. A once in a lifetime band.
