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Mercury Rev are an American band, at first purveyors of experimental, psychedelic rock, in more recent times suppliers of melodic pop to the discerning. The band formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, originally comprising David Baker (vocals), Jonathan Donahue (vocals, guitars), Grasshopper (Sean Mackowiak) (guitars, clarinet), Suzanne Thorpe (flute), Dave Fridmann (bass) and Jimy Chambers (drums).
The band experienced tensions in musical direction from the start. Their early records are frequently dense, inaccessible and experimental, featuring heavy use of samples with frequently changing tempos and a distinct lack of anything that could be described as a tune. Laid against this, however, are occasional songs that are much more simplistic, catchy and pop-like, such as Frittering from the debut album Yerself is Steam. The departure of David Baker, over musical and personal disputes, in 1995 heralded a change in direction for the band. The darker, more experimental and less accessible features of their music began to disappear, at first on the transitional See You on the Other Side and almost completely with the release of the acclaimed Deserter's Songs. The foregrounding of Donahue's high-pitched vocals and the renewed concentration on the melodic, poppy aspect gave the band's material an entirely new feel and much increased popularity; despite some considerable critical acclaim, their early releases never gave them more than cult popularity. By contrast, Deserter's Songs made the UK and US album charts, spawned three UK top 40 singles and was music magazine NME's album of the year for 1998, and its follow-up All is Dream managed a UK top 20 single.
Mercury Rev's The Secret Migration is due for release at the end of January 2005 and it has received much media acclaim in the build up to it being released.
The band are often compared to The Flaming Lips; in fact Jonathan Donahue was a member of the band for two records before forming Mercury Rev. Several Flaming Lips recordings have been produced by Mercury Rev's Dave Fridmann.
Discography
Chart positions listed are for the UK, they have not charted in the US.
Albums
- Yerself is Steam (1991)
- Boces (1993)
- See You on the Other Side (1995)
- Deserter's Songs (1998) #27
- All is Dream (2001) #11
- The Secret Migration (2005)
EPs / singles
- Lego My Ego (1992, released as a compilation with Yerself is Steam)
- Car Wash Hair (1992)
- If You Want Me to Stay (1992)
- The Hum is Coming From Her (1993)
- Chasing a Bee (1993)
- Bronx Cheer (1993)
- Something for Joey (1993)
- Everlasting Arm (1995)
- Young Man's Stride (1995)
- Goddess On a Hiway (1998) #26 (1999 reissue)
- Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp (1998) #26
- Opus 40 (1999) #31
- Holes (1999) (Australia only)
- Nite and Fog (2001)
- The Dark is Rising (2002) #16
- Little Rhymes (2002)
- Secret For A Song (2004)
- In A Funny Way (2005) #28
External links
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