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Rating:
A Dream in Time
or the dreamlike pop of Mercury Rev
It takes little. It truly takes very little to fall madly in love, as the ancients used to say, with this album. Just close your eyes and get lost on the road that leads from Earth to the Dream. All it takes is "The Dark Is Rising", with its storms, its tides, its calms, its astral conjunctions, its peaceful solitudes. These orchestral explosions followed by the simplicity of the piano and Jonathan Donahue's falsetto are enough to enter a dreamlike universe and never want to leave it.
The power of the notes draws a path that leads directly to the psychedelic Moon of "Tides Of The Moon", where other waves overwhelm us and toss us onto the face of the Sun. With the magnificent orchestrations of "Chains", all the chains that kept us tied to our physicality are broken, after which the ghosts of "Lincoln's Eyes" hypnotize us until we turn into pure extracorporeal essence, we too become specters in a world where the exquisite and highly refined pop atmospheres of "Nite And Fog" linger. With the sweet rhymes and the deep bass of "Little Rhymes", we discover that Time is all ours and that in the temporal relativism of the Christmasy sounds of "A Drop In Time" (produced by the great Tony Visconti), the Moon and the Sun chase each other again like violin escapes "glued in Leonard Cohen's mind". With "You're My Queen" and "Spiders And Flies", we are catapulted onto a tragicomic Shakespearean stage, where sirens, snakes, kings, queens, and pharaohs are nothing but ephemeral presences in front of the eternal dreamlike immanence of the constellations of "Hercules". It's this last track that, with a sublime guitar catharsis, transports us, as if through a magical musical Stargate, into the deep interstellar space hidden in the pauses between chords, words, and meanings.
Thanks to "All Is Dream" (2001), the fifth album of the band from Buffalo and the second of the "melodic" turn, we leave behind the Sun, the Moon, and especially the sands of the earthly desert and float in an astral hypnosis where we realize that "All is One, All is Mind, everything is lost and Everything is Dream".
from "The Dark Is Rising"
But it can be surprising
when you find yourself alone
and now th' dark is rising
and a brand new moon is bornI always dreamed I'd love you
I never dreamed I'd lose you
in my dreams I'm always strong
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 The Dark Is Rising (04:50)
I dreamed of you on my farm
I dreamed of you in my arms
But dreams are always wrong
I never dreamed I'd hurt you
I never dreamed I'd lose you
In my dreams I'm always strong
But now the creek is rising
And all my bridges burned
I always dreamed of big crowds
Plumes of smoke and high clouds
But dreams don't last for long
I have my suspicions
When the stars are in position
All will be revealed
But I know that until then
Unless the stars surrender
All wll be concealed
And now the snow is falling
And all my fences torn
I know you need someone
And I can hear someone
Somewhere in this song
I dreamed that I was walking
and the two of us were talking
Of all life's mystery
The words that flow between friends
Winding streams without end
I wanted you to see
But it can seem surprising
When you find yourself alone
And now the dark is rising
And a brand new moon is born
I always dreamed I'd love you
I never dreamed I'd lose you
In my dreams I'm always strong
02 Tides of the Moon (05:12)
The threads that run through your life
Hand from your sleeve
Wind through your soul
The kind you can't control
The kind you can't conceive
The kind you can't believe
But wish you could break
Wish you could weave
I wish you could see
It ties you to me
And you fly in the face of the sun
And you float in the tides of the moon
The paths that run from your door
Climb through the trees
Wind like a snake
The kind you can't escape
The kind you can't conceive
The kind you can't believe
With prickly little thorns
Sharp tiny teeth
They're hungry for the threads
Hanging from your sleeve
Waiting on a path
The kind you can't conceive
But wish you could take
Wish you could leave
I wish you could see
It leads you to me
03 Chains (04:22)
I remember their faces
I remember their stares
I remember how wasted
You were in there....
When I know you want it
And I know you care
I know you feel it
And I know it's there
You were speaking to no one
I called your name
You were looking for something
Without any chains
I was talking to someone
You pulled me aside
You were telling me something
That I couldn't buy
04 Lincoln's Eyes (07:09)
What explodes like a fractal
Pops like a lite bulb
Looks really awful
At four in the morning
Moves with a dead stare
Coils around your ankles
Fangs long as neckties
And strike without warning
What implodes like a Zeppelin
Cracks like pavement
Smokes in the basement
And knows when yer lying
Comes to a dead stop
Forgives you like Jesus
Cold as a windchill
With eyes like Abe Lincoln
What is dark like a birthmark
Pulls like a magnet
Male and female
And covets like a dragon
Grows to a shark length
Contracts to amoeba
Lives in your soul
And loves you like I do
What appears like an angel
Stabs like a dagger
Fills you with lite
And bleeds you of matter
Comes to a dead stop
Forgives you like Jesus
Hands you a love only
Found in the Vedas
What explodes like a fractal
Pops like a lite bulb
Strolls in like Joel Gray
At four in the morning
Armed with a big nose
Fragile like a sea horse
Lives in your soul
And loves you like I do
05 Nite and Fog (03:58)
If God moves across the water
Then the girl moves in other ways
And I, losing sight of either
Nite and Fog are my days
I wanted only to be gentle
But I gave her jealousy and rage
Who knows exactly what I'm after?
Nite and Fog are my days
Wise men want fame
Fools want gold
Sailors want water
But you want it all
I tried to guide my love by starlight
And soon my life became a maze
Osiris and Orion were your favorites
Nite and Fog are my days
Vampires want darkness
Monsters want souls
Spiders want corners
But you want it all
She turns, half in to find me naked
But I can see she wants me in other ways
In the dark I've driven her to madness
Nite and Fog are my days
I hope you see your ship come in
May it find you and never lose its way
But I would make a poor captain
Nite and Fog are my days
Vampires want darkness
Monsters want souls
Spiders want corners
But you want it all
06 Little Rhymes (05:13)
Stairs.... to nowhere climb
I take them......all the time
Crawling on my knees
Walking that old fine line
And when I'm alone and scared
I think up little rhymes
They would make no sense to you
But I make them all the time
And time is all mine
And time is all mine
It's the little pills you find
Crushed to dust, rolling out of sight
They and up in the strangest places
But I take them all the time
And time is all mine
And time is all mine
When everyone... is false
I tell them I'm just fine
I can't... remember their names
But I fake them all the time
And time is all mine
And time is all mine
And time is all mine
And time is all mine
And when I'm alone and scared
I think up little rhymes
They would make no sense to you
But I make them all the time
08 You're My Queen (02:33)
Siren with a song in your eye
Slashing through my ear like a beast
Seven times I leapt upon your shore
Every night I let you conquer me
You're my Queen, You're my Queen
You're my Queen, You're my Queen
Serpent with your blue planet eyes
Passing like a ship through my sleep
Seven times I kissed you on the mouth
Every night I let You conquer me
You're my Queen, You're my Queen
You're my Queen, You're my Queen
09 Spiders and Flies (04:11)
Plans and schemes
Thoughts and dreams
Who cares what they mean
When they work they're amazing things
When they don't I hear you scream
Spiders and flies
Live and die
Six legs to stand on and two wings to fly
I can't remember and I can't decide
What was the season and the color of your eyes
Pharaohs and kings
Favorite queens
Buried with their precious rings
When they lived they loved complete
But in their tombs, I hear them scream
Spiders and flies
Live and die
Six legs to stand on and two wings to fly
I can't remember and I can't decide
What was the season and the color of your eyes
Psalms and spells
Magic blast
Who cares what they cast
I dreamed I'd always love you complete
I never thought I'd hear you scream
Spiders and flies
Live and die
Eight legs to stand on and two wings to fly
It makes you wonder, why can't I
What was the reason for the color of your eyes
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