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Rating:
No: don't worry, put away the axe. This is not another review of the latest Korn album!
As far as I can see, this is the only Mercury Rev album not yet reviewed on Debaser and it's not a coincidence: it was the first after the departure of Dave Baker, who had been the core of the band, especially in the exceptional "Boces", but who was especially its "hard" soul. Therefore, it tends to be considered a kind of embryo of the "second life" of the Mercury, which would culminate in the consecration with "The Private Psychedelic Reel" of the chemical siblings and the rightly acclaimed "Deserter's Song." However, I have always loved this album, which I consider to be of excellent quality, and I'll try to roughly describe its content (I'm certainly not a good writer).
Except for the anthemic "Young Man's Stride", almost a leftover from the previous record, the sound here is oriented towards the 60s, though reinterpreted through the lens of a 90s indie band: exemplary in this sense is the single "Everlasting Arm", a cross between Phil Spector's "Back to Mono" and the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" (but before Wilson's ideas were pillaged as in the late 90s), with a touch of Yo La Tengo.
With Donahue and Friedmann's group, two adjectives are always used to exhaustion, which are fairly overused: psychedelic and dreamlike. But never more than in their case are they perfectly fitting: listen to the opening piece "Empire State", which concludes in an indeed... dreamlike and psychedelic sound scramble. "Sudden Ray Of Hope" is another memorable episode, boasting a truly splendid soulful brightness, while on "Racing The Tide" we have a track that, from the title alone, could have easily been part of "The Soft Bulletin" from Flaming Lips friends. The inserts of flutes and trumpets are incredible; one would never tire of listening to them. Special mention, finally, for the concluding "Peaceful Night", which brings down the curtain with bizarre piano bar atmospheres.
A short and light album, a little gem. Waiting for new wonders...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Everlasting Arm (05:15)
And so with the explorers on my heels I started t'wheel/Stepped aside stone walls, i was sick of it all/And so I set my sail on yr coattails and yr warm shawl/Up where there's an Everlasting Arm, sends us out alone, moves us out of harm/Ever-reaching always sweeping...And though I struggled t'take my place/there stood my mistake/Standing there like some great big theatre curtain he knew for certain I'd come down on you softly/Up where.../By and by the gates swung wide/Loved ones came in sight/Storming down the street like Puerto-Rican kids in a summer rain/Breaking open the hydrants and going insane/Up where...
06 Close Encounters of the 3rd Grade (03:03)
Mercury Rev Lyrics
Close Encounters of the 3rd Grade
See you on the Other Side...
Keep it rolling my friend...
Plenty of tape...
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