Send "Mercury Rev " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
![Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs [Deluxe Edition] review](http://www.sweetslyrics.com/poze/Mercury_Rev_Deserter's_Songs_16.06.2011.jpg) Early promo copies of Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs were mailed out to press in a cardboard-replica postal packet, complete with a stamp and a postmark advertising its release date. This was no random act: In 1998, a new Mercury Rev album could have felt like a postcard from a long-lost, old friend. Unlikely beneficiaries of the post-Nirvana major-label cattle call, Mercury Rev initially overcame the inter-band acrimony that fueled their first two brilliantly frazzled albums (1991's Yerself Is Steam and 1993's Boces), only to slip further into oblivion with the more refined but commercially ignored 1995 release, See You on the Other Side. A subsequent improvised recording released under the name Harmony Rockets (1995's Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void) suggested the band was forsaking populist ambition to delve deeper into the psych-noise underground. Aside from a songwriting credit for Rev ringleader Jonathan Donahue on the Chemical Brothers' Dig Your Own Hole, by 1997, Mercury Rev had effectively vanished.The arrival of Deserter's Songs on the nascent V2 label was a brow-raiser in and of itself; but that sense of pleasant surprise turned to dumbstruck disbelief once the CD was dropped in the player. Mercury Rev had flirted with symphonic flourishes and sentimental balladry before, but usually delivered them in a haze of distortion (Boces' "Something For Joey") or cheeky, irreverent arrangements (See You on the Other Side's "Everlasting Arm"). Deserter's Songs' opening track, "Holes", however, was something else entirely: Never before had Donahue left his helium-high croon so vulnerable and exposed, and never before had the band's densely textured arrangements been deployed to such moving emotional effect, with the song's eye-welling surge of orchestration and weepy bowed-saw lines perfectly complementing Donahue's crestfallen lyrics. And while there were always themes of New York state iconography running through the band's disjointed discography-- the Coney Island Cyclone, the Rockettes, Bronx cheers-- Deserter's Songs projected an especially vivid sense of place, casting a set of intimate, romantic narratives against the staggering natural beauty of the band's upstate New York surroundings. Credit producer/bassist Dave Fridmann for foregrounding certain agrarian classic-rock influences-- namely, Jack Nitzsche-era Neil Young, the Band, and Brian Wilson-- that were heretofore buried behind the band's wall of squall; Mercury Rev even went so far as to solicit guest contributions from Levon Helm and Garth Hudson for some authentic Big Pink flavor....full text |
| Superdeluxeedition |
| “Holes, dug by little moles”. So sings guitarist Jonathan Donahue, in his slightly straining Neil Young-esque vocal style. Not the kind of lyric you’d expect from an NME album of the year (1998) but that just goes to underline what a persuasive and powerful piece of work Mercury Rev’s Deserter’s Songs really is. A dream-like mix of strings, harpischords, mellotrons, clavinets and guitars, the band somehow manage to mix the schmultz of Disney, the melodrama of the Broadway musical and the melody of classic pop/rock to produce something extraordinary. Everything is rooted in Donahue’s emotional vocal deliveries, as he sings with a mix of yearning and whimsy against the lush soundscapes. Despite the wonder of the first half of this album, it almost comes as a relief when eight tracks in you finally hear something that resembles a ‘normal’ pop song, the perky Goddess On A Hiway. But then, as that very song declares “I know it ain’t gonna last” and with the very next track – The Funny Bird – we are back to some dark swirling strings, processed vocals, big drums and squealing guitars. Not that this is a bad thing – in it’s own way it’s just as satisfying as ‘Goddess‘. Deserter’s Songs was the band’s second album since the departure of original vocalist David Baker. Disappointed by the commercial failure of it’s predecessor See You on the Other Side, the album was recorded with no real expectations of success. However, not only was it critically acclaimed it was also a more than solid commercial success, especially in the UK where three of the singles actually hit the top 40 of the singles chart. This remastered deluxe edition has been released with a second CD of demos and remixes, dubbed Deserted Songs. Highlights include a DJ Nickel remix of Pick Up If You’re There, and the 8-track demo of Tonite It Shows, which demonstrates that the ‘sound’ of the album was already well established from an early stage. Not everything is great from this second disc. The Goddess on a Hiway demo should surely have stayed ‘deserted’ in the drawer from which it was found – it’s a distorted, warbling mess which is hard to stick with even for one listen, never mind repeatedly. As a deluxe edition there are some question marks over this release. There is no sign of the film present on the DVD element of the 2005 special edition of the album, and an instrumental-only version of the record is to be released shortly, but as a separate stand-alone release, rather than as part of a this deluxe set. You can’t help but feel that this could have been a superb 3-disc reissue, rather than a ‘not bad’ 2-disc one....full text |
| Cduniverse |
| Digitally remastered and expanded two CD edition of this 1998 album including a bonus disc with 13 rarities. A touching, majestic gem of a record, Deserter's Songs raises the bar not just for Mercury Rev themselves, but orchestrated Pop in general. There's a timelessness to both the compositions and the arrangements here. Grand sonic visions are realized with horns, keyboards, strings, even a bowed saw! No matter how big the sound gets, though, it's all carefully controlled, and the cinematic scope enhances the songs, rather than obscuring them. Simple--but never blunt--lyrics benefit from an infectious melodicism that speaks to the pop songcraft skills Mercury Rev has mastered. The sweeping scale of Deserter's Songs never denies the small, intimate pleasures that pop up from song to song, as the band combines Psychedelia, '60s Pop, Flaming Lips-ish Indie Rock and a homey Folk-Rock sound (the Band's Garth Hudson and Levon Helm even appear here) for a masterpiece of epic proportions....full text |
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