what is your problem with 'Deserter's Songs', specifically?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

for those who think its crap...i'd like to know cos i'm genuinely curious as to why you dont like it - i've been extremely shockingly late getting into Mercury Rev (like, 2 years ago basically) so as a result i think the last two albums are pretty cool. i downloaded various earlier tracks as well but i never thought much of 'Carwash Hair' (cos Pavement and all that stuff was never really my thing) - altho i can be a bit of a clueless heathen regarding 'proper alt rock music' so fire away...

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

well, basically, this the worst album ever made

i'm going to have to come back later to adequately describe the cloying gloop of classic singersongwriter turgid rockjams in mock cinematic soft rock bollocks that this is

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

There's not enough Garth Hudson on it.

― Roger Fascist (Roger Fascist), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

not enough saws

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not very much fun is it, especially when compared to their earlier, more guitar-led stuff. It's an almost perfect example of American meta-rock, the stuff that wants to echo Gershwin and The Stooges and Van Dyke Parkes and Brian Wilson all at the same time. I don't dislike DS, but it doens very little for me, and that's a massive criticism.

My personal fave MRev song is A Sudden Ray Of Hope off Other Side, 'cs it's mad pop with loads of stuffness going on.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

But I like classic singersongwriter turgid rockjams in mock cinematic soft rock.

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe 'Holes' in vacuous mock cinematic soft rock bollocks. I can see how you might think that. It's that producer, innit? BUT HOW COME I CANNOT HEAR IT WITHOUT GETTING A PRICK IN THE CORNER OF MY EYE AND NO I DO NOT MEAN A PENIS.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I prefer The Delgados last 2 albums, because they kind of do the same thing with the same grand sound, yet have got definite pop sensibilities rather than, as James so wonderfully put it, that awful dodgy singersongwriterturgidbollocksjam thing going on.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I was just quoting Gareth. And while I was being glib I really do like the album. And 'All is Dream'.

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Besides being utterly uninvolving, pedestrian and anemic, it lacks any organic juxtapositions that might establish some inner musical dialogue. ¥

― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

'Holes' and 'The Funny Bird' are marv, i'd love 'Goddess..' if it WASN'T so repetetive in this case....i really can't see whats not to like about these tracks - am i really that spiritually and emotionally devoid/retarded for getting a lump in the throat/spinal shiver type feeling from 'Holes'???

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Not at all, I probably am for getting bored by it.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it, far more than See You On The Other Side and All Is Dream, which I think are just plain cloying.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the first three tracks are beautiful and that feeling carried me through the rest of the album; now it's worn off a bit I can't listen to the other ones. By 'All Is Dream' it had got formulaic - "The Dark Is Rising" works in the ultra-cynical way Gareth seems to detect in DS; the rest is just nothing. On the other hand this is one of those records which is really tied up in personal stuff for me so it's hard to think about 'from a distance' now that stuff doesn't seem to apply. Suffice it to say at the time I really got a lot of strength from the exhausted prettiness of "Holes"/"Tonite It Shows"/"Endlessly".

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

"Downs Are Feminine Balloons" from Boces is one of the great poignant moments from the 90's. That and "Frittering" are probably my faves.

― David Gunnip, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Tom's absolutely OTM about the grandness of that first chilly trio sort of coasting you through the more disappointing remainder. Very cold, very precise, very crystalline: there's an actual aesthetic slant, a "point," to the "meta" of those few that does a lot to make them seem uniquely worthwhile within the Fridmann cadre. And it's one of few full-lengths where the greatness of the first bits can make me overlook the massive trail-off that follows.

I like See You On the Other Side quite a bit, largely because it seems more composed than arranged -- the charts seem to work together far more effectively than on a lot of comparable stuff, and the much less ambitious "post-rock Dark Side of the Moon" approach makes it difficult for them to stumble. There were a few tracks on All is Dream that really worked for me -- the ones that sounded like Fleetwood Mac, basically -- but as a whole I found it disappointing. (Maybe if they'd front-loaded those good ones again.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

is the latter half of 'Deserter's Songs' really that poor though? its where the singles are after all heh heh...why doesn't 'Goddess On A Hiway' work for you? i dont find fault with the arrangement and production of the music, just the lyrics pattern really, but the line 'they explode like two bugs on glass' stays with me...and i repeat, 'The Funny Bird' is fantastic (more so live) and tho i didn't like 'Opus 40' at all when it was released, I couldn't criticise it beyond that.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

blimey, I can't remember how 'GOAH' goes now. I haven't played this record for ages. I used to love 'Endlessly' I seem to remember.

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i also dont like how it sounds like Paris1919 with all the character squeezed out

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i think the last song is a brilliant last song for an album,i never really liked it while i was vaguely getting into them,or when it was a single (i think,it was occasionally on the bollocks indie radio station i listened to at the time)but when you listen to the whole album all the way through,it can seem a bit syrup,although i still like it,but the last song seems so propulsive and optimistic that it makes you think the whole album was the most amazing thing ever...

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:17 (twenty-two years ago)

it doesn't work if you just skip to it though,you have to listen to the whole album for it to sound great...

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

jesus,this thread is really bringing out the rockist in me...
also,gareth has a point about paris 1919

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:20 (twenty-two years ago)

So out of curiosity: who listened to the Grasshopper solo album, with the shared melody from "N.Y. Avenue Playground?"

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)

who listened to the Grasshopper solo album

I did. It's pretty much a dud.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Also out of curiosity: who listened to the David Baker Shady project?

― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Fridmann is one of the biggest hacks currently earning a living. His production style completely kills any immediacy the music might possess, making the tunes dull, distant and deadening (see: Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi, Hate, Deserter's Songs, All Is Dream, etc).

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

What about the Mercury Rev albums Fridmann produced before Soft Bulletin?

― hstencil, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

why is immediacy important with this stuff? 'do you realise' is a very nice song in a very classic style...i instantly recognised that, the track didn't grow on me as a result (in fact it can only grow off i guess) but like 'Holes' and a handful of other tracks on the albums you mentioned its LOVELY rather than 'dull, distant and deadening'

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

You got me there, hstencil. I'm talking about his current style (or the one he adopted circa late 90s), obviously.

And Steve: Why is immediacy important? Because, to me anyway, dressing up a nice melody in a deafening chorus of strings, booming drums, etc., makes it seem as if the band is trying too hard to sound important. It's too earnest for my tastes. There are previous producers who have pulled this off, but Fridmann's approach comes off as way too clinical to me.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

It's pretty in a Disney way but mawkish in a Supertramp way as well. I still dig most of it.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

sounds you like think its 'overproduced' - i get in arguments all the time with people who dislike stuff for being too overproduced (e.g. Royksopp, Zero 7 etc.)...someday i'll come up with a decent argument for why music like that SHOULD be overproduced, unless i come to agree with you sooner...

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:10 (twenty-two years ago)

'too overproduced' is a double-infinitive or whatever you call them...but i suppose you could apply the criticism to Doves and Coldplay too no?

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Overproduced is kind of a meaningless term, but yeah, you could say that. I'm all for heavy-handed production if it augments certain aspects of a song/album/melody to the better, but otherwise I like my music fairly unadorned (many exceptions to this rule though). What do you think heavy production brings to the table?

As to your second post -- Never heard the Doves. As for Coldplay, "Trouble" is a great song, "Yellow" not bad. That's all I really know.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked it better two years later when they added a couple of synthesizers and called it The Sophtware Slump.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

overproduced means like 'overcooked' to me as i use it to describe any music thats had TOO MUCH time spent on it, more than was needed...too many overdubs etc. - but i rarely find myself finding it a problem with a lot of music that other people dislike for being apparently just of that nature...i DON'T think much of 'Trouble' or 'Yellow' but I do think 'Do You Realise' and 'Holes' are far greater pieces of music...the Coldplay tracks are SIMPLER wouldn't you say? not that that's a flaw, and maybe there's a kind of ignorance in my understanding of them all and what was involved in the making of them all but ultimately its how they come across to you yourself.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

What do you think heavy production brings to the table?

its the easiest and arguably most effective way of lending something an 'epic' feel isn't it? and while it may seem dumb to say i like a sense of epicness to music in general...i think i do

so what about Spiritualised? heavy production or did they get the balance right for those songs on 'Let It Come Down'? its weird but i couldn't stand ''Stop Your Crying' but loved 'The Dark Is Rising' and I must admit I'm finding it tough (but fun) to try and work out and explain why.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

When I start thinking about this album I want to listen to it again. I thought Let It Come Down was ok unlike most people around here but lyrically I thought it wasn't too strong and also it was nearly all strings and hardly any of the usual jamming.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Donahue's vocals do sound a bit more sincere than Jason Pierce's, somehow. The lyrics/vox on Stop Your Crying just seem a bit going through the motions, somehow... is he distressed or does he just really want some sleep?

The Light Before We Land eats 'em both for breakfast, anyway, but you could probably have guessed I was gonna say that.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Not enough noise on Let it Come Down, and the arrangements crossed the line from epic into flatulent. And that boogie-woogie opening song is a fucking joke. Deserters is beautiful and peaceful, and Donahue is indeed much more likeable on record than Jason Pierce. I also like "The Light Before We Land".

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

But not as much as "Woke From Dreaming".

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Woke From Dreaming creeps up on you, cos it's a bit more subdued than The Light and All You Need Is Hate, so it does take a while before you realise that it's one of the best things on the album. Favours never seems to get too many props either, but that's fuckin' A too. I love Emma Pollock. She is great. Though Alun Woodward is also great, and so is Stewart Henderson. Paul Savage also.

And apparently Dave Fridmann "fucking hates strings."

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

But back to the subject in hand. I've got Deserter's Songs on tape, and I quite like it. I just don't listen to it that much, and certainly haven't listened to it in quite some time.

I do love Delta Sun, though. this may be because I go to indie clubs and dance to Hotel Yorba while doing the counting on fingers thing.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

hahaha, thats even worse than me making 'talky talky' gestures with my hands first time i 'danced' to 'United States Of Whatever'

oh wait...no it isn't...

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:43 (twenty-two years ago)

My mates got their mobiles out and Bezzed to Rings Around The World. That was entertaining, primarily because I didn't have one at the time, so I felt superior somehow.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

killian just perfectly summed up my thoughts about let it come down...

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

have NO PROBLEM with Deserter's Songs, nope

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 00:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Also out of curiosity: who listened to the David Baker Shady project?

Great album. Check out his production work for Comet too.

Me on Yerself, me on Deserters. Yay to both! Though I haven't listened to either in years, really.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I much prefer Let It Come Down to DS though, but I'm not sure I can say why. I got a pre-release MP3 of LICD and hated it, but then when I got the actual CD and openeed it up properly I loved it (I guess that's just to do with me subconsciously picking up the compression of MP3s as opposed to CDs). The lush over-arrangements of LITD appealed, whereas DS sometimes seemed as if it really wanted to go OTT but was afraid to do so in case it got laughed at. Plus, and this is the main point, LITD held my interest all the way through (apart from the very last track), possibly because it was so grand and ridiculous and over-done, and I enjoy it, whereas I find DS gets very slow and boring and tedious at times with all the insturmental tracks. Delta, Bird, and Tonite It Shows I really liked though. Holes I never got.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

All the recds mentioned here are arse, although I might make an exception for a single track - Goddess on The Highway, which is fantastic. It sounds like they suddenly woke up.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Let It Come Down... it was my favourite record of last year and I didn't miss the noise in the slightest, so much so that I'm perfectly happy to let the occasional sugary arrangement pass.

I think the Doves ARE overproduced, hugely so. Satellites, for example, just does not need that gospel choir.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

why does Pierce need a gospel choir if Doves do not? I don't get that really...just a personal preference Matt?

i would agree that 'Satellites' is a bit overblown tho...'Lost Souls' is still a better album for me

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not about having the gospel choir though, it's about how you use it.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The use of gospel choirs in indie records is generally to be deplored and especially when it comes to Spiritualised. It's as bad as string quartets on Top of the Pops. 'Ere - let's add a bit of that thar soulful gravitas. NOOOOOO!

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Largely I have to agree. But I still like Spiritualized... Sorry!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

there is only one good song on it: "holes". the rest is totally superfluous.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Mercury Rev but Spiritualized first 3 albums not only wipe the floor with anything they've ever done, they also dance around all over them. I mean Ladies and Gentlemen is about 4000 times more interesting than Rev's best album which I thought was See You On The Other Side.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

In summary I guess I'm saying Mercury Rev at their best make decent indie songs and have made some really "nice" indie rock songs but I could never imagine listening to one of their records as many times as I listened to Spiritualized's stuff back when I liked rock. It walks the line quite well between difficult and good.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I for the Shady album around the same time as Boces and certainly liked it a lot but haven't listened to it ina few years but I keep meaning too. I think a state of total chaos and inaccesibility in my CD collection was the main problem. And L-N are still not accesible or filed. Maybe I'll build more shelves this weekend and allow

― tigerclawskank, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

spiritualized's albums cannot be listened to one after the other without wanting to give pierce a good thrashing, due to his self-obsessed manner and irritatingly one-dimensional lyrical style. each album is good on its own though, except LICD. mercury rev's output is more varied and more creative, except for all is dream, which is good, but not new or interesting.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't mind Pierce, never have really. I can see how he'd be annoying but he doesn't annoy me.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a weirdo who likes the first Spiritualized album best(and who is more of a sonic boom fan really)and who thinks that Flaming Lips peaked with Oh My Gawd...a zillion years ago and who thought the Soft Bulletin was really boring but who likes Deserter's Songs for the songs AND the production but who nonetheless thinks that Yerself Is Steam is their best album and I loooove those Doves albums cuz they are so ingenious really in that they kinda remind me of a lot of stuff that I love but I can never really put my finger on who or what they are ripping off that I love so much unlike some other bands I could mention(Hint:Interpol).It's gotta be tough making Dark Side Of The Moon for an audience too clever to take Dark Side Of The Moon seriously.All these bands should get a medal.

― Scott Seward, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

"It's gotta be tough making Dark Side Of The Moon for an audience too clever to take Dark Side Of The Moon seriously.All these bands should get a medal."

OTM. Wow. I've been trying to express that for ages.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, me too, i was going to post something similar yesterday, but that expressed it 100%

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Steve - it's not really personal preference (I like both), but the gospel choirs seem, to me at least, like a natural part of a lot of Spiritualized songs. Okay, songs like Come Together could exist quite happily without them, but nonetheless they seem to fit. On Satellites they seem clumsily grafted on as an afterthought, like the strings on virtually every Embrace single... I feel the same about Blur's Tender. However, unlike Tender, I quite enjoy Satellites as a song which I am able to overlook the choir despite it annoying me.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

thats fair dos....i'm the opposite of Ronan in that i much prefer Mercury Rev's last two albums to the last two Spiritualised albums...Jason Pierce's introspection just doesn't appeal to me at all, altho once I got past that awful lyric 'Out Of Sight' grew on me loads...i missed the buzz with 'ladies and gentlemen...' tho really - i do think its good musically and the ambition of it is impressive

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

ambition often equals overly orchestrated pompous twaddle. In my opinion...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

anther day, and i've STILL NO PROBLEM with Derester's Songs
(should relisten to it mebbe? ok, mebbe tomorrow)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 9 January 2003 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a weirdo who likes the first Spiritualized album best

You're not alone, my friend.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 9 January 2003 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

the first Spiritualized album is the only one I rate.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 9 January 2003 02:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm listening to Deserters Songs now, after this thread. It is not as good as I remember but still good. I think their performance at Glastonbury last year was the thing I'll remember them best for.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 9 January 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

ugh, you've just reminded me of mercury rev live post98. awful

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 9 January 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

haha I never saw them pre and wasn't expecting much anyway to be honest, I ended up really enjoying it but drugs were involved and I thought the setting was very suitable, sun beating down on the stage, donahue conducting imaginery orchestra etc, sky pulsing lurid red behind them.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 9 January 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I really enjoyed them at the RFH last year, Gareth. Regret not seeing the earlier incarnation as well, but there was nowt wrong with them this time. And I thought some of the much-maligned 'All is Dream' material came over very well live (particularly 'Tides of the Moon'). And they finished with a fine version of 'Cortez the Killer'.

― James Ball (James Ball), Thursday, 9 January 2003 12:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i really enjoyed Merc Rev at SB Empire in October 2001 - it seemed like a really good gig, cant think of any real flaws

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 9 January 2003 12:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought it was a bit flat man. I liked it when they started cutting loose towards the end but something was lacking from their delivery, or maybe their prescence. Left me a unmoved pretty much. I saw them at Glasto a couple of years earlier and it was a much better show with someone letting off monster-sized bubbles which floated over the crowd towards the stage, against the brooding skies (what is it about skies and the Rev?). I think it was probably the setting and the acid which made that show 10 x what the Empire show was. Or maybe I'm just bored of them nowadays.

― Roger Fascist (Roger Fascist), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i must admit, i have a very poor idea of how to evaluate 'rock gigs' - i'm bored most of the time :(

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Me too, it's either pretending to be as overawed as everyone around me looks or just drinking myself into oblivion with whoever I'm with.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Hang on, did you like them at Glastonbury or not?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, I said I did didn't I?

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

well, basically, live they were too plodding, too weighty, no spark, too trad, too many awful cover versions (neil young, nick cave, john lennon, galaxie 500 in the 3 shows i saw in 99). the one at bowlie weekender/atp was so unbelievably drab and tedious i walked out.

it is difficult to credit that this is the same band that were so incendiary a few years earlier

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah the Glasto one was a yawn, we sat through it just so we could sing "The sap is rising" in pervy voices along to "The Dark Is Rising" but in mitigation we were sitting outside the beer tent and it was quite warm.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 9 January 2003 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

It's just that in the post above you said you never enjoy live rock shows.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 9 January 2003 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

No I agreed with the "bored most of the time" statement, I have enjoyed some but generally not. er....I'm not sure where the ambiguity or even interest arose but fair enough!

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 9 January 2003 14:34 (twenty-two years ago)

damn you Rev deserters you

's the 3rd day since the orignl query was aired,
and'm relistening to Songs and,
specifically,
luvin' it
h a v i n g n o p r o b l e m

have never heard All Is Dream, tho ...don't want to; me suspicious

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 10 January 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

if you like 'Deserter's Songs' i fail to see what you wouldn't like about 'All Is Dream' - other than maybe it doesn't offer anything new and is more of the same ultimately...but i wuv 'Nite & Fog'!

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 10 January 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

"I think I loved [Deserter's Songs] so much because it felt like music this band - this noisy lovely stupid fraudulent and fragile group - could only make once. Mercury Rev sounded like a band backed so far into a corner that they had no option left but beauty. But listening to "The Dark Is Rising" it sounds like Mercury Rev can't be bothered with any of the other options."

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 10 January 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

if you like 'Deserter's Songs' i fail to see what you wouldn't like about 'All Is Dream'

Jonathon Donahue's voice is horribly reedy throughout most of All Is Dream... I like him best when he's singing down a register (honorable exception - Holes). That's what puts me off most of all.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 10 January 2003 13:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Plus its all a bit overblown and lacks the intimacy and warmth of Deserter's Songs, I think. The crashing piano bit on Chains, for example, is UNNATURAL and WRONG and epitomises everything I don't like about the record.

I like Night and Fog very much, though.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 10 January 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's deliberately not as warm and intimate as 'Deserter's Songs' - it's supposed to be a little bit spooky in an attmept to evoke the whole dream/subconscious thing. However, I'd agree with Matt that some of it jars in a not-good way. The drums are way too heavy on several tracks for starters.

But I still really like it, at least as much as 'Desrter's Songs' as I think it's that bit more coherent thematically. And I love 'Tides of the Moon'.

I probably like it a whole lot more after seeing them play the songs live.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 10 January 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Well, took me another year to get a copy of the Dream rekkid. Though I once saw, on the telly, Rev doing these songs live in some smallish venue somewhere in (I think) Europe.
The warming to it, like properly, took a couple of spins. But it does sound much better than I'd feared it would. Okay, "You're My Queen" I couldn't care less about, and "Linclon's Eyes" meander pretty aimlessly for at least a third of the song's duration, and "Spiders and Flies" apparently ain't quite as smart and "Hercules" as recourseful they think they are.
Still, has several great tracks there. But I love Deserters's Songs more, nothing doing.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 2 February 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I sold Deserter's so long ago I forget what about it I didn't like, other than the Saw should be used for cutting wood, not as a musical instrument.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Monday, 2 February 2004 04:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"Deserter's Songs" represented a huge step in the right direction for American music at a time when the UK more or less owned good music. Later, Grandaddy and Flaming Lips have come up with even better albums in the same genre though.

The only things I dislike about "Deserter's Songs" is the weak lead vocals, and the annoying presence of "Silent Night" in one of its tracks...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 2 February 2004 04:41 (twenty-one years ago)

For me those two mercury rev albums I was totally enthralled with for like the first few weeks I got them, but from those two weeks I got everything I could out of them. Now whenever I go back and listen to them there is nothing more for me to hear and I don't really feel like listening to it (it becomes more annoying). Yerself is Steam and See You On The Otherside are different I can go back to them whenever. Boces I never really got into.

Aren't they due for a new album soon?

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 2 February 2004 04:48 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

"Holes dug by little moles."

That summarizes my problem with this album.

― Richard Wood Johnson, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 14:29 (eighteen years ago)

that's fine. it's the 'angry jealous spies, got telephones for eyes' line I can never get over.

― blueski, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 14:55 (eighteen years ago)

Drugs are bad, kids.

― Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 15:00 (eighteen years ago)

For all that this album was my gateway into Mercury Rev, I like it far less than the first album or Boces.

Every time I see the Rev live, I find myself hoping that in a Spinal Tap kind of way David Baker will suddenly rejoin them on stage and they will go off and tour Japan forever.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 15:16 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.