MERCURY REV - Deserter's Songs (V2 VVR1002772)

First impressions

My first meeting with Mercury Rev was supporting Bob Mould and I was so impressed that I went out and bought this LP. And you know what, it sounds nothing like the live show but I'm still impressed. It's a very calm album, very little loud rock noise, more considered, lots of keyboards, some guitars and weird twiddly noises, but most of all great tunes. Album of the year? Quite possibly.

The Considered Opinion

This is an album which has garnered A LOT of critical acclaim in the two months plus since I bought it and for once rightly so.

But what does it sound like? A good pointer to the main songs is "Endlessly", which is kind of a cross between "SIlent Night" (yes the Christmas Carol!) and the original Star Trek Theme. No really! There's a serenity to these haunting melodies that seems, well just a little unnatural. There's also a spookiness about this album - a feeling which is reinforced by the short instrumentals placed throughout the album which are just unsettling.

And there are great tunes too - have I mentioned that yet? "Goddess on A Hiway", the first single, is one with a deceptively melancholic piano intro leading eventually into a chorus with another of these celebrate the misery melodies so beloved of this writer - "An' I know it aint' gonna last" indeed. The only other vaguley upbeat song is the second single, "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp", which has a real groove to it, to the extent that the Chemical Brothers' involvement in a remix makes some kind of sense.

But the Brothers are also a real red herring, as was the Rev's support of Bob. They really are out on their own, out of time. This is the most organic end of the rock spectrum, almost not rock at all. The opening "Holes" has some rock antecedents, but sets the tone for the first half of this record in its almost church like instrumentation. "The Funny Bird" is the only song to feature guitars in any sort of rockist manner. Yes there are chords here, but the vocals are treated to give a weird spin on the song.

Conclusion? Well bits sometimes remind me of the more pastoral Julian Cope songs, but only partially. "Silent Night" meets Star Trek theme is still the best description I can come up with. And yet this works big style. This album's classic reputation will only grow over time. Buy it now.

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