Mercury Rev

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Biography

Buffalo, United States (1989 – present)

Mercury Rev is an American rock music group, that formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker (vocals), Jonathan Donahue (vocals, guitars), Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak (guitars, clarinet), Suzanne Thorpe (flute), Dave Fridmann (bass) and Jimy Chambers (drums).

With their debut, Yerself Is Steam, the band gained an underground following, particularly in the UK. 1993’s Boces was critically acclaimed for its alternative sound, and the band’s next album, See You on the Other Side, begins a shift away from the extremes of sonic experimentalism towards the elaborately-orchestrated classic rock blueprint of their later work.

With their early records, Mercury Rev offered experimental, psychedelic rock, which gradually shifted to a melodic, ornate sound. Mercury Rev is often compared to The Flaming Lips, and in fact share close ties: soon after the band’s formation, Donahue also joined the Flaming Lips as second guitarist and appeared on two of their albums; and since the 1990 album In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Dave Fridmann has co-produced every Flaming Lips studio album to date except 1993’s Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.

Despite considerable critical acclaim, their early releases never gave Mercury Rev more than cult popularity, though they appeared on the smaller second stage at some 1993 Lollapalooza stops. Baker left after their second record, Boces (1993), citing musical and personal disputes; he later recorded an album as Shady.
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  • Krabbjuice

    I love the first two albums! mercury rev great band

    14 Jun 2:01pm Reply

  • LittleGib

    Great interview with David Baker in The Quietus today. A Mercury Rev/ Prodigy collaboration would've been mental!!

    12 Jun 9:25am Reply

  • le_ceesar

    mercury rev great band

    9 Jun 2:55am Reply

  • maximsaintl

    mercury rev great band

    2 Jun 5:28pm Reply

  • LittleGib

    Now there is a statement i can thoroughly support! And i would like to add that The Secret Migration is a wonderful album, unjustly maligned.

    1 Jun 10:46am Reply

  • lunacode

    Snowflake Midnight is their best, don't even argue with me

    1 Jun 10:20am Reply

  • Groves89

    Yes. Everything after All Is Dream is the REO Speedwagon of the 2000s.

    31 May 10:25pm Reply

  • LittleGib

    Haha!! Is that really true?!?

    28 May 8:04pm Reply

  • Groves89

    Weird. Snowflake Midnight is a legitimately horrible album.

    25 May 2:23am Reply

  • LittleGib

    Someday's i think Snowflake Midnight is the best work they've ever done. Today is such a day.

    9 May 8:26pm Reply

  • AcidAmmo

    frittering is really good

    24 Apr 1:47am Reply

  • jakobdorof

    and now "Opus 40" has me fighting back the feels at work. would be the greatest "Canon in D"-inspired song since "Canon in D" if it weren't for "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space"...

    16 Apr 8:14pm Reply

  • jakobdorof

    listening to my first four Mercury Rev songs -- the beginning of Deserter's Songs -- and i have already Loved all of them. i don't think this has ever happened before.

    16 Apr 8:09pm Reply

  • Benrachmian

    I love them! They're so special! especially "All is Dream"

    23 Mar 8:18am Reply

  • mrmocha

    Holy shit... I've been listening to the same shitty mp3 rip of Boces pretty much since mp3's were invented. That album is dynamic as fuck in flac. /mindblown

    5 Feb 4:43am Reply

  • themartialarts

    Yeah people talk about later Rev as if it's late period Simple Minds or something, it gets a tad hysterical

    27 Jan 5:50pm Reply

  • Groves89

    Also "Something for Joey" has to be one of the best tracks of the 90s

    14 Jan 7:37am Reply

  • Groves89

    The post-Boces albums are met with too much hostility. Of course they're nowhere as good as Yerself is Steam or Boces, but the way people talk about them here you'd think they would be flat out terrible and offensive. They are OK albums (or at least See You On the Other Side and Deserter's Songs are OK albums).

    5 Jan 2:01am Reply

  • lmaster65

    All the scrobbles are from one album. Frittering and Car Wash Hair should be in the top 15 imo.

    3 Jan 9:29am Reply

  • pvmnt

    <3 <3 <3

    6 Dec 2012 Reply
    • All 395 shouts

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