Mercury Rev: All is Dream
Mercury Rev are one of those bands who cannot be pigeonholed or subjected to the usual description of “They sound a bit like (insert band name here) crossed with (another band name).” Their big break came with Deserter’s Songs, a quirky, experimental and utterly unique record whose folk-tinged melodies and haunting ambience made the music scene sit up and take notice and shower them with praise. It was always going to be a tough job for the band to write a follow-up but All is Dream is an equally brave and unique experience with an even greater sense of ambition and the desire to experiment.
The opening track, The Dark is Rising begins with a suitably dramatic and glorious crash of strings before the melody is carried on with a delicate piano line, accompanied by Jonathan Donahue’s otherwordly, plaintive vocals. It is this that sets the tone for the rest of the album: from start to finish you can’t help but feel that every song is from a film that you’ve seen sometime but can’t quite recall.
Compared with Deserter’s Songs, this album is a lot darker with a more grandiose feel. It is hard to imagine what was going through the band’s minds at the time (my suspicions point to copious amounts of hallucinogenic substances, for one thing) but the end results are spectacular, if rather strange, listening. The lyrics bring up everyday emotions and situations, before strange metaphors appear out of nowhere and shroud the songs’ meanings in mystery. It has to be said that Donahue’s vocals join the likes of Billy Corgan and Raine Maida in being an acquired taste: he can sound shrill and almost alien, which adds to the album’s distinctive sound but may put off some listeners. The instrumentation goes beyond guitar, bass and drums though: synthesisers, strings, harps and operatic backing vocals combine in extremely inventive ways.
The songs sound great on their own but the album has to be listened to in full to be fully appreciated. Nite and Fog is a bright intermission from the rather dark first half, and You’re My Queen picks up the pace a little later on. Spiders and Flies is a short piece of piano-driven whimsy but it is the epic Hercules that ends the album on a truly stunning note. A quiet acoustic line builds up to a soaring electric guitar melody that leaves the listener breathless as crashing drums then soothing keyboards bring the album to a climatic conclusion.
In Summary
Although Deserter’s Songs is quite rightly considered a classic album All is Dream is a worthy addition to any Mercury Rev fan’s collection. The vocals may grate and the lyrics can be obtuse at times but it is a psychedelic, experimental epic that is full of swirling atmospherics and a fearless desire for innovation: a brilliant album from one of rock’s most underrated bands.
Tracklisting
- The Dark is Rising
- Tides of the Moon
- Chains
- Lincoln’s Eyes
- Nite and Fog
- Little Rhymes
- A Drop in Time
- You’re My Queen
- Spiders and Flies
- Hercules
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