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Maybe a few of you might know Mercury Rev from the altogether more lovely/pastoral "Deserter's Songs," which spawned three hit singles in the UK alone when it was released in 1998.
But this one -- the band's 1991 debut, with a different singer and an entirely different (lysergic) outlook -- comes straight outta the rust-bucket wastelands of a very economically distressed Buffalo, NY.
I wrote about it at length for Magnet -- it was the first time the six original members of the band had gathered to talk about it.
"As (singer Jonathan) Donahue predicts, the results represent six different creation myths that sometimes synch with one another, but just as frequently spin out in space, going in seemingly every possible (opposite) direction, often simultaneously. “Six chefs, one cauldron,” laughs Donahue at the memory of it now. “Six witches, one spoon.”
They are my friends and one of my all-time favorite bands but it's amazing that they survived the craziness of that period, which I think is baked into the sound of this totally acid-fried classic.
Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to.
https://magnetmagazine.com/2015/08/19/magnet-classics-mercury-revs-yrself-is-steam/
Apr 22, 2024
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IS THIS THE GREATEST PSYCHEDELIC POP SONG OF THE 1960’S?
THE FOUNDER OF THIS GROUP WAS A BIZARRE BLOKE. HIS NAME WAS BOB MARKLEY AND HE WAS ADOPTED BY AN OIL TYCOON. HE HAD A STRANGE, OBLIQUE BOWL CUT. SO PSYCH.
CHECK OUT THEIR SONGS. THEY HAVE SO MANY GOOD ONES.
OH YA…BOB MARKLEY MAY HAVE BEEN A NONCE. HENCE THE SONG TITLE.
BUT THE SONG…PERFECTION.
A MINIATURE MOMENT OF SPARKLING DARKNESS THAT EMANATES A DERANGED, CAPTURED INNOCENCE. CLOSE YOUR EYES AND YOU MIGHT SEE CHARLEY MANSON’S FACE APPEAR OUT A BLACK CLOUD OF FUNERAL SMOKE.
MUCH LIKE MANSON’S STUNNINGLY HAUNTED SONG “ LOOK AT YOUR GAME GIRL”, THERE IS A DEEPLY FORLORN QUALITY TO THIS TUNE.
WHEREAS THE BEATLES TENDED TOWARD THE WHIMSICAL, PLAYFUL AND LET’S BE HONEST, BLOODY FUCKING GOOFY SIDE OF THINGS, THIS SONG HINTS AT SOMETHING MUCH MORE NEFARIOUS.
GO LISTEN TO THE SONG WHILE LOOKING AT THE SEVEN OF CUPS CARD FROM THE RIDER WAITE TAROT DECK. AND THEN LOOK UP THE LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE STATION IN LAUREL CANYON. AND THEN CHECK OUT THE BOOK “CHAOS” BY TOM ONEILL. AND THEN READ “WEIRD SCENES FROM THE CANYON” BY DAVE MCGOWAN AND ONLY BELIEVE HALF OF IT. AND THEN READ ABOUT THIS BAND. AND THEN REWATCH MULHOLLAND DRIVE. AND THEN ASK YOURSELF:
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH LOS ANGELES?
Jan 30, 2024
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This is one of the greatest proto-psych rock albums of all time. 1971. Bunch of 1st generation black British dudes from former colonies. Crazy album and crazy story. They disappeared as the album was nearing completion. There was no follow up album, no nothing, they never reappeared. The name of the album comes from the fact that the label decided to put the music out after not being able to find them for a while because it was so good that “We Had To Let You Have It”. I know this because I have an original copy on vinyl and there is a handwritten note printed on a piece of paper inside the sleeve.
The track “Rain” is for my money one of the best songs written in this genre from that era. If they had been a popular band, I think it would be considered a classic.
Also, I dare you to listen to the song “The System” and tell me Lynyrd Skynyrd didn’t lift the main lick of the Free Bird solo from it. Yeah, I said it.
Jan 23, 2024
On this day, all the way back in 1985
Two Scots brothers with wraparound shades, birds-nest hairdos and an affinity for white-noise feedback, American girl groups and the Ramones made a debut album that still ranks among the wildest things I’ve ever heard.
I saw them on an early US tour where the set barely lasted a half hour and guitarist William Reid (one of the two brothers) played in the dark with his back to the audience. “Contempt for everyone” might be a good descriptor of the band’s early stage and personal presence.
Legendary. Rediscovered later (around the time they broke up for the first time) via the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s “Lost In Translation.”
Nov 18, 2024
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Hey tyler hopefully this doesn’t violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
Mar 27, 2024
“Songs Of a Lost World” coming to a goth listening station near you Nov 1 🖤
The fr FW Me Friday the 13th the world was looking for
Sep 14, 2024
I will fail to explain just how much this band meant to me in the 90s.
So I will borrow from AV Club who did a fine job of distilling it:
“Unwound is the best band of the ’90s. Not just because of how prolific, consistent, and uncompromising it was, but because of how perfectly Unwound nested in a unique space between some of the most vital forms of music that decade: punk, post-rock, indie rock, post-hardcore, slow-core, and experimental noise. That jumble of subgenres doesn’t say much; in fact, it falls far short of what Unwound truly synthesized and stood for. Unwound stood for Unwound. But in a decade where most bands were either stridently earnest or stridently ironic, Unwound wasn’t stridently anything. It was only itself. In one sense Unwound was the quietest band of the ’90s, skulking around like a nerdy terror cell. In another sense it was the loudest, sculpting raw noise into contorted visions of inner turmoil and frustration.”
R.I.P. Vern Rumsey.
This is their finest song, from their finest album.
I really can’t say enough about the sheer bloody minded genius of this group. 🖤
Mar 23, 2024