Mercury Rev started life on the edge - pushing the limits of their ambition, their sanity, and their listeners' patience. This record almost pushed them over.
Yerself Is Steam is a real pain in the ass. The tracklisting on the CD has intentional mistakes in it. David Baker litters his Herman Munster poetry all over potentially great tracks like "Chasing A Bee," earning his rep as The Most Annoying Man in Rock. And then there's "Very Sleepy Rivers," a 12-minute prog bore stretched out over 90+ four-second tracks for maximum annoyance.
One herculean fast-forwarding task later, however, Jonathan Donahue comes to the rescue on hidden track "Car Wash Hair." Shorn of the nonsense and bathed in melody, this is the promise of everything the Rev could, and would, become, and it still may be Donahue's finest psych-pop nugget.
There are several more gems here - "Coney Island Cyclone" and the electrifying "Syringe Mouth" are probably the best - which make Steam more than just an artifact from a great band's prehistory. When Donahue's songsmithery trumped Baker's sabotage, and when they tethered that unholy orchestra of noise to some solid pop hooks, the early Rev were mighty indeed. Yeah, they got too close to the edge. But what a view they had.
If you like Mercury Rev, check out:
Mercury Rev Boces
Mercury Rev See You On the Other Side
Mercury Rev Deserter's Songs
My Bloody Valentine Loveless
Pink Floyd Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Spacemen 3 Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To
psst...you might wanna check out our indie rock abode for more features on (guess what) indie rock bands.
-- jf
