Mercury Rev
Deserter's Songs
Label:  V2 
Date:  9/29/1998
Length:  0:00
Format:  CD
Genre:  Rock; Alternative
  Category:  rock
    Track Listing:
      1.  
      Holes    
      2.  
      Tonite It Shows    
      3.  
      Endlessly    
      4.  
      I Collect Coins    
      5.  
      Opus 40    
      6.  
      Hudson Line    
      7.  
      Happy End (The Drunk Room)    
      8.  
      Goddess on a Hiway    
      9.  
      Funny Bird    
      10.  
      Pick up If You're There    
      11.  
      Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp    
    Additional info: | top

      A touching, majestic gem of a record, DESERTER'S SONGS raises the bar not just for Mercury Rev themselves, but orchestrated pop in general. There's a timelessness to both the compositions and the arrangements here. Grand sonic visions are realised with horns, keyboards, strings, even a bowed saw! No matter how big the sound gets, though, it's all carefully controlled, and the cinematic scope enhances the songs, rather than obscuring them. Simple--but never blunt--lyrics benefit from an infectious melodicism that speaks to the pop songcraft skills Mercury Rev has mastered. The sweeping scale of DESERTER'S SONGS never denies the small, intimate pleasures that pop up from song to song, as the band combines psychedelia, '60s pop, Flaming Lips-ish indie rock and a homey folk-rock sound (the Band's Garth Hudson and Levon Helm even appear here) for a masterpiece of epic proportions. V2.