Deserter's Songs is quite rightly seen as Mercury Rev's masterpiece, and would easily rank in my top 10 albums of all time - not that I'm quite obsessive enough to have sat down and written that list! Just look at the track list: Holes, Opus 40, Goddess on a Hiway, Funny Bird - motherfucking classics all!
But the groundwork for Deserter's Songs was laid by the previous album, and subject of this here post......
See you on the other side is a wilder, more ramshackle and less focused affair than Deserter's Songs - and that ain't a bad thing! It marked two possibly related important milestones for the band: the transition from noisy guitar pop to a more organic natural sound using acoustic instruments, and the departure of occasional vocalist David Baker. Both of these milestones could have spelled disaster for the band. Although I was never a fan of Baker's vocals (and I'm using that word loosely!), he was a mesmeric live presence, and provided a sense of unpredictability and X-factor that many artists aim for....and fail to achieve. And the music was different enough to potentially alienate previous fans.
And somewhat inevitably, the album did spell disaster for the band: it was a commercial failure, and the band split up....only for Rev mainstays Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper to regroup two years later and record the album they always wanted to make....and the rest is history.
So what does See you on the other side have to offer? Opener Empire State bides it's time for four minutes, with a Waiting for the man feel led by piano, guitar and flute, before exploding into a psychedelic freakout featuring a crazy assed sax solo. Magnificent! Young Man's Stride is a straightforward Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips-like rocker - an unsurprising influence given Donahue's tenure in that band.
Mercury Rev - 1995 - See you on the other side
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