Mercury Rev
| Mercury Rev | |
|---|---|
 At a concert in 2004 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Psychedelic rock , shoegazing , noise rock , indie rock |
| founding | Late 1980s |
| Website | http://www.mercuryrev.net/ |
| Founding members | |
| David Baker (until 1993) | |
| Jonathan Donahue | |
guitar |
Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak |
| Dave Fridmann | |
| Suzanne Thorpe (until 1995) | |
| Jimmy Chambers (until 1995) | |
| Current occupation | |
Guitar, from 1993 singing |
Jonathan Donahue |
guitar |
Sean Mackowiak |
bass |
Dave Fridmann (from 2002 only producer and studio musician) |
Drums, keyboard |
Jeff Mercer (from 1998) |
| former members | |
| Adam Snyder (1998-2002) | |
Mercury Rev is an American rock band formed in the late 1980s by David Baker (vocals), Jonathan Donahue (guitar), Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak (guitar), Dave Fridmann (bass), Suzanne Thorpe (flute) and Jimmy Chambers ( Drums) was founded in Buffalo , New York .
Band history
On their first recordings, Mercury Rev played experimental but melodic psychedelic rock . The band was often compared to the Flaming Lips in their early days , which is due, among other things, to the fact that Donahue and Fridmann worked together with the Flaming Lips themselves before their Mercury Rev days. In 1991 the band released their first album Yerself Is Steam after a demo landed on the English label Rough Trade . Although the album received good reviews and had relatively high sales, Rough Trade ran out of money only a short time after its release and Mercury Rev could no longer be retained. Nevertheless, the band went on a major tour of England in the aftermath, with some executives of the record company Sony becoming aware of Mercury Rev and they signed. Sony released their debut album again.
In 1993 the band recorded their second album, Boces . But even during the recording there was tension between singer David Baker and the rest of the band. Therefore, Baker left the band after the subsequent tour and started his solo career as "Shady". After the third album See You On The Other Side , Suzanne Thorpe and Jimmy Chambers also left the band.
After Baker left, Jonathan Donahue became the band's lead singer. In 1998 the fourth Mercury Rev album was released on the V2 label. The band at the time consisted of Donahue, Mackowiak and Fridmann, as well as the two new members Adam Snyder (keyboards) and Jeff Mercer (drums). This album, Deserter's Songs , became their most successful recording to date and included a well-known single hit with Goddess On A Hiway .
The album All Is Dream was released in 2001 and made it into the UK Top 20 (# 16) in the UK Top 40 with "The dark is rising" .
This was followed by the successful album The Secret Migration (2005) and the compilation The Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006 .
On September 29, 2008, the band released two albums: the studio album Snowflake Midnight and the MP3 instrument album Strange Attractor, which can be downloaded for free from the Internet .
In 2009 the double CD The Complete Peel Sessions was released , on which various live sessions over the past ten years were published. This includes different versions of old own songs as well as various cover versions (including songs by John Lennon , Captain Beefheart , Black Sabbath and Erik Satie ).
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 UK
|
|||
| 1993 | Boces | - |
UK43 (1 week) UK |
|
| 1998 | Deserter's songs | - |
UK27  (19 weeks)UK |
|
| 2001 | All is dream |
DE78 (1 week) DE |
UK11 (6 weeks)UK |
|
| 2005 | The Secret Migration | - |
UK16 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| 2008 | Snowflake Midnight | - |
UK52 (1 week) UK |
|
| 2015 | The Light In You | - |
UK39 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 2019 | Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweet Revisited | - |
UK32 (1 week) UK |
|
More albums
- 1991: Yerself is Steam
- 1995: See You On The Other Side
- 1995: Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void (as Harmony Rockets)
- 2006: Hello Blackbird (soundtrack to the film Bye Bye Blackbird )
- 2008: Strange Attractor (MP3 album for free download)
- 2009: The Complete Peel Sessions
Compilations
- The Essential Mercury Rev - Stillness Breathes (1991-2006) (2006)
- Back to Mine (2006)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1994 | Everlasting Arm / Dead Man See You On The Other Side |
UK91 (1 week) UK |
|
| 1998 | Goddess on a Hiway Deserter’s Songs |
UK26 (4 weeks) UK |
Highest ranking after republication in 1999
|
| Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp Deserter’s Songs |
UK26 (2 weeks) UK |
||
| 1999 | Opus 40 Deserter’s Songs |
UK31 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 2001 | Nite and Fog All Is Dream |
UK47 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| 2002 | The Dark Is Rising All Is Dream |
UK16 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| Little Rhymes All Is Dream |
UK51 (2 weeks) UK |
||
| 2005 | In a Funny Way The Secret Migration |
UK28 (2 weeks) UK |
|
| Across Yer Ocean The Secret Migration |
UK54 (2 weeks) UK |
More singles
- 1992: Lego My Ego
- 1992: Car Wash Hair
- 1992: If You Want Me to Stay
- 1993: The Hum Is Coming From Her
- 1993: Chasing a Bee
- 1993: Bronx Cheer
- 1993: Something for Joey
- 1995: Young Man's Stride
- 1999: Holes
- 2004: Secret for a Song
- 2008: Senses on Fire
- 2009: Butterfly's Wing
swell
Web links
- Official Mercury Rev website
- Mercury Rev at laut.de
- Inspirational retreats for perception - Jan Volker Röhnert on the concert in Frankfurt / Main, titelforum.de , April 4, 2005