Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips

But I will concur with the "See You On the Other Side was the real progression" sentiment. It's the Deserter's Songs I can still enjoy listening to, bar the curiously unattractive "Young Man's Stride". Much more distinctive and FUN all round. And it kind of, erm, swings!

As for Soft Bulletin, it seemed equally as underwhelming as every other FL record I'd heard.

Both of these albums came along in the first year of uni for me, along with Super Furry Animals' Guerilla. They seemed to open things up for guitar music, but sadly, their innovations are not something that's been followed up particularly well, at least in terms of bands who make similar sounds. Polyphonic Spree - eee!
To be fair to Grandaddy, the first two albums were good, but otherwise, meh.
Architechture In Helsinki are pretty ace though - they've got the colourful maximalist thing going on, although they have their own sound. Arcade Fire likewise.
Soft Bulletin was a big step forward, but not a quantum leap. With Drodz and Ronald Jones joining, the band got musicians full of ideas and the skills to pull them off. Clouds Taste Metallic is the pinnacle of Lips phase two and one of the greatest albums ever made. It's got the bubblegum tunes, it's got the insane frazzled guitar noise, it's got the huge drums, and it's got the toybox instrumentation. When Jones left they couldn't get anyone else to make such incredible guitar sounds so they had to rethink. Hence the Car Lot Experiments onto Zaireeka and onto Soft Bulletin, which refines the experiments of Zaireeka while making the songs stronger. There is something magical about Soft Bulletin, but it didn't come out of thin air.

Living hell.

A few weeks before the theft I went to see Mercury Rev at Aberdeen Music Hall. Levon Helm from the Band was supposed to be supporting, but in a last minute change it was the Flaming Lips. Turned out the be the day before Soft Bulletin came out. I'd only heard She Don't Use Jelly. Their version of that was incredible, a total sonic meltdown. But the Soft Bulletin stuff was amazing. Drodz on keys and guitar and his celluloid self playing drums on the back screen. Wayne banging the gong. Wonderful. The Rev were disappointing by comparison. They had some stunning moments but were a bit noodly as well. The gig ended up in the NME cos the fire alarm went off halfway through. Apparently some nutter was sitting in the bogs setting fire to toilet paper. I stood out the front. If only I'd gone behind, I could have hung out with the bands! But everyone got back in again eventually and the REv rocked it to the end. And then the next day I went down to Glasgow to see the Beasties in the round. Good times, good times. :)

Revive!

As I go back thru the Lips' catalog in anticipation of getting Embryonic, I've been trying to give late-period Rev a shot again as well. Truth is, Deserter's Songs never got me. Honestly, I've never heard the "rural" or "Americana" in it -- outside of some of the instrumentation (musical saws, etc.), songs like "Opus 40" always just sounded like dream pop. The tunes, "Goddess on a Hiway" notwithstanding, always felt half-baked -- a song like "Holes" has a nice melody in the verse and an instrumental refrain...but that's it.

But upon further review, I should give credit where credit is due. First and foremost, the lyrics are interesting and deserve closer scrutiny. While I know everyone has done a Fridmann special since, the orchestration--particularly on All Is Dream--is pretty impressive. And though I still chafe a bit at the melody/instrumental refrain song structure in lieu of "proper" choruses (thus, my affection for "Goddess on a Hiway"), I have to admit that on songs like "The Dark Is Rising" it works pretty well. I also think they get unfair flack for The Secret Migration's launch into fairytale imagery -- it fits well w/ the dark Ichabod Crane vibe they're going for.

first two rev albums >>>> entire flips catalogue, and i really like quite a lot of flips

god i have tried getting into DS so many times since it first came out, and it has just never stuck.

but the soft bulletin was my freshman year in college 24/7

was listening to the new Lips and hoping it kicks the ass of Rev into doing an exciting album again. I haven't even *hated* the last few of theirs, but they've certainly been on the dull side.

I like Deserter's Songs a lot, at least through "Hudson Line". But on a disk from Uncut magazine from that time there's a gorgeous version of "Holes", from the Jools Holland show---the guitar solo will break your heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYe5Q-oMEME

That's a really stunning performance. Deserters Songs is still my favourite by a long way but I really rate See You On The Other Side a lot too. This decade hasn't been too great for them, All Is Dream I loved at the time but hasn't really aged too well. I can't remember much about The Secret Migration apart from Vermillion which is one of their finest songs. The last album is the best of the three it has some really stunning moments but kind of loses it's way at the end.

The Flaming Lips really pulled it back with the new album. At War With Mystics was a classic example of an album I just loved when I first got it but after a few months I realised the songs just weren't there and I only go back to a couple of songs now and then. Vein Of Stars in particular which has one of my favourite vocals Wayne has done and they're not really a band I love for the vocals.

But on a disk from Uncut magazine from that time there's a gorgeous version of "Holes", from the Jools Holland show---the guitar solo will break your heart.

You can't seriously mean that guitar solo -- I like Grasshopper's work a lot--and that's otherwise a fine performance--but that solo sounds like some kid learning the pentatonic scale.

The Flaming Lips really pulled it back with the new album. At War With Mystics was a classic example of an album I just loved when I first got it but after a few months I realised the songs just weren't there and I only go back to a couple of songs now and then. Vein Of Stars in particular which has one of my favourite vocals Wayne has done and they're not really a band I love for the vocals.

I sort of agree -- I think AWWTM works better as a piece than individually in some ways, which is a weird thing to say given that the record is a series of stylistic experiments. And yes, "Vein of Stars" is really something else.

I think with both of these bands, i fell in love with something early on that they progressively shed as they moved along. shed, or cloaked or mutated or evolved or whatever - whatever the word, over time i became less able to relate to their music.

this is less true of the flaming lips, as i very much enjoyed watching them grow as a band for most of the 90s, and only lost interest circa clouds taste metallic, when they finally leached the last traces of punk and rock aggression from their sound. on the other hand, i like embryonic a lot, so it may be that i'm coming back around...

with mercury rev my disengagement was a fairly straight line: i loved (and still love) yrself is steam, liked boces, and while i've enjoyed many songs since, i haven't really cared much for the albums that contained them. this isn't the band's fault, and i don't impugn the quality of their music - it's just a matter of their pursuing something that's less able to speak to me, personally.

live version of "holes" posted above is very moving, though not for the guitar solo

The part in "holes" that kills me is that vaguely submarine-sounding synth whoosh that comes in after the line "sink like polished stones." It's not that audible on the clip upthread, but on record.. chills down the spine every time.

ha, yeah that solo is bleak, love m rev (and that performance) tho

haha well I think it's a very evocative solo, if not technically anything special; its tone, in the song as played in that performance, is striking.

That solo isn't a patch on the late period Louis Armstrong-a-like flugelhorn(?) solo from the album version.

**B**O**C**E**S**

^^^yes