Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips

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