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Deserter's Songs

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Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Fluffhouse Music(10/10) link
Robert Christgau(C+) link
Q June 2010
NME(9/10) link
Pitchfork Media (1998)(8.5/10) link
Pitchfork Media (2011)(9.3/10) link
Entertainment Weekly(A-) link
Clash (magazine) link

Deserter's Songs is the fourth studio album by the Buffalo, New York-based rock band Mercury Rev, released in late September 1998. British music magazine NME named Deserter's Songs album of the year for 1998. Limited edition copies of the album came in a brown cardboard envelope-like package, with a stamp on the cover postmarked with the release date, as well as two art postcards.

The success of this album was a pleasant surprise for the band. After the commercial failure of See You on the Other Side, which Donahue considered to be the band's best album, they decided to make one more record entirely for themselves, ignoring commercial influences, and expecting to split up shortly afterward. Surprisingly, Deserter's Songs was their most successful album, and made them big celebrities in the UK and Europe, also making a smaller mark in the US.

The hidden track at the end of "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" is played on the Tettix Wave Accumulator, an instrument built by Donahue and Grasshopper. Reportedly, two versions of the instrument exist--one for recording that takes up half of Grasshopper's basement, and a smaller one for the road.

A 10th anniversary edition of the album[1] was rumored to be released on March 5, 2007, but never came to fruition. Mercury Rev released their seventh studio album Snowflake Midnight on Deserter's Songs' actual 10-year anniversary, September 29, 2008.

In May 2011 a fully instrumental edition of the album was released. In the same month, the band also staged a series of concerts at venues throughout Europe in which the whole album was performed live.

The song "Holes" was used in the 2000 film Panic, starring William H. Macy and Neve Campbell.

Track listing

All lyrics by Jonathan Donahue, except "Hudson Line" by Sean "Grasshopper" Mackiowiak, and "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" by Jimy Chambers. All music by Jonathan Donahue and Sean "Grasshopper" Mackiowiak.

  1. "Holes" – 5:55
  2. "Tonite It Shows" – 3:40
  3. "Endlessly" – 4:25
  4. "I Collect Coins" – 1:27
  5. "Opus 40" – 5:10
  6. "Hudson Line" – 2:54
  7. "The Happy End (The Drunk Room)" – 2:06
  8. "Goddess on a Hiway" – 3:45
  9. "The Funny Bird" – 5:51
  10. "Pick Up If You're There" – 3:05
  11. "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp"
    (Untitled instrumental) (hidden track) – 6:17
Japanese bonus tracks
  2. (silence) – 0:34
  3. "Ragtag" – 2:44

Deserter's Songs Bonus EP

Upon the album's release, a 6-track promo EP was issued, featuring covers recorded as B-sides from live recording sessions. The EP was bundled with copies of the album sold at Best Buy stores.

  1. "He Was a Friend of Mine" (Bob Dylan) – 3:36
  2. "Motion Pictures" (Neil Young) – 3:28
  3. "Silver Street" (Nikki Sudden, Dave Kusworth) – 4:41
  4. "Philadelphia" (Neil Young) – 3:07
  5. "I Only Have Eyes for You" (featuring Sean O'Hagan) (Harry Warren, Al Dubin) – 4:22
  6. "Caroline Says Pt. II" (Lou Reed) – 3:33

Deserter's Songs: The Film

A special edition of the album was released in 2005 with a bonus DVD, featuring an album-length companion film to Deserter's Songs as well as two music videos (directed by Anton Corbijn) and an audio remix track:

  1. "Deserter's Songs: The Film" – 44:39
  2. "Opus 40" (music video) – 3:36
  3. "Goddess on a Hiway" (music video) – 3:44
  4. "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" (The Chemical Brothers Remix) (audio track) – 6:22

Deserter's Songs: Deluxe Edition

In 2011, a further reissue of the album surfaced, this time a double-disc "deluxe edition" via V2/Cooperative. Unlike previous repackagings, which featured tracks also found spread across various singles and promotional releases, this edition contained a full disc's worth of exclusive material, dubbed "Deserted Songs." Tracklisting for disc two:

  1. "Piano vs. Telephone" (Home Cassette Tape Demo)
  2. "Holes" (Bill Laswell 1998 Remix)
  3. "Pick Up, If You're There" (DJ Nickel 1998 Remix)
  4. "Endlessly" (Tascam 8 Track Reel to Reel Demo)
  5. "A Soft Kiss (for waking up)" (Home Cassette Tape Demo)
  6. "Tonite It Shows" (Tascam 8 Track Reel to Reel Demo)
  7. "Looking Back Now, I Can See..." (Unreleased Mix)
  8. "Opus 40" (Early Rough Version)
  9. "Hudson Line" (Early Rough Version)
  10. "Judging By The Moon" (Home Cassette Tape Demo)
  11. "Goddess On A Hiway" (1989 Home Cassette Tape Demo)
  12. "Night On Panther Mountain" (Unreleased Mix)
  13. "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" (Early Rough Version)

Personnel

Mercury Rev

  • Jonathan Donahue – vocals, acoustic guitar, chamberlin strings
  • Sean "Grasshopper" Mackiowiak – guitar reels, vocals on #6, woodwinds
  • Jimy Chambers – clavinet, harpsichord, drums
  • Dave Fridmann – piano, bass, mellotron, backing vocals
  • Suzanne Thorpe – flutes
  • Adam Snyder – B3, Mellotron, wurlitzer

Additional Musicians

  • Levon Helm - drums on "Opus 40"
  • Garth Hudson - tenor & alto sax on "Hudson Line"
  • Amy Helm & Marie Spinosa - female vox and whistling
  • Mary Gavazzi Fridmann - female soprano
  • Jeff Mercel - drums
  • Joel Eckhouse - bowed saw
  • Rachel Handman - violins
  • Matt Jordan - flugelhorns
  • Jim Burgess - trombones
  • Aaron Hurwitz - piano
  • Scott Petito - upright electric bass
  • Garrett Uhlenbrock - slide guitar

References

  1. ^ Amazon.co.uk: Deserter's Songs: 10th Anniversary Edition/+DVD: Mercury Rev
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