DESERTER'S SONGS

The wall of dissonance and chaos came down somewhat on the previous album "See You On the Other Side" but still remained to some extent. The recording procedure for Mercury Rev up to this point had been to record the bare bones of the song and then add layer upon layer of mostly guitar driven dissonance so the sound was chaotic, yet by the 2nd album, they had learned how to make the chaos work for the music and created some very original and wonderful music. On "Deserter's Songs" however, things change in that instead of so much guitar induced sound, the layers are created by orchestral sound and keyboards. This give a much lusher sound to the music and is so much easier to digest. The guitar is still there and an electronic saw keeps things psychedelic in some places on the album. This is a beautifully done album and it was a big step towards the next album which is a masterpiece. In the meantime, this is a great album that shows the progress made towards that masterpiece.

However, this lovely lush layered sound came about after a lot of hard times. This album was supposed to be their swan song. Since the previous album had sold so poorly, the plan was to disband after this album was recorded. However, unseen help from The Chemical Brothers who helped push this album, time spent recording in the Catskills and help on the tracks "Opus 40" and "Hudson Line" from both Levon Helm and Garth Hudson (both from The Band) helped them get their heads together and got them to focus on making this album become the best they could put together at the time. Thank goodness for this outside help, because without it "All is Dream" would never have been created.

So, the loud chaotic sound from before was completely changed making for a more lush, beautifully orchestrated wall of sound, sometimes still dissonant, sometimes harmonic, it all works together to make a nice soothing and at times a little harsh sound. That contrast works so well throughout the album, but would work even better on "All is Dream" This album is definitely worth listening to and it is easy to see how the technique would get even better to produce the masterpiece that would come next. Still this is a lovely recording full of great prog moments and original sound. This album is definitely an excellent addition to any prog collection. Original, beautiful, at times vulnerable, harsh overtones but not enough to put you off, this is an album that should be explored and it has more progressive elements than what you might expect. Great stuff and a foreshadowing of even better yet to come.