大象传媒

Steve celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Mercury Rev鈥檚 Deserter鈥檚 Songs by playing the album out in full. The album was the fourth album by Mercury Rev, released September 29, 1998 via V2 Records.

The success of this album was a surprise for the band. After the commercial failure of their previous album 鈥楽ee You on the Other Side鈥�, which frontman Jonathan Donahue considered to be the band's best album, they decided to make one more record entirely for themselves. The band ignored commercial influences, and expected to split up shortly afterward. Surprisingly, 鈥楧eserter's Songs鈥� became their most successful album, bringing them popularity in the UK and Europe.

NME's John Mulvey gave the album 9/10: "With his relationships a tangled mess and his band fragmenting around him, 'Deserter's Songs' is Donahue's document of escape 鈥� music of shameless grandiosity that plays out personal crises on an enormous scale. Mercury Rev have always striven for this kind of deeply evocative sound, though their vision has often been obscured by billowing, unstable psychedelia. Now Donahue's gifts are clearer and less fractious. And the result? A modern classic.鈥�

The NME went onto name 鈥楧eserter鈥檚 Songs鈥� their album of the year for 1998.

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