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Yerself Is Steam

 
Album Review: Yerself Is Steam

  • Artist: Mercury Rev
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1991
  • Total Time: 40:36
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Music dictated not by logic but by intuition, Yerself Is Steam is an album at war with itself, split by its desire to achieve both melodic pop bliss and white-noise transcendence within the same space; it succeeds brilliantly, avant-bubblegum fuel injected by fits and flourishes of prismatic chaos. From the comic malevolence of David Baker's mad-scientist creations to Jonathan Donahue's opiate lullabies, Yerself Is Steam is vividly cinematic -- between the roller coaster feedback of "Coney Island Cyclone" and the narcoleptic ebb and flow of the climactic "Very Sleepy Rivers," the songs perfectly evoke their titular aspirations; likewise, from the album title (say it out loud) onward, the lyrics revel in the quirks and idiosyncrasies of language, buoyed by a homophonous prankishness and dada rhyme schemes, which, in their own odd way, suggest a kind of poetry. A near-perfect debut from a band that would only get better from here on out. [The American edition appends the superb single "Car Wash Hair," while some foreign releases include the bonus disc Lego My Ego, a crazy quilt knitted together from unlikely covers (Sly Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay," Miles Davis' "Shhh/Peaceful"), Peel Sessions highlights, and wonderfully loopy studio chatter.] ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Chasing a Bee Mercury Rev Mercury Rev (7:11)
Syringe Mouth Mercury Rev (4:04)
Coney Island Cyclone Jonathan Donahue Mercury Rev (2:37)
Blue and Black Mercury Rev (6:00)
Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell T' Th' Center of Yer Heart Mercury Rev (7:41)
Frittering Mercury Rev (8:48)
Continuous Trucks and Thunder Under a Mother's Smile Mercury Rev (:43)
Very Sleepy Rivers Mercury Rev (12:15)

Credits

Mercury Rev (Producer), Mercury Rev (Main Performer), Keith Cleversley (Engineer), Jonathan Donahue (Guitar), Jonathan Donahue (Vocals), Dave Fridmann (Bass), Dave Fridmann (?), C. Gavazzi (Trumpet), Grasshopper (Guitar), Suzanne Thorpe (Flute), David Baker (Vocals), Jimy Chambers (Drums)
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Wikipedia: Yerself Is Steam
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Yerself Is Steam
Studio album by Mercury Rev
Released May 14, 1991
Recorded 1990-1991
Genre Rock
Length 56:08
Label Columbia
Producer David Baker, Jonathan Donahue, Dave Fridmann, Grasshopper, Suzanne Thorpe, Jimy Chambers
Professional reviews
Mercury Rev chronology

Yerself Is Steam
(1991)
Boces
(1993)

Yerself Is Steam is the debut album by Mercury Rev, released in 1991. The title is a malapropism of the phrase "Your self-esteem."

Track listing

  1. "Chasing a Bee" – 7:11
  2. "Syringe Mouth" – 4:04
  3. "Coney Island Cyclone" – 2:37
  4. "Blue and Black" – 6:00
  5. "Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell T' Th' Center of Yer Heart" – 7:41
  6. "Frittering" – 8:48
  7. "Continuous Trucks and Thunder Under a Mother's Smile" – 0:43
  8. "Very Sleepy Rivers" – 12:15
  9. "Car Wash Hair (The Bee's Chasing Me)" – 6:44

"Car Wash Hair" appears as track 99 on 1992 Sony/Columbia version of the album. Also, on this same version, "Very Sleepy Rivers" is divided into fragments between tracks 8-98. There were several other versions released throughout the years as well, some of which included various bonus discs, such as the "Lego My Ego" EP and the "Car Wash Hair" single.

All songs written by Mercury Rev.

Personnel

  • Jimy Chambers – Drumming, Blue-Line
  • Jonathan Donahue – Silver Pickup Guitar, Vocals when left to himself
  • Grasshopper – Unafon Guitar Reels
  • Suzanne Thorpe – Point Red Flute
  • Dave Fridmann – Bass Explore, Majestic Bellowphone
  • David Baker – Vocals when it sounds like something he would do

Trivia

  • "Chasing a Bee" was released as a single. For a 1991 Peel Session, the band recorded a version of "Chasing a Bee" with new lyrics, called "Chasing a Girl (Inside a Car)."
  • On the commercial release of the album, the listed track times all end in 27 seconds. This is corrected on a sticker the radio promo version.
  • The radio promo of the album (labeled the "Radio Whipped" edition) comes with a bonus disc, featuring the single version of "Chasing a Bee," a cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "If You Want Me To Stay," and the complete 1991 Peel session (including the songs "Coney Island Cyclone," "Frittering," "Syringe Mouth," and "Chasing a Girl (Inside a Car)"). Each disc is listed with a unique ordering, with tracks on the first disc labeled "A,B,C,D,E,F,U,C,K," while the second disc is listed as "A,B,S,U,R,D."
  • "Very Sleepy Rivers" is supposedly about a serial killer, with the river being a metaphor for the killer's relative calm and sudden tendency to snap.
  • "Chasing A Bee", "Frittering" and "Car Wash Hair" are still played regularly in concert by the band today.
  • Early pressings of the vinyl lp were on pink 'splattered' vinyl.

 
 

 

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Yerself Is Steam" Read more

 

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