#173 mercury rev – blue and black

in simon reynolds’ melody maker review of mercury rev’s london gig in june 1991, he concludes with a prophetic statement that has been in most part fulfilled today: “i like to think that mercury rev can and will take it anywhere from here. i imagine them working with an orchestra, or buying a flotilla of moogs and mellotrons, or sampling eskimo and pygmie music, or collaborating with sun ra. i like to think we are unsafe in their hands“. 18 years on, he couldn’t have been more right, and while i’ve loved the progression of their work as predicted by reynolds, there cannot be a more significant starting point as their debut yerself is steam. for me, the beauty of the work lies in the sweetest of touches amidst the atmosphere of brutality, and listening to it tonight for about the hundredth time in my life still stops me in my tracks halfway through at “blue and black”, where dave baker’s ominously operatic vocals inhabits every visible shadow in the cold outside and sits stubbornly in the more cinematic sounds led by a haunting piano on repeat that bruises you blue and black. this is where i feel the most unsafe in their arms, and this is where i’m drawn back to, time and time again.

mp3: mercury rev – blue and black