Mercury

Prayer Chain | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 11, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reunion
• ASIN: B0000004T3
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,879 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Humb

2. Waterdogs

3. Grylliade

4. Creole

5. Sky High

6. Mercury

7. Shiver

8. Manta Rae

9. Bendy Line

10. Sun Stoned

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bendy Line - A Review of The Prayer Chain's Mercury, December 7, 2004

By 

Nathan Skinner "laissez-faire" (rochester, ny) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mercury (Audio CD)

The Prayer Chain disbanded after touring for this album. Tensions within the band eventually took their toll and caused a split. Many consider "Mercury" to be the apex of their career - a work so wrapped in the band's complex relationships that it came as a dense surprise to casual Prayer Chain listeners used to their trademark pop-grunge sound. This was a departure from the musical roads the band had treaded before into a landscape full of middle eastern influences, sweeping noise, and tension/release dynamics.

To see this album presented live was to witness, in full effect, the blistering nature of these songs. The mercurial textures and visual displays transcended the nature of the songs and created an air of hope. The songs, anchored by a steady, heart-swelling bass and an eclectic rhythm section, sounded full and organic on the stage. Unfortunately, only the album remains as documentation to the strength of these songs.

Each track individually speaks of the struggles of human relationships. Whether that relationship is with other humans, nature, or God - these songs hold no answers but rather examine process of life - the journey that we all must walk and the places we stop along the way. The final song is purely an instrumental postlude - a summation of the places the album has gone. It is like the tired sigh of satisfaction after finishing a race, crossing the finish line that was once the place that you started.

"Mercury" won't be written about as an earth-shattering rock album or one of the albums that redefined music mostly because no one really heard it. Bound by the confines of the "christian" music industry this album never had the chance to reach a mainstream audience. But don't confuse bad marketing with the reality of what this music is about. It is truly one of those special pieces of art that transcends labels and dwells less on conclusions and more on the process we all go through to reach them.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars breathtakingly beautiful, December 30, 2000

By 

benjamin (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mercury (Audio CD)

If I had only five albums that I could take with me for the rest of my life, this would be my first pick. Simply put, this is the greatest, most amazing album I have ever bought.

This album is beautiful, but not because of what is on the surface. This is an album full of spiritual tension. From the opening track of "Humb" to the final track of "Sun Stoned" (the bassist, Eric Campuzano, once said "the album begins and ends praising God and everything in between is just life"), the album takes the listener on a trip from the highest of highs ("Breathe") to the lowest of lows ("Mercury," "Shiver"), the two often being contrasted right next together (as in the case of "Breathe" and "Mercury"). The beauty in this album is found in what lies beneath; the beauty is like the type of beauty that comes from some sort of painful, yet redemptive, rebirth.

Musically, the Chain always walked a rather fine line between the musically accessible and musically intricate; this is the most pronounced on "Mercury." From the opening of "Humb" and its quiet/loud contrast of chant-like vocals (vocalist Time Taber sings one of the Psalms) and Middle Eastern scales and Aboriginal rhythms to the nine-minute long "Breathe" (and the almost nine-minute long "Sun Stoned"), this album spawned few radio singles. But, for the listener who has an hour to really appreciate this album, this is a reward. This isn't an album of songs - it is an album of song where each individual song serves to help create a complete whole.

Complex, deep, and beautiful.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a shame more people will never hear this album..., October 22, 2004

By 

Nathan Pierce "musicjunkie717" (Lebanon, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mercury (Audio CD)

There is something about a tension within a group of musicians that when they break through and create music despite it, something of lasting stability and beauty is born. Such is the case, also, for the Prayer Chain's masterpiece Mercury. This album is melancholy, ambient, beat heavy, strange, and brilliant. After the "grungy" sound of their first EP and LP this record was a shock for fans. All but gone are the heavily distorted guitars and rock beats. This album has MOODY written all over it. It is very reminiscent of early '70's Pink Floyd and U2's The Unforgettable Fire, but never sounding unoriginal. Andrew Prickett is sounding his most inspired on this record with the usual guitar effects plus a sizeable amount of delay, tremolo, and reverb. Right from track one, Humb, you know something is different. A drone carries on for close to six minutes with Tim Tabor's vocals barely decipherable due to massive amounts of reverb. Then suddenly a burst of tribal percussion and a heavily distorted bass comes it. The effect is stunning. Standout tracks are Waterdogs, Grylliade, Creole, Sky High, Mercury, and Bendy Line, although all the tracks are brilliant. In fact, this is an album that almost has to be listened to from start to finish, not unlike Dark Side of the Moon. When the CD is done you are left wondering what just happened. It's like you were on a journey that took you around the world, into outer space, to heaven, and back to tell the tale.