Customer Reviews

Yerself Is Steam

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, the Velvet Underground... good for you. But forget all that for a moment because this album is different. While containing elements similar to other revolutionary music, this album is a unique psychedelic vision with an early 90s underground sound--without the trappings or pretentions of their contemporaries.

Insane but beautiful.

Yerself Is Steam is an album of sweeping anthemic bursts of rock that follow strange trains of thought. The opener Chasing A Bee is a symphony of skilfully applied distortion and rumbling guitar attack behind world-weary lyrics, leading up to an earthquake-like climax and then subsiding to the tune of a flute, leaving the listener breathless at its conclusion. There are also the majestic swirls of Coney Island Cyclone, the straight hard rock of Syringe Mouth and the intelligent piano, orchestral buildup and poignant lyrics of Blue And Black. Steam was a most impressive debut album that extended the boundaries of rock in daring new directions. Just be warned that this is not immediate music - it takes persistent listening to really grasp, let alone appreciate, its subleties.

This album seemed like some sort of nightmare when I used to listen stoned in college, rooted to the couch unable to move because of the FEAR and the beauty and energy in this disc. Finally I'd crawl to the stereo intending to stop it so I could relax, then a new song would start and I'd curl up and whimper with pleasure/pain again. Rumour has it they were on a group acid trip during the making of this, and it sounds like it. God, it's wonderful.

Fans of The Flaming Lips "In A Preist Driven Ambulance" & "Hit To Death in The Future Head" will love this. Mainly due to the fact that one time Lips guitarist Jonathan Donahue and longtime Lips producer Dave Fridman are members of Mercury Rev. "Yerself is Steam" stands as the classic Mercury Rev album. Former member David Baker adds an insane and inane side to the already frazzled and blistering song set. Starting with "Chasing A Bee" the album takes you on a trip that is probably similiar to the trip that the band was on at the time of the recording. Screaming guitars, wha, truckloads of effects and mindnumbing noise coming from all directions greet you on every song. "Coney Island Cyclone" is probably the most "radio friendly" song and is so catchy that you will not be able to get it out of your head for weeks. Each song is a mini symphony packed with enough things going on to last a lifetime. The classic "Car Wash Hair" is a hidden bonus not to be missed. Fans of this album should pick up anything by Shady (Dave Baker).

this record does funny things to my head and my speakers....i am very fond of it indeed.acquired taste .car wash hair is one of the most beautiful songs ive ever heard.the record is all over the place to be honest...and sometime u just think they are testing your patience most notably very sleep rivers....i recommend listening to it at the loudest possible volume coz i think track 5 is totally demented!!!!!the production is bloomin huge!!!!!!it eats the speakers and shreds my head in a good way.intense in a mushroomtastic sort of way..a nice accompaniment to loveless......

Sweeping anthemic bursts of rock following strange trains of thought. The opener Chasing A Bee is a symphony of skillfully applied distortion and rumbling guitar attack behind world-weary lyrics, leading up to and earthquake of a climax and then subsiding to the tune of a flute, leaving one breathless at its conclusion. There are also the majestic swirls of Coney Island Cyclone, the straight hard rock of Syringe Mouth and the intelligent piano, orchestral build-up and poignant lyrics of Blue And Black. "Yerself" is a most impressive album that extends the boundaries of rock in daring new directions; just be warned that this is not immediately gratifying - it takes persistent listenings to really grasp, let alone appreciate, its subtleties. Fans of My Bloody Valentine & The Jesus and Mary Chain will love it.

Words cannot begin to describe the insane beauty of this album. Words could say a lot but at the same time mean nothing, as it is the experience of this album that is most important. Proceed with caution, as this musical excursion will leave you changed.

Raw and swirling and aggressive, sweeping and atmospheric, and punctuated with haunting flutework...and this only summarizes "Chasing A Bee", the first track from "Yerself Is Steam", Mercury Rev's major label release. Nowadays the dimensional reference points for the band's musical universe rest largely on lushly orchestrated, psychedelically-tinged pop songs, but on "Syringe Mouth" and "Coney Island Cyclones", the tracks following "Chasing A Bee", the heavily distorted, wildly oscillating drones signaled that Mercury Rev skirted the more chaotic, wall-of-noise spectrum of psychedelia at that point in the band's career. In addition to the playful interlude "Continous Trucks and Thunders Under A Mother's Smile", which phases out in a a heavy burst of modulated distortion, four more fluidly arranged tracks are contained on this release: "Blue and Black", a piano-driven cut ending in an extended coda featuring a squalling guitar line that sounds like an angry hornet first levitating, then navigating its way toward an intruder; "Sweet Odyssey Of A Cancer Cell At Th' Center Of Your Heart" , a tympani-driven song containing heavily-phased guitar line which moves in a nearly symphonic progression to a sustained, explosive climax; "Frittering", a downbeat number which builds accretively from a single acoustic guitar to a heavily-fuzzed drone upon which a pitch-bent lead line is superimposed; and "Very Sleepy Rivers" , a murky, dirge-like, twelve-minute cut built around a soporific bassline, a heavily-distorted guitar drone kept largely to the background, mournful flutework, inarticulate howling interspersed with the lyrical content, and a plucked electric lead that sounds like a horde of trilling insects levitating and descending. Left off of this re-issue is "Car Wash Hair", included on the original US pressing and one of the first pastoral songs the band were to record, with Suzanne Thorpe's flute featured in its most prominent role.

Jonathan Donahue (who doubled on guitar) and David Baker served as vocalists for this CD, with Baker singing on "Chasing A Bee", "Syringe Mouth" ,"Blue and Black" and "Very Sleepy Rivers", and sharing vocal duties with Donahue on "Coney Island Cylones". Donahue sang on "Sweet Odyssey" and "Frittering", and had "Car Wash Hair " been included would have been responsible for that track as well.

I picked this up sometime in 2009 to replace my original copy (purchased in November of 1992), as it had been in such heavy rotation anywhere that I had access to a CD player that it eventually became unplayable. I was somewhat disappointed that "Car Wash Hair" had been excluded from the reissue, but otherwise this is in every other way one of the finest pschyedelic releases to have emerged in the '90's, and if you're only familiar with their later material, it's still worth getting, not only to chart their evolution, but also to ferret out the melodic underpinnings present in their music from the beginning. I can't recommend this CD enough.

This is psychedelic music at its best, totally crazy, chaotic, freaked out and whacky! According to Mercury Rev's own rumours they met each other first when they were all psychiatric patients at the same hospital, and that does not surprise me when I listen to the music. Anthemic and hypnotic numbers with wild guitar pyrotechnics, flutes and trumpets, and lots of effects create a musical maelstrom that makes your mind tumble. This CD totally captivates me when listening and really brings me in a rock concert mood. One of the indispensable psychedelic CD's of the nineties.

This is the album to have if you are wacked out of your gourd and need a dose of pure stellar guitar effects rock mainlined straight from your speakers to your ears. This is an all out masterpiece with no comparison. My favorite band is Mercury Rev and my most prized album is this one. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be strapped in a rocket ship and hurtled through the cosmos experiencing things as of yet unknown to human eyes, wonder no longer. Step #1 buy this album, step #2 put it in your cd payer and turn up the volume, step #3 turn off the lights, lay on your back, and press the play button.