Mercury Rev - The Essential

This is a good time to remember, if you've forgotten, the majestic theremin-induced glory of 'Holes'

Album Review by Ally Brown | 13 Oct 2006
Album title: Mercury Rev
Artist: The Essential (1991?2006)
Label: V2
Why would anyone seeking the best of Mercury Rev also want their worst on CD2? So 'session tracks, covers and oddities' doesn't always equate to 'worst', but it does mean the least necessary, the 'rare-for-a-reason's, only treasured by the fundamentalist badge-wearers who really don't need to buy Best Ofs. Buffalo's finest export since, erm, the Grill, continue the baffling trend, but ensure that the first CD – the best of - is packed with inspiration. This is a good time to remember, if you've forgotten, the majestic theremin-induced glory of 'Holes'; The Dark Is Rising featuring an angelic choir, fragile one minute, rapturous the next; and Chasing A Bee, recalling Bowie's Space Oddity, but with a disjointed chorus in which guitars squeel like injured animals over distant la la la's. How much time is worth wasting on the bonkers James Brown cover and Captain Beefheart impression on CD2 is another matter. [Ally Brown]
The Essential (1991-2006)' is out on October 2.