Mercury Rev on the Other Side
Ben Thompson, 'Ways of Hearing', 2001
NOT SINCE Joy Division turned into New Order has a band coped as well as Mercury Rev with losing its lead singer. But given that the departed vocalist in this case - porcine provocateur David Baker - was one of the most annoying men in the history of pop music, perhaps their subsequent elevation from aspiring to actual greatness was not such a big surprise after all.
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