It’s a far, far cry from Deserter’s Songs, most definitely, and this is where it all began for Mercury Rev. Exploding on the musical map like (and we’re quoting here) a dorm-room bong hit, Mercury Rev made no apologies and offered no explanations for an album that was at once symphonic, poppy, psychedelic, and gothic…really. Original vocalist David Baker brought the chaos in spades to their early live shows, sometimes jumping off stage and heading over to the club’s bar mid-song. He was dismissed from the band in 1993, but on Yerself Is Steam Baker’s vocals are certainly a thing to behold; listen to ‘Chasing a Bee.’