MERCURY REV: Yerself Is Steam + Car Wash Hair (2xLP)

Description

Mercury Rev’s debut album Yerself Is Steam arrived in 1991 to widespread critical acclaim, followed closely by the Car Wash Hair single. These early releases prompted the band to play live for the first time_within weeks, they were on the main stage at Reading Festival and supporting Bob Dylan, marking a surreal and rapid ascent. Although their early work earned strong reviews and a loyal following, mainstream recognition didn’t arrive until 1998’s Deserter’s Songs. Still, Yerself Is Steam remains a wild and unpredictable starting point, described by Pitchfork as “a heroic dose of psychedelic rock that is equal parts nerve-wracking and awe-inspiring.

Originally released in 1991, Yerself Is Steam marked Mercury Rev’s arrival as one of the strangest, most visionary bands to crawl out of the American underground. Part dream, part implosion, it fused psychedelic sprawl, shoegaze haze, and noise-rock chaos into something both fragile and explosive.
The album drifts from the lysergic whirl of “Chasing a Bee” to the monumental “Very Sleepy Rivers” — a 12-minute slow-burn that feels like it’s tearing itself apart from the inside. Between them, fragments of melody and feedback dissolve into each other, creating a kind of hallucinatory pop that refuses to sit still.
This expanded 2LP edition includes the Car Wash Hair EP and early demo recordings — vital documents that show the band shaping their sound before it turned cosmic. The title track, “Car Wash Hair”, still glows like a twisted hymn: brass, distortion and wonder perfectly tangled.
More than three decades on, Yerself Is Steam hasn’t mellowed. It’s still strange, still loud, and still full of ghosts. A record that doesn’t just play — it breathes, burns, and occasionally disintegrates.

Tracklist:
Disc 1 – Yerself Is Steam
Chasing A Bee
Syringe Mouth
Coney Island Cyclone
Blue And Black
Sweet Oddysee Of A Cancer Cell
Frittering
Continuous Trucks And Thunder
Very Sleepy Rivers
Disc 2 – Car Wash Hair
Car Wash Hair (The Bee’s Chasing Me) – Full Pull
Coney Island Cyclone (4-Track Demo)
Chasing A Bee (4-Track Demo)