Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Consumer Guide	C+
Entertainment Weekly	A−
The Guardian
NME	9/10
Pitchfork Media	8.5/10
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin	8/10
Uncut

Deserter's Songs is the fourth studio album by rock band Mercury Rev, released in late September 1998. British music magazine NME named Deserter's Songs album of the year for 1998. Limited edition copies of the album came in a brown cardboard envelope-like package, with a stamp on the cover postmarked with the release date, as well as two art postcards.

The success of this album was a pleasant surprise for the band. After the commercial failure of See You on the Other Side, which Donahue considered to be the band's best album, they decided to make one more record entirely for themselves, ignoring commercial influences, and expecting to split up shortly afterward. Surprisingly, Deserter's Songs was their most successful album, and made them big celebrities in the UK and Europe, also making a smaller mark in the US.

When Mercury Rev returned home from touring behind their 1995 album See You on the Other Side, they were a band in disarray. Sales of See You had been disappointing and, as a result, the band had requested to be dropped from their label. To make matters worse, the band’s manager was gone, longtime drummer Jimy Chambers had left the band, their lawyers had recently been let go, and Mercury Rev was in debt. As frontman Jonathan Donahue slid into a deep depression, communication between the band members was virtually non-existent.

In the depths of his depression, Donahue began listening to some of his favorite childhood records, including Tale Spinners For Children, a collection of spoken-word fairy tales set to classical music. Influenced by this decidedly non-rock musical source, the frontman started composing and recording simple melodies on the piano. These demo recordings would prove to be the first steps in the new direction Mercury Rev would take on Deserter’s Songs.

Donahue was approached at this time by The Chemical Brothers and asked to play on a song of theirs called “The Private Psychedelic Reel”. Shocked that someone not only remembered Mercury Rev but also wanted to collaborate, Donahue enthusiastically dove into the project. It would be the boost that he needed to restore his confidence and focus on making music again.

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