We at Pitchfork pride ourselves on establishing a critical distance between artists and our evaluation of their work. For instance, Neil Lieberman isn't allowed to review any Van Halen albums because his parents abandoned him when he was five to become groupies. And as Jason Josephes is America's leading proponent of radical Thatcherism, we try not to let him near any Scottish or Irish bands. (We apologize for last week's Belle & Sebastian mix-up.) In a similar vein, we waited four years before deciding that one could judiciously and objectively evaluate Mercury Rev's 1994 EP, Everlasting Arm.

Mercury Rev released Everlasting Arm as an appetizer to their third proper album, See You On the Other Side. The 40- minute- long, two- song EP shows the first signs of departure from the band's pedigree as avant- garde NYC noisniks. On the title cut, the earsplitting sheets of psychedelic pop are replaced with a carefully orchestrated and giddy circus of piano, flute, brass, guitar, whistling, tinkling bells, and strings. Above it all, ringleader Jonathan Donahue sings in his ethereal and warbly voice about "Storming down the street like Puerto- Rican kids in a summer rain/ Breaking open the hydrants and going insane." Very pretty.

"Deadman" clocks in at 34:37, making it the world's longest, most inconsequential b-side since Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida." (Oh wait, that was a hit single, wasn't it?) It's unclear whether the home recordings at the end of this piece are from Donahue's childhood, and, as I hope my flowchart (see below) indicates, it's beyond me why we should care. For a better attempt at fusing music and nostalgic home recordings, check out Kramer's 1998 Tzadik release, Let Me Explain Something To You About Art.

By tempering intoxicating and childlike melodies with uncharacteristic restraint, Everlasting Arm situates Mercury Rev somewhere closer to Gershwin than to contemporaries like the Flaming Lips. Unfortunately, the historical significance of this EP is mitigated by the inclusion of "Everlasting Arm" on See You On the Other Side. What's more, the new sound it introduced would not be fully realized until four years later on the band's cinematic masterpiece, Deserter's Songs. If you're new to Mercury Rev, I recommend either of these latter records. But if, by chance, you think "Deadman" might be worth the price of admission, then by all means, check out this flowchart:

0:00 - 0:44: Narrator explains that stereo recording has progressed from moving sound effects [train whistle moves from one speaker to other] to music.

0:45 - 10:10: Suicide's Alan Vega recites from his book "Cripple Nation." Here's a sample of what I could decipher: "Fuckin' deadman, fuckin' deadman... asshole... yeah... deadman... [mumble mumble mumble]... [growl].... lovin' it, lovin' it, lovin' it, [grunt]... [mumble]... fuck till you're sacrificing your eyes... for what?... yeah!... for what? Lord got mercy." And so on, earning Vega the Prix Portuguese for best simultaneous impersonation of Henry Rollins and Jon Spencer. Mercury Rev provide "atmosphere" with minor piano chords, keyboard noodling, brushes for percussion, some bluesy guitar, and eerie strings creeping in and out of the mix.

10:11 - 10:48: Home recordings of what sounds like a boy helping potty train his younger brother.

10:49 - 17:33: A mother explains that her family just bought a tape recorder for Father's Day. She asks her two year old son Jonathan to identify pictures in a book. When he gets the wrong answer-- or maybe because she's bored and sexually frustrated-- she tickles him to death.

17:34 - 18:59: Enter Dad to sing a song about a wolf. "Jonathan came walking up the road/ He saw Wilford coming down the road/ Grabbed his gun he was quick to load/ And he shot Wilford in the pants and Wilford ran home that day." Did your father ever sing songs like this?

19:00 - 24:59: The date is March 15, 1961. From Jonathan's bedroom, the boy and his parents sing "Twinkle Twinkle." Jonathan names the Seven Dwarves and strums impressively precise covers of Royal Trux tunes on his guitar. Mom tickles him again. Mom: "Say goodnight." Jonathan, doing his best Neil Haggerty: "No, I wanna play."

25:00 - 34:37: We fast- forward to June 24, 1971. Twelve- year- old Jonathan recites the Pledge of Allegiance and sings for the remainder of "Deadman," demonstrating little vocal maturation and an uncanny fondness for drool. The end.

-Zach Hammerman

"Everlasting Arm"

[Real Audio Stream]