Mercurios

*Mercurios* was a special album release by alternative band The Prayer Chain. It contained unreleased tracks recorded during the *Mercury* sessions.

*Mercurios*was originally packaged with the *Mercury* album as a separate disc in a special edition tin. It also included new artwork. While the album is available digitally on bandcamp, the tinned *Mercurios* album is considered a rarity.

Bassist Eric Campuzano says "we were asked to record some new jive to make *Mercury*more Christian. We recorded *Sky High, Friend Or Foe, The Other Side of Heaven* and *Lose Yourself*. What got dropped off the original record was *Antarctica, Loverboy* and *Chalk."*

*Antarctica, Loverboy* and *Chalk* were eventually released again on *Humb* which was the original cut of *Mercury*.

*Superfree* was the first song recorded when the band was trying to find a new sound for the album that would become *Mercury*, but was never in contention for the album.

The band played Cornerstone Festival halfway through the recording sessions for *Mercury*. Engineer Chris Colbert mixed an early version of *Humb* to play as the opener to their show. It's notable for the vocal being more out-of-focus than the album version, and the absence of the bass & drums interupting the drone.

Between tracks are additional snippets from the band, largely compiled by drummer Wayne Everett. They feature interviews with the band, interviews with the band's mothers and musical snippets from the band member's earlier projects. Tim Taber's band Tapestry can be heard singing "I See You" and Everett's band Surfin' KGB play their sng "Mr Mamoullian".

While the band's musical output was often very serious, the band itself had a terrific sense of humor. This was evident in the non-musical tracks on *Mercurios.* A running theme on these tracks is Jeffrey, the unhappy tenant leaving phone messages. Everett has confirmed these messages were real, but that the tenant was over-reacting.

Due to the limited release of *Mercurios,*the 6 musical tracks were re-released on *Antarctica.*

The tin contains discs of artwork. One contains the following message from an unnamed member of the band (probably Eric Campuzano):

"The planet Mercury is the closest to the Sun, so the contrast of hot & cold is severe - like 700 degrees Farenheight severe. My Random House Encyclopedia says that "Mercury is overwhelmingly hot, lacks an atmosphere, and is very hostile to any life." In spite of this, it has a surface that is quite similar to our own Moon's, with deep craters and endless valleys. One could say, then, that although Mercury sits 56 million miles away (and certainly no human could take one giant leap for anykind on its scorching surface), its appearance is still very familiar to all of us. On a starless night when I look to the heavens, sometimes I see a full Mercury instead, shining down her beautiful and fightening blend of light and darkness upon us all."

Tracklisting

1. Jeremy
2. Antarctica
3. Summer on the South Pole
4. Chalk
5. Themes from Mercury & other TV shows
6. Loverboy
7. Star Wars
8. Friend or Foe
9. Moms
10. Superfree
11. JP & the Alien Concept
12. Humb (Chrissy's Cornerstone premix)
13. Cheers, thanks fer coming tonight (no stories)