Editing Mercury Rev (section)

===Transitional period: ''See You on the Other Side'' (1995–1997)===

The band's first post-Baker album, ''[[See You on the Other Side (Mercury Rev album)|See You on the Other Side]]'' (1995) contained a variety of styles, including a sprawling psychedelic opening track and noise rock numbers like "Young Man's Stride" (for which a music video was released), but also more melodic songs, such as "Sudden Ray of Hope". By this time the live band included organist Adam Snyder and brothers [[Jason Sebastian Russo|Jason]] and [[Justin Russo]] of psychedelic rock band [[Hopewell (band)|Hopewell]] (as bassist and keyboardist respectively).<ref name="revufaq" />

That year, the group also recorded and released the album, ''Paralyzed Mind Of The Archangel Void'', under the moniker "Harmony Rockets". The album featured a single forty minute track of mostly instrumental psychedelic improvised music. It was rated four and half stars, out of five, by [[AllMusic]]. (Fourteen years later, in 2009, the group would revisit it for performance in the [[Don't Look Back (concert series)|Don't Look Back concert series]].)

''See You on the Other Side'' failed to sell well, a situation which helped to trigger a destructive period for the band during which they fell into debt, came into conflict with their record label, lost their manager and lawyers, and parted company with drummer Jimy Chambers.<ref name=Halpin>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827073432/http://raggedwords.com/features/interview/interview-mercury-rev |archive-date=2013-08-27 |url=http://raggedwords.com/features/interview/interview-mercury-rev| title=Interview: Mercury Rev On The Record That Brought Them Back From The Brink|first=Padraic|last=Halpin|date=May 16, 2011|access-date=August 20, 2012|publisher=Ragged Words}}</ref><ref name=Cameron>{{cite web |url=http://defgav.com/rev/articles/nmenov98.html|title=The Untold History Of America's Most Pioneering Band|first=Keith|last=Cameron|date=November 1998|access-date=August 20, 2012|website=New Musical Express}}</ref> Donahue and Grasshopper, in particular, were failing to communicate with each other and struggling with their individual drug and relationship problems.<ref name="Halpin" /><ref name="Cameron" />

While Grasshopper retreated to a Jesuit guest house in upstate New York, Donahue began to listen to records of children's music and to write simple melodies on piano (in contrast to the band's former psychedelic/electric compositional approach.<ref name=Mulholland>{{cite web |first=Garry |last=Mulholland |date=May 23, 2011 |title=Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs |url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/mercury-rev/mercury-rev-deserters-songs-r-review |website=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |access-date=August 20, 2012 |archive-date=March 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316034936/http://www.uncut.co.uk/mercury-rev/mercury-rev-deserters-songs-r-review |url-status=dead }}</ref> At the same time, he was invited to guest on a [[The Chemical Brothers|Chemical Brothers]] track called "[[The Private Psychedelic Reel]]".<ref name=Turner>{{cite magazine|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/06311-mercury-rev-interview-deserter-s-songs|title=Jonathan Donahue On The Troubled Birth Of Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs|first=Luke|last=Turner|date=May 23, 2011|access-date=August 20, 2012|magazine=[[The Quietus]]}}</ref> This in turn inspired him to repair his musical and personal friendship with Grasshopper.<ref name="Cameron" /><ref name="Turner" />