Boces

For the New York State educational board known as BOCES, see Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.

Boces
Studio album by Mercury Rev
Released	June 1, 1993
Recorded	1992–1993
Genre	Neo-psychedelia, noise pop
Length	53:55
Label	Beggars Banquet (UK) Columbia (US)
Producer	Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev chronology
Yerself Is Steam (1991) Boces (1993) See You on the Other Side (1995)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B+ [2]
NME	8/10 [3]
Q	[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]
Select	4/5 [6]

Boces is the second album by Mercury Rev, released in 1993. It was their final album with frontman David Baker, who was asked to leave shortly after the supporting tour concluded. ^[7] The title is derived from the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services system of vocational schools in New York. ^[7]

Background

During the tour (on Lollapalooza) for this album, the band were forced off the stage for being too loud. ^[8]

Music

Boces contains music that has been characterized as "dreaming musing[s]" as well as "thrashy freakouts." Some of the material has been categorized as jazz-pop. The album's instrumentation additionally incorporates flutes, harps, brass and choir. ^[9]

Reception

Heather Phares of AllMusic gave Boces four and a half stars out of five. She wrote: "With Boces, Mercury Rev took everything that made Yerself Is Steam such an impressive debut and made their second album even more so. [...] Mercury Rev never released another album as joyfully, unselfconsciously creative as Boces; after chief weirdo David Baker departed, the band pursued other fascinating directions, but this album remains one of the highest points of its career. ^[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Mercury Rev according to the liner notes; actual writing credits from the ASCAP Repertory are listed below. ^[10]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Meth of a Rockette's Kick"	David Baker, Jimy Chambers, Jonathan Donahue, Dave Fridmann, Sean Mackowiak, Suzanne Thorpe	10:29
2.	"Trickle Down"	Baker, Chambers, Donahue, Fridmann, Mackowiak, Thorpe	5:04
3.	"Bronx Cheer"	Baker, Donahue, Fridmann	2:49
4.	"Boys Peel Out"	Baker, Donahue, Fridmann, Mackowiak	4:28
5.	"Downs Are Feminine Balloons"	Baker, Donahue, Fridmann, Mackowiak, Thorpe	6:29
6.	"Something for Joey"	Baker, Chambers, Fridmann, Mackowiak, Thorpe	4:06
7.	"Snorry Mouth"	Baker, Chambers, Donahue	10:55
8.	"Hi-Speed Boats"	Baker, Fridmann, Mackowiak	4:00
9.	"Continuous Drunks and Blunders"	Baker, Donahue, Fridmann, Mackowiak	0:48
10.	"Girlfren"	Baker, Chambers, Donahue, Fridmann, Mackowiak, Thorpe	4:41

Personnel

Mercury Rev

• Jimy Chambers – Drumming, AtlasSweepstakes
• Jonathan Donahue – Silver Pickup Guitar, Vocals between Ventolin hits
• Grasshopper – Dither Guitar, Licorice Stick
• Suzanne Thorpe – Rooster Tail Bass Flute, Chevron Fife
• Dave Fridmann – Bass Explore, Exhaled band-with Magnetics
• David Baker – Vocals

Additional musicians

• Julie Baker – violin
• C. Gavazzi – French horn
• Jim Burgess – trombone

References

1. Phares, Heather. "Boces – Mercury Rev". AllMusic . Retrieved January 13, 2018.
2. Farber, Jim (July 9, 1993). "Boces". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved January 13, 2018.
3. Cameron, Keith (May 29, 1993). "These Schoolish Things". NME . p. 32.
4. Snow, Mat (July 1993). "Mercury Rev: Boces". Q . No. 82. p. 98.
5. Kot, Greg (2004). "Mercury Rev". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p.  538. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
6. Perry, Andrew (July 1993). "Mercury Rev: Boces / Urge Overkill: Saturation". Select . No. 37. p. 93.
7. Jonathan Donahue 'The Mercury Rev Story' Interview by Iain McNay , retrieved March 18, 2023
8. "Jonathan Donahue (mercury Rev)". Archived from the original on September 20, 2016.
9. Boces - Mercury Rev | Album | AllMusic , retrieved August 16, 2025
10. "ACE Repertory". ASCAP. Retrieved September 7, 2024.