Miracle Legion – Me and Mr. Ray

Miracle Legion – Me and Mr. Ray

By

Jesse E. Mullen

 

New Haven, CT is a funny town. You can find yourself walking down any block and be in a perfectly safe neighborhood. But venture too far in any direction at the wrong time of day and you could find yourself in a dangerous situation.

Yale University – one of the wealthiest universities in the country – is juxtaposed with crippling poverty that would make the student population blush. It ain’t for the faint of heart. It is this contrast which greatly informs the local arts scene. In the middle of this – during the ‘80s and ‘90s – was Miracle Legion.

Formed in 1983 as a partnership between singer/songwriter Mark Mulcahy and guitarist Raymond “Mr. Ray” Neal, Miracle Legion were pegged to be college rock legends. Their jangly sound and obscured vocals led to them being called “the next R.E.M.”

While that didn’t pan out, they still created a major cult following on the local circuit. Their debut EP The Backyard attracted critical acclaim in the US and the UK – even if the sales didn’t reflect it. However, the press did get the attention of legendary UK label Rough Trade Records.

As home to The Smiths, The Fall, and The Raincoats, Rough Trade could surely break Miracle Legion to the next level. They released Miracle Legion’s next record, 1987’s Surprise Surprise Surprise to more acclaim, but little fanfare.

Between the next EP and their 1989 full-length, the rhythm section quit. Consequently, the album would be recorded as a duo of Mulcahy and Mr. Ray – and aptly titled Me and Mr. Ray. The jangly electric guitars were traded in for hushed acoustics and harmonica.

Mulcahy and Mr. Ray seemed to take what could have been a disastrous situation and turned it into an excuse to revamp their sound. They were risking throwing away what people knew and loved about them for new territory. But as they didn’t set the world on fire commercially previously, they weren’t risking too much.

“Ladies From Town” starts the album off on a jaunty note, with uptempo drums acoustic strums, and folksy harmonica. Lyrically the track seems to take place in a pub or night club setting with Mulcahy asking for the company of a woman he meets.

On the Miracle Legion reunion tour, Mulcahy would pass the microphone out to women in the audience to sing the chorus. It was always an interesting moment, as no one knew how it would turn out.

“If She Could Cry” is another example of Mulcahy and Mr. Ray branching out. It fuses a country and western twang with the kind of modernized rockabilly American Music Club were doing at the time. Lyrically, Mulcahy is admonishing a man for mistreating a woman in a relationship.

The contrast of the dark lyrics with the jovial music is an effective touch. It gives the track a duality rarely present in popular music. Perhaps this complexity of emotions is what kept Miracle Legion out of the charts. It is entirely possible they were too clever for their own good.

Perhaps the most poignant track on the album is “You’re The One Lee.” A simple acoustic guitar and a heavily delayed electric introduce the song in dreamy fashion. Mulcahy enters expressing his love.

Mulcahy bares his soul. He waits all night for his lover to return, sitting with her parents on their porch watching cars go by. He compares their relationship to Apollo and Venus. But not all is perfect in the relationship. She has doubts about the narrator’s commitment.

Musically, the track is both sweet and melancholy. Mr. Ray knew to keep Mulcahy’s words naked, and his backing is simple but effective. He uses his guitar playing to create ambiance and a mood rather than taking center stage. As much as soloing is the mark of a good guitarist, restraint in the proper context is the mark of a great one.

Success can’t always be measured in sales or charting positions. Sometimes success is being cult heroes and inspiring other artists. For Miracle Legion, this is their version of success. While they never made it as big as R.E.M. – or even like-minded artists such as The dB’s – they carved out their own niche in a changing landscape.

Mulcahy and Mr. Ray made a brave decision to change sounds on their second full length. Rather than treading water with a new rhythm section, they made an album deliberately out of step with the sounds of the times. It is for this reason that Me and Mr. Ray stands the test of time.

Rough Trade/1989