special introductory paragraph!
So Much Younger Then
Chronic Town EP
Early Movements
Murmur
Reckoning
Fables Of The Reconstruction
Life's Rich Pageant
Dead Letter Office - B-Sides Compiled
Dead Giveaway Office
Document
Eponymous
Green
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
The Automatic Box
Monster
New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Up
Reveal
The Best Of R.E.M.: In Time 1988-2003
Around The Sun
Live
Accelerate
(*rests lazily in chair like Christopher Reeve*)
(*laughs uproariously at such a biting irreverent jab at a well-loved public figure*)
(*reads this week's obituaries; squirts intestinal bile out of nose*)
To cut to the quick chase, REM used to be a hellaciously rotten new wave/punk rock band. All the right instrumental elements were there from the beginning -- Peter Buck's clean jangly guitar tone, Michael Stipe's light Southern drawl, Mike Mills' excitable backup vocals and presumably bass playing of some sort, the drummer's peppy 4/4 beat later utilized in folk-punk classics like "Radio Free Europe" and "These Days" -- but one key element of the band's sound had yet to come to fruition. I'm speaking of course about the ability to compose anything remotely suggesting that the band members held even an ounce of collective common sense. Presumably they were going for some sort of Ramonesy beachpunk feel with the constant speedy 4/4 rhythm and simplistic chord sequences, but the "riffs" are just -- I mean, just TERRIBLE! Absolutely TERRIBLE! Straight out of 1958 A-E-D simplistic crap -- like the worst Buddy Holly outtakes of all time played fast on a clean guitar. It's not beachy, nor punky, nor Ramonesy in any other way, no matter how many times they rip off the "Blitzkrieg Bop" riff (which is PLENTY). It's just BAD! Even when they try to take a darker approach with minor chords and pessimistic lyrics, the songwriting remains clueless and the songs hookless. It's truly astonishing to think that this band would soon become one of the greatest songwriting teams in rock and roll history (I mean have you heard Reveal? It fuckin' TEARS!!!).
The bootleg was recorded at a live "gig" in 1980, and features the following tracks: Body Count (not an Ice-T cover), A Different Girl, Action (not a Paul Revere & The Raiders cover), Narrator For The Jacques Cousteau Show, She's Such A Pretty Girl, Baby I, Permanent Vacation (not an Aerosmith cover), Wait (not a White Lion cover), Scheherezade, Lisa Sez (probably a Lou Reed cover, though I didn't compare the two songs to check), Mystery To Me (not a Fleetwood Mac cover), I Don't Want You Anymore (not a Ramones cover), Little Girl (indeed a Syndicate Of Sound cover), Dangerous Times. Do you recognize these rare REM songs? From b-sides, later album appearances, mixed artist compilations, rarities collections, box sets and any of the other many outlets that a band of REM's stature would naturally have for stray tracks? No, you don't. AND THERE'S A GOOD GODDAMNED REASON FOR THAT!!! Here I am all excited thinking I'm going to get this all-new collection of great REM tunes that nobody's ever heard, and what do I end up with but stereo speakers so filled with shit that everything I play now is completely muffled. Aside from the Syndicate of Sound cover, there is not a single good -- or even DECENT -- song on this bootleg. Okay, "A Different Girl" has a couple of good parts. But that is IT. REM's earliest material is shockingly bad. Horrifyingly bad. Dip your balls in a blender bad.
Oh, I'm sorry. Do you not generally dip your balls in a blender when you hear a bad record? Wait, now I'm really confused. If I'm the only one who does this, where did all these "women" come from? THEY certainly must have dipped their balls in a blender after hearing a bad record at some point! So basically what you're saying is that I'd might as well give up sending Billy Joel tapes to Steve Guttenberg. I knew it! I shall die alone!!!!
Mark, tell me this doesn't exist! TELL ME RIGHT NOW! I thought the earliest stuff was "Chronic Town"! WTFFff?!111111oenoenoen
Well, I guess every band starts nowhere and ends up somewhere eventually. Or they just stay on the same shitty level throughout their entire career.
Seriously, I had always thought R.E.M. started out fucking amazing and then only recently went downhill (don't you ever mention "Around the Boring Adult Alternative Sun" around me, EVER! I FUCKIN MEAN IT!). The only other bands I can think of that started great were.. um.. They Might Be Giants (shut up), some punk bands, and... well, nevermind. A lot of fucking bands. Damn those amazing debut albums/EPs/singles/funni stuf.
Anyway, wow. I want to hear this amazingly bad piece of shit so much right now! CaN u SeN it 2 mE oN aOL????
No, but seriously! Where do I find this thing? I MUST HAVE IT!
9/10
But about R.E.M. These songs are lovelier than partial-birth abortion! I especially love that part in "1,000,000" where it gets all quiet and Michael goes
"Stick it in, stick it in, stick it IN YOUR ASSSSS!!!!11 and they snap back into verse-repetition mode. I don't see(hear) what everybody seems to love so
much about "Wolves, Lower" though. It's the weakest song on here. Peter's doing his thang, but Michael ain't doing shit until the chorus. On a 5-star
scale(one for each song), I'd give this recording a high 5. That's right, I for damn sure would like to high-five this record! Yeah, show me some love,
C.T.!
Indeed, the second half of this bootleg release is almost completely worthless. The gold it's in the...
first half, which is catalogued as "Chronic Town LP Early Studio Outtakes." These eleven tracks would later be re-recorded for inclusion on such wildly disparate releases as Chronic Town EP (all but "Gardening At Night"), Murmur ("Laughing," "Shaking Through" and "Catapult"), Lifes Rich Pageant ("Just A Touch"), Dead Letter Office ("Wind Out," here billed as "Find Out") and Eponymous ("Romance," here billed as "Easy Come, Easy Go"). A few of the tracks sound a bit too similar to their officially-released counterparts for comfort, but the others are a terrifically gas-a-lot. Here are a few highlights, bulleted for you like a little boy accidentally killed by the police:
- A much speedier version of "Catapult" with "It's nine o' clock/Don't try to turn it off" sung as "It's nine o'clock/Don't turn it off/It's nine o'clock," as well as extra volume and emphasis put on the beautiful 'Cat-A-Pult' three-part harmony!
- "Wolves Lower" with a much more pronounced "House In Order" part!
- "Romance" without the loud bass slap at the end of each verse's first line!
- A second version of "Wolves Lower," this one ending the first line not with "Wolves at the door" but with a silly, abrupt-sounding "Wolves."!
Alright, enough of the highlights crap. What is this, a children's magazine often found in the waiting room of dentists' offices??? Hell no! This is www.markprindle.com and you can rub your teeth with shit every night for all we care!!! Speaking of which, I said something hilarious in an email earlier today: "I've been busy as a dam beaver...." HA HA! GET IT??? See, I was going to see "busy as a DAMN beaver" but then I realized that beavers build "DAMS," which is a homonym for "DAMNS"!!!! And once you know that piece of information, the rest of the joke falls into place.
The second half of the CD is catalogued as "1980 Garage Rehearsal" and somebody must've been short on 'b's when they came up with that name because these songs are AWFUL. I already discussed them in my So Much Younger Then review though, and they haven't gotten any better since then. In fact, the best part of this 1980 Garage Rehearsal (reportedly recorded on June 6, 1980 at the Wuxtry Record Store in Athens, GA) are two tracks at the end that are clearly not part of this 1980 Garage Rehearsal (unless two of REM's earliest compositions were stupid overproduced remixes of "Drive" full of hip-hop mouth noises, in which case 'Whoa!')
And that's my review of Bowel Movements by David Bowie.
Personally, i saw REM by accident in '82 (they opened for the english
beat) and picked up Murmur on a whim a few months later...it got me
through high school. Before Mr. Stipe became Mr. Voice of a Generation,
his lyrics, (or whatever they were) were far more touching, and never,
ever boring. Back then it seemed as if every song was written especially
for me. 14 years later, it holds up pretty well.
I really like "radio Free Europe" though,
10/10
Then again, it sure as hell doesn't get a ten!
This album gets a five. I love early REM, but there are just so many
songs on here that have no melodies, at least as far as my ears are
concerned. I think that "Talk About The Passion," "Perfect Circle,"
"Radio Free Europe," and "Pilgrimage" really kick, but the rest of this
stuff is slow and BORING - and not even in a catchy, Velvet Undergroud
way. All of you who worship it are simply buying into the hype - not
the kind of hype that promotes Spice Girls albums, but the kind of
"retro-hype" that causes people to buy these albums that are supposed to
be masterpieces, but are terribly overshadowed when compared to a heap
of albums that are far better - for example, REM's next seven or so. I
would have rather they included some Chronic Town material - those
were the bands best songs at this point. If this had "Gardening At
Night," "Carnival Of Sorts," and "Wolves, Lower" on it, maybe it would
deserve a ten.
Oh and to Evan Streb, as much as I love Rio, So, and Thriller, No
Jacket Required is one of the biggest pisspoor hit albums of the ‘80s.
Faceless corporate pop crap. But maybe that’s just because I can’t stand
Phil Collins. Eh.
9.8/10
Now if only I knew what the fuck Stipe was saying. That would be nice. Not
absolutely necessary, but nice. Trade in that extra Chronic Town I told
you to buy and get two of these. You can give one away to someone you love.
My favorite songs are contained in the first side, "Perfect circle", "Laughing" (which I always relate to pot smoking), "Talk about the passion" and "Moral kiosk". Practically
there's no room for improvisation nor crazy pseudo-experimental bar some of Stipe's lyrics, which until this point weren't heavily influenced on social issues nor his star
persona- They were functional and intentionally obscure. Sometimes too obscure (as in "Sitting Still") which reinforced by the mumblings just couldn't be taken too seriously,
but (as the album title suggests) the output seem first, quiet steps from a band who choose not to embrace openly their minimalistic artsy VU strong influence nor post punk
and new wave. That's the charm of Stipe and what often saves him from sounding too pretentious, confronted with the typical personality of Peter Buck: down to earth and
rock friendly even after english plane incidents. I'm not even mentioning the geeky appearing bass player with the funny voice nor the man with thick eyebrows and
determination.
As it is, this may be their best album on the basis of pure freshness and relative originality. Only with New adventures in Hi-fi, thirteen years later, they were able to both
synthesize and expand their music.
Hehhehheh. I get it (who).
By the way, this is a good debut. I only give it a nine instead of a ten
because "West of the Fields" sucks. The rest is a lead balloon, yardbird!
Okay, that also sucked.
When I first heard this LP, it did nothing for me, I was still
recovering from my Van Halen, early Journey, Styx, Foreigner,etc.. days.
The first song, "Radio Free Europe" got some airplay from me, but it
didn't give me a musical erection, so I later played "Laughing" and
"Talk about the Passion" regularely in my rotation, but Murmer really
didn't knock me off my feet, so it means little to me except that the
critics hailed this as the new alternative sound to late 70's arena
rock. I do like this disc now because I love so many of their following
albums, Reckoning,Fables, Pageant, and Document.
When it first came out , I would give it a six or a generous seven.
Years later, I give it an eight or maybe a nine.
Nah, don't. Pleasant relaxing album though, if it doesn't put you to sleep.
10/10
Side two is weaker, with less memorable tunes, but "Rockville" is a
classic of the American underground - a true beauty that, according to
critics, reinvented "southern rock," whatever the hell that is. And
"Camera" is amazing! Really beautiful, though not even close to that
other ballad on here. You know - the one I've mentioned about eight
times? Yeah, that's the one.
I guess I'd have to give it an eight, since it's up against Automatic,
Green, and Pageant But if this were the product of another band,
it would surely get a none or ten.
But then, ugh! I may be the only one who believes this, but the second side
is ATROCIOUS! "second GuessinG" is nice enough, but it's mostly because of
the bouncy energy and concert hall-sounding mix. But then you've got
"letter Never seNt", an awful song with Stipe doing these stupid grunts and
a horrible, malformed "chorus", not to mention the fact that the song goes
nowhere. And I'm sorry, but "camerA" just blows. It may have a nice '70s
ballad atmosphere to it, but the song just sits on its ass without doing
anything interesting. "(don't Go back To) ROCKVILLE" is okay, it's a
pleasent country-made-listenable number that just kinda passes by without
leaving a serious impression, much a good portion of Automatic. The album,
unfortunately, ends on a sour note with "little america", which has a pretty
good riff but the rest of the song just sounds half-baked and the chorus is
a wretched, unmelodic mess. Sorry if I'm probably the only one in the
universe who finds this album heavily flawed in song quality, but this is my
opinion and I'm sticking with it. Divide the first side (9) with the second
(4) and this album gets a 6.5. Round that up and you get a 7.
Oh yeah, and if you're wondering why I gave the song titles screwed-up
capitalization, it's because that's how they're capitalized on the back
cover and on the CD. And you all know that it's my duty to be as authentic
as possible (smiley).
the songs vary from great (7 Chinese bros.), to wonderfully banal (so. Central rain) to just plain shitty (little America). but no matter what the
quality of the song is they are all catchy.
8/10
Can I make a gripe that might tarry from the subject a tad? Why must
everyone say that "Rockville" is country made listenable? All that tells me
is that you're not a fan of country music, so anything you say on the
subject of country, listenable or not, is questionable at best. Hey, hate
country music all you want. I hated it most of my life. But if "Rockville"
is a good song, just say it's a good song. Personally, I love it, but then I
love Jimmie Dale Gilmore and several other guys with three names.
Also, the end of the album starts to drag a bit. It's not bad, but can't
compete with the wonderment contained in the first five or so tracks...
"Rockville" being a stellar exception. And lay off of "Camera." It's purty.
"Harborcoat", "Pretty Persuasion", "Little America", and "7 Chinese
Brothers" have a faster paced speed to them and the opening riff of
"South Central Rain", reminiscent of several Byrds tunes and the
apologetic "I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry chorus during the song, make it an
unforgettable number for me.
The song "Rockville" will always be special in my memory because my
friends and I would be partying pretty hard and during the early morning
hours before sunrise, we would gather around, play this song on the
turntable and sing the chorus "Don't go back to Rockville, and waste
another year'. Those lines seemed to speak to us, because we sang it
several times years after its initial release, Especially since we were
delaying our graduation from being a college student and entering
the"Real World.
My roomate had the vinyl version and I had the cassette format of
"Reckoning", so it holds a soft spot in my memory, but it still lacks so
*8" is a good mark for this one.
Not quite Murmur or Pageant, but no snoozer, either.
7/10
By the way, TMBG should cover "Can't Get There From Here." Seriously. Linnell could
do Stipe's lead vocals and Flans could do Mike's backing vocals. Yeah, I'm a nerd.
Rest of the album is good, too, though not their best. I like "Wendell
Gee" - reminds me of Elvis Costello's "Little Triggers", far from the
"total suck job" Prindle claims it is.
7/10
First of all, this is the R.E.M. album I've listened to the least mainly
because it didn't make much of an impression on me. It kind of meanders by
without leaving any heavy prints. "Driver 8" is nice and "Can't Get There
From Here" stands out because it's pretty darn good and because it's pretty
darn atypical for R.E.M. "Green Grow the Rushes" sparks a pleasant memory as
well. This is not a bad album in the way an album by, say, Creed is a bad
album. It just didn't stick to my ribs, if you know what I mean. I'll
probably still go out and replace it on cd, though. I would, however, call
this album a bit of a misstep.
By the way, the over-the-top folkiness of the album can be partially
attributed to the fact that it was produced by well-known folk-rock producer
Joe Boyd. He's worked with folks like Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny and
he signed Nick Drake and worked on some of his music. Dark and folky is his
middle name (are his middle names?)
terribly, of course, being the traditional way of saying "pleasantly".
as memory serves, only "life and how to live it", "can't get there from
here", and bits of "auctioneer (another engine)" speed up to above a
paraplegic mime's pace. everything else is catatonically slow,
uncharacteristically maudlin, and quite heavy on the atmospherics to boot.
they haven't made but two other albums that can match the sustained ambience
of this one. (they are, if you're asking me, which nobody ever has or ever
will, "automatic for the people" and "up".)
the guitar riff of "feeling gravity's pull" alone should pull you in and get
you primed. if that song doesn't do it for you, then take the cd out and use
the little hole in the middle for some other more creative purpose.
congratulate me, guys. i managed to resist the temptation to make a blatant,
crass joke about the little hole in the middle of cd's!
unless you count as a joke those last two sentences where i was talking
about congratulating me for not being a perv, in which case nevermind. and
the two before it where i started talking about a little hole in the middle.
like girls have in the middle of their
8/10
Anyway - this album is superb! Starts out with "Begin The Begin" - the
best opener they've ever done and sounds like they will ever do, if that
box-o-crap "Airportman" is any signal of their sound on future
releases. And then, they go right into "These Days" which is every bit
as good a great rocker! A few of the songs aren't all that special - I
really despise "Just A Touch," and "Hyena" is kind of stupid (but
catchy!) - however, the rest of the album is a fine, well-produced way
of "whupping booty." I love it to death.
And, to my good pal Rich Bunnell, who said in the Eponymous section
that "Fall On Me" is the only real highlight - wait a sec! "Superman"
isn't a highlight? That was a hit single, and a hugely popular tune
that a lot of people associate closely with the band (though not as
close as that stupid version in that recent car or pentium commercial).
"Swan Swan H" isn't a highlight? It sounds like nothing this band had
ever recorded! Folky, but in a real authentic, civil war way. And as
for "Cuyahoga" and "Begin The Begin" - NOT two of the best tunes ever?
Anyone who makes that claim is just asking for it.
So - it's not perfect, but it's superb. I think this one is pretty
close following Green as my favourite by the band.
Now Document, that was much more of a singles album than LRP. It's
perfectly imaginable for the three songs from Document on Eponymous to
be there, but if a song like "Begin The Begin" was on there, it wouldn't
sound right because what it is isn't so much of an individual track as
much as it is one of the most kickbutt album openers ever!
But now my real issue, what's with the song list? Do I have the only
copy where the songs on the back have no bearing whatsoever on what you are
hearing? It gets real old having to pop out the disk all the time
because the only place the songs are written properly is on the CD itself.
What noisy cats ARE we?
There's not much for me to add that hasn't been said here already, except that a major
component of the awesome Pageant sound is the old-school pump organ employed by Mike Mills
on (I think) every song but "Swan Swan H." The effect is particularly subtle but
particularly nice in the final verse of "These Days." Oh, and the title comes from one of many
funny scenes in "A Shot in the Dark," which you should see if you haven't.
I read an interview once where Peter Buck said he didn't think R.E.M. had ever made "one
of those truly great albums." I beg to differ.
But then it really grew on me, like FLOWERS OF GUATEMALA! It grew ALL OVER ME! (That's how the lyric goes, right?) THEY GREW EVERYWHERE, LIKE ON MY EYES AND ON MY BUTT!
It's a really good album. I surprised you didn't talk about "Flowers of Guatemala," Mark! That song would be great to hear on record, seeing how it's the first song on the second side. Like when you start li stening to the second side, you'd probably go "wow, this album like really changed!" 'Cause it's all like pretty and non-rocking, and the rest of the album is fucking kick-ass look-ma-I'm-chewing-tobbacco and grabbing-girls-asses-in-a-dirty-bar-at-the-age-of-seventy-three-because-I'm-kickass rock. Eww, tobacco is gross. That stuff puts ugly white bumps in your mouth!
And then those bumps like ooze out white stuff!
GROSS!
I really really really like this album. Every song is really great, and as such, I think the album is a bit too short. I wish it'd go on for at least ten more minutes or something.
I think I'll pick up "Murmurmurmurmuring" next, because I guess the burned copy I have is illegal! I just found that stuff out!
Oh man! I HOPE I DON'T GET CAUGHT! WITH MY PANTS DOWN!
LIKE I DID A COUPLE YEARS AGO WHEN MOM WALKED IN ACCIDENTALLY!
6/10
You know, R.E.M. are not exactly noted for their devil-may-care wackiness,
so it's interesting to hear them goofing around. "White Tornado," besides
being their only "surf" tune, is a bounding instrumental from a group whose
instrumentals can be lackluster. AND the cd includes Chronic Town.
And Thank Goodness for small memories, because this is one fun collection of unlikely REM cover material recorded mostly live in concert on flat monophonic audiotapes. The energy is fantastic on these recordings, with Michael Stipe forsaking his artsy bisexual persona for refreshingly amateurish energy and poor shouted vocals. Because this is not your normal store-bought release and thus you, the Internet's lonely traveller, may not ever have seen or heard of it before, allow me to discuss it track-by-track. Okay, right now I'm on the track of the northbound 6 line, and the first song is GAH@!!!! (*SPLOICK*) (*32 years pass*) Okay, I've been reincarnated and grown up to be an entirely new person named Mark Donavaon Prindle, so now I can complete this review. Here are the tracks, along with minor descriptions writ by none other than fuckin' me.
"20th Century Boy" - After a hilarious country-western intro in which Michael Stipe welcomes everybody to an evening of covers and originals, the band goes into a bland little rock song that may or may not be by T. Rex. I've never heard the original, but it's sure no "Bang A Gong"!
"Pills" - The New York Dolls! I've never been so catchy and infectual!
"Theme From 'Barney Miller'" - More humor than an exploding pool table filled with battery acid in a children's daycare center!
"Secret Agent Man" - Penned by brilliant songwriter PF Sloan (who wrote for Turtles, Monkees, Barry McGuire, all the greats!) and recorded by Johnny Horton. They play the chorus wrong, but at least they're not about to reinstate the draft like SOME presidents I could name.
"Hootenanny" - A worthless, shitty, messy cover of a worthwhile, witty, messy Replacements song.
"D.O.A." by BLOODROCK!!!! REM doing a BLOODROCK COVER!!!!!! Before they begin, Michael Stipe announces, "This is the worst song ever written by mankind" and admits that he's reading the lyrics from a piece of paper. And then they play A BLOODROCK SONG!!!! Michael never quite manages to find the right singing notes (because they're DIFFICULT! I tried to find them once while recording a parody of "D.O.A." and it takes a lot of concentration to get them right. They kind of completely go AGAINST the chords instead of with them.), but the chorus, complete with harmonic wailing by Mike Mills, sounds PERFECT. It is impossible not to sing along with them, even if they're "taking the piss" out of the song, or "taking a piss" on the audience, as they occasionally did during guest appearances by flautist GG Allin.
"Omaha" - An okay song. It might be by Moby Grape, I don't really know.
"I Got You Babe" - Mike and Michael perform this Sonny & Cher classic as a heartfelt duet! Strangely, Cher's lines are sung by Mike Mills, by far the manlier of the two, with his big huge muscles, handlebar mustache and 6-pack.
"Moon River" - Stipe sucks the fun out of the club by quietly warbling this Henry Mancini track a capella as the band prepares to tear the house down with their ass-rockin' funk metal classic "Saturn Return"
"Rave On" - Stippy does a silly Buddy Holly impression in this jaunty rigmarole from the nineteen-fifties.
"So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star" - Stichael Mipe can't sing in the high register so enjoyed by the Byrds on their original version of this classic Unrest song by Nazareth, but his choice of low notes is fine. A keeper. A TRAPPER keeper! A TRAPPER JOHN MD keeper!!!!
"Pale Blue Eyes" - Pale Brown Shit. Didn't we already have to cringe through this Velvet Underground travesty on the REAL Dead Letter Office?
"I Can't Control Myself" - REM sprinkles some fuckin' fairy dust on this old Troggs beach blaster with the weird, mopey chord sequence. The Ramones covered this too. Maybe there's some law that if your band name starts with an R, you have to cover this song. In fact, I bet you a million dollars that's the case, because I can't think of a single other band whose name starts with an R. That's probably because they all decided to change their name when they heard about this law.
"Crazy" - Drums twenty times louder than music, much MUCH weaker version of this Pylon song than you'll find on the actual store-sold Dead Letter Office.
"Femme Fatale" - I'll never understand why people like the Velvet Underground. Their songs were so BORING! Lou's solo stuff puts a tiger in my tank, but my goodness did he have a boring bunch of boring people in his boring Velvet Underground band. There you have it! A word-by-word confrontation of one of your more intrigugin g Bootleg s on teh marekt of day! It's certainly nothing you'll play constant-day, but if humor's with you and your fifth copy of Around The Sun is all worn out, I bet this batch of throwaway covers will put a smile on your face. It may not be your smile per se, and it may still be covered in blood from the face it was originally sliced off of before being glued to yours, but these are risks we take when we decide to save money by moving in with an autistic serial killer.
On a related note, this album is nteresting in that it's another step forward towards maturity, but most of
the songs aren't quite as memorable as those on Life's Rich Pageant.
The ones that ARE as good are fantywanty, bjorn, and I mean hooo!
"Disturbance At The Heron House" and "Fireplace" are light-but-dark in a
bizarre Athensian manner, and the others, as
I said, are interesting, but not as brightly conceived. Well, "Welcome To The
Occupation" is a good cold jangler, but "Finest Worksong" is way too slow,
"Exhuming McCarthy" is way too dopey, and "Lightnin' Hopkins" is a
bit...uhh...ugly. But "Oddfellows Local 151" is pretty cool, and my good
friend Doug Matthews lives for the lovely ballad "King Of Birds." Buy it.
The production is very strong. Like a good cup of ball smegma.
Taken with Pageant and a coupla cold lagers, this is wondrous summer
porch-chillin' music. Try it sometime, people will sing along as they
walk by.
1) This was the turning point where the band answered their critics, who
were saying that, on Lifes Rich Pageant, the stories and ruminations about the
Old South were lazy and, get this, the exact same thing that Reagan was
spinning with the country at the time. On Document the band steps up and
confronts political issues like the pointless party system ("Disturbance at
the heron house"), Yuppie America ("exhuming mccarthy"), etc.
2) This album was where the band (and, especially, Stipe) came out front
from the shadows and played their hearts out. The production is bombastic yet
uncheesy, the guitars loud without being Monster-level, and Mike Mills has his
most fabulous bass-line to date on "Heron house".
Overall, a magnificent album both musically and lyrically. Skip
"Lightnin' Hopkins" though.
10/10
"Finest Worksong" is the best song ever written! Okay, so maybe not the
best, but I challenge you to find me something I'll like as much as that
cool guitar riff. Wait - it's not even a riff! It's just one chord
being jammed on rhythmically until the verse, when it switches to B.
That rules!
So? I mean, Talking Heads could write entire songs on one chord, and
every one was great. But they couldn't come up with that jiggy piano
solo in the middle - not to mention that part right after it, when the
entire band leaps back into the verse, but this time with an energy
that's been subdued the entire song. And then, out of nowhere, they
drop into E-minor and the whole song falls apart - in a
clean-but-interesting way.
In fact, maybe it is the best song ever. I think I'll listen to it
right now!
I think you could have said a bit more about Oddfellows Local 151, which
is one of my favorite songs on the whole album.
Why was "The One I Love" the song that broke big for these guys? Aside from
a lot of people misinterpreting the lyrics (apparently, all they register is
the song title in the chorus), R.E.M. had already written a poop load of
songs that were a lot better. It's not a bad song, of course, but it's
pretty standard R.E.M. fare. Nothing standard about this album, though. If
not for the scary brilliance of the first two and Life's Rich Pageant, I'd
probably be calling this one my favorite. Another winning album.
1) "Finest Worksong" would, indeed, be better faster. For proof of this, check out the
version on the Green-era "Tourfilm" concert. Actually, everybody should check that out
anyway, as it is an absolutely wonderful "document" heavy on the Lifes Rich Pageant,
Document, and of course Green. It's even got "Feeling Gravitys Pull"!
2) I really like "Lightnin' Hopkins." Peter Buck is goin' crazy on that track!
Still this record is worth having for the horns on "Worksong", the
superior single-only "Radio Free Europe", and the obscure "Romance".
Give me the Chronic Town version of "Gardening" any day, though!
This is not a definetive package by any means. Life's Rich Pageant is
too great to only have one song, and there are a heap others that are
left off. An import album that I have has "Carnival Of Sorts,"
"Cuyahoga," "Perfect Circle," "Pretty Persuasion," and "I Believe" in
addition to most of the songs on here, but it's still missing plenty of
good stuff ("Superman," "Wolves, Lower," and "Begin The Begin.")
However, the take on "Gardening At Night" is superb, and the horns are a
nice addition to "Worksong." And as for the single version of "Radio
Free Europe" - it should have been an album of its own!
"Turn You Inside Out" is even slower than "Finest Worksong" (I like a slow
ballad, but a slow "rocker" irritates the bowel movement out of me), "I
Remember California" is a rip-off of the far superior "Oddfellows Local 151,"
and both "Hairshirt" and the untitled eleventh track are weaker mandoliners.
Why? Why set up an album so that it starts off your best one yet, and then
ends boring and slow? Oh well. Still deserving of an 8. Those first
seven, man, I dig 'em. And the last four aren't that bad; they're just
a lousy way to end an album.
But I like how "4" = "R" on the album cover. Hold it up to the light! Tee
hee.
7/10
I give it a ten.
5/10
Oh, the music? Well, when Green was released on election day in 1988 I was at Tower bright and early to get my copy, and I thought it fucking sucked!
Stipe's discovery of vocal enunciation, which had been happening over the last few albums, and the placement of his vocals at the front of the mix really
ruined this band's sound for me. I couldn't believe it was the same band that made Chronic Town and Murmur. That was the first year I was eligible to
vote in a presidential election, so I got drunk, threw my vote away on a third-party candidate, redeemed my voting stub for a free beer at the World
Famous Chee Chee Club, picked up two hookers and subsequently got burned for 100 bucks on a three-way that never happened, and somewhere along
the way threw Green out the window of my car in a drunken rage. I haven't missed it since.
This album doesn't kick as much asse as Life's Son Of A Bitch Regis, but the melodies are remarkable! Seriously, a
normal pop rock band coming up with this many great new melodies over a period
of ten years - that's something special. Cherish it!
On a foggy Monday in September, I hapt upon a miracle at the thrift store. In the dollar bin of cassette tapes filled with garbage and pish-posh rested a gentle TDK featuring the lilting handwriting of a young girl or "girly man," as popular political figure Hans and Franz might say. But this was no ordinary lilting TDK: this tape featured illicit tapings of two already illegal REM bootlegs -- which actually brings up a point I hadn't considered. We know bootlegging is wrong, but how about if you bootleg a BOOTLEG, as this enterprising human bean had done? Is it considered a good deed to take money out of the bootlegger's pocket? I don't know the answer. I can't even fathom how such a moral conundrum might be resolved. As our discussion continues, my mind is spinning with the possibilities, slowly tearing away at the delicate brainstem attachment. OW!
Wha..?
'So Much Younger Then' was recorded at Tyrone's O.C. in Athens January 10th, 1981, and was just one of many. It was all about having a good time and (if you asked) Michael didn't mind if you plugged a tape deck into the sound board and helped yourself to the show. I myself have several tapes from those early days. Tyrone's was the place to go in the late 70's & early 80's until it burnt to the ground in January of 82. On any given night you could dance to bands such as The Tone Tones, The Method Actors, Pylon, The Side Effects, Love Tractor, The Squalls, Little Tigers, Men in Trees and Limbo District, to name but a few. Another REM bootleg from Tyrone's is the 'Do You Remember? - Dead Giveaway Office' LP.
Sure, they were no Pylon, but this was still an awfully enjoyable debut.
Clearly, this young band had three strengths that they could either develop or
waste: (1) a great guitarist in Mr. Peter Buck - the king of jangly
arpeggiated chords, (2) a singer who, although a bit mic-shy at times, still
had the kind of voice that you don't get sick of - low, but not in a
pretentious way, and (3) actual songwriting talent! These are five songs that
have not been written before! The style is simple, but the melodies are new.
And that's a rarity these days, I don't think I have to tell you. Ever heard
the Gin Blossoms? Yeeeeh. It's weird to think that this came out before
Murmur; they sound much more confident and excited here. Hmmm. None
of these were hits, but they all should have been. The "house in order" bit
in "Wolves, Lower" alone should have made them hundredaires; luckily
for us, they stuck around until "Losing My Religion" did the job.
R.E.M. (they use the dots in their name intentionally; REM was a DIFFERENT
southern jangle-pop band that existed before them--no joke!) did themselves
a damn good job with this EP...in fact I owned the original tape years
before I picked up the CD version of Dead Letter Office. I think Chronic
Town epitomizes most of their career, but Murmur is an example of brilliance
that they've never quite been able to top. In any case, I don't think R.E.M.
deserves the "alternative" label nor the poor album sales of today...they
were excellent long before "Losing My Religion" and will continue to be...as
long as they can make albums that aren't annoyingly long or grungy.
Chronic Town is basically the same sort of garage rock/underground
music in the same vein as the Hib-Tone version of "Radio Free Europe". Every
song's a winner, even "1,000,000". Why don't they release it as a regular
EP on CD rather than adding it on to the dismal Dead Letter Office? I
guess that cuts into profit margins very quickly or something. 9/10
Rough and tumble, jangly, and very fun until "Stumble" kind of drags. When I
first bought this I was, I think, fourteen and I listened to it about six
times in a row. I think it's one of those albums that does that. Michael
Stipe has a full head of hair.
chronic town is alot of fun. and it is better than Murmur. all the tracks are great. a great e.p.
A nice, jangly, energetic release, and the energetic part is important in
assessing R.E.M. music because sometimes they can get a little draggy and a
little boring. The brevity of this release, the quality of the songs and the
jittery jangle eliminate that problem completely from this outing. I say
buy two.
8 out of ten. Incredibly innovative, shockingly unique...no, I mean that, I
don't own anything else that sounds like this! "Wolves, Lower" is one of
their very best songs. Whoever had the idea to put that "house in order"
part in there is a genius. Unless it was Jefferson Holt. Man, I hate
Jefferson Holt. You're not even a real member of the band, dude. "Gardening
At Night" is wonderfully obscure. You just have no idea what he's singing
about, but it doesn't even come close to mattering. Bad word there. Shout
out to "Box Cars" too, as it is quite splendid. "1,000,000" is a song, but
unfortunately "Stumble" stumbles. Why am I even mentioning all the songs? I
never wanted to be one of those kids. I'm taking back that shout out, sorry
"Box Cars". Wow, now I'm talking to songs. Glad to be one of THOSE kids.
why does everyone think 'stumble' sucks???? it's the
best frickin song on the record, maybe tied with
'wolves, lower'. we used to blast this shit at the
subway in state college when we worked there in '96,
me and ryan, when we would close the place up at
night, and argue about which song is better. 'wolves
lower is the best rem song ever' he would say. 'no!
stumble is better, but why isn't radio free euorpe,
hib-tone 45, on this EP!!!!' of course we weren't
listening to the ACTUAL ep but only the last five
songs of dead letter office. i have since found an
original vinyl at nice price books on hillsborough st
in raleigh. only 4 bucks. it's all mine now. did i
mention that 'stumble' rocks? i love the way bill
berry plays the same 1-2-3-4 on the floor/hyperactive
hi-hat beat on each song, and it's one of the best
beats ever!!!! we were going to start a bill berry
fan club but we needed to find a life-size bill berry
cardboard cut-out. then he went and quit the band.
oh well. anyway, back to stumble. great song.
especially the "father chan" part and then the guitar
goes
"deedle-eedle-deedle-eedle-deedle-eedle-deedle-eedle".
of course i looked up the lyrics on some sketchy
website once and it said "ball and chain". no, that
lyric sucks. "father chan" is much better. anyway,
cheers.
Wonderful. I'd rank this up there with Signals, Calls, And Marches by Mission Of Burma and Green River's Come On Down as a contender for the best
debut EP ever. Or at least that I've ever heard. Can't go around listening to every damn debut EP ever released!
Cool Site....Interesting Opinions. Chronic Town absolutely rocks my face off all of the time. PS it was released in 1982 not 1981. These are incredibly individual songs and very, very, one of a kind, like nothing we had ever heard before....ever. BOXCARS???? I FRICKING LOVE IT!!!!!!!
If they haven't already done so, somebody really needs to write a book explaining how R.E.M. managed to grow from 'the worst songwriters in the history of the world' into 'the geniuses who made Chronic Town' in two short years. I mean, I could see a band replacing a member or two and suddenly having everything click, but for the four gentlemen of R.E.M. the talent seemed to just come out of NOWHERE! Seriously, their 1980-81 material gives no indication that they would ever write a single decent song, let alone become one of the most melodically inventive bands of the '80s and early '90s. Wot's...uh the deal?
I know 8 seems a little low for this, but I listened to it recently and
found that it has a lot more boring songs than I remembered. The overall mood is much more subdued than on the EP, and
some of the songs are darn near James Taylor folksy-forgettable. As much as I
love the rockin' "West Of The Fields," the catchier-than-all-goodness "Pilgrimage"
and "Catapult," the beautiful piano ballad "Perfect Circle," and the urban
disco pimp angst of "9-9" and "Shaking Through," I have to tell this fine
world that, at this juncture in my life, the lifeless "Laughing," "Talk About The
Passion," "We Walk," and even good old "Radio Free Europe" just bore the perfectly good
Sam Shephard screenplay out of me. It's fine enough, but not the classic that
others often claim. Don't rewrite history! A
boring song is a boring song! Still, if you've never heard it, get it. Lots
of different pensive moody moods, and 8 is a pretty high number. Who? Did you get
that?
Murmur is an impressionistic masterpiece. The whole thing hangs
together, doesn't matter if you are bored by a couple songs.
Beautiful sounds.
Classic! An EASY ten. Boring? pishposh!
This is excellence in vinyl - just it.
10. This record is important for so many reasons -- not the least of
which was a first shot against a world of journey and like FM-crap of
its day...a battle that was eventually won. Who doesn't want to do it
REM's way now?
You're right. 8/10 is a bit low for this. Think about what was on the
radio in 1983. Then listen to this and realize it was the same year. If
that reason alone can't boost it up to a 10 (alone with the fact that all
the songs are brilliant), then you have no business posting an R.E.M.
section here.
Damn you! First you say that side two of Master of Puppets is boring, and now
this??? I think ANY album that has twelve catchy songs deserves a ten! If
you think about it, R.E.M. never made another album like this one,
lyrically or sonically. Tunes like "Pilgrimage" and "West of the Fields"
show a side of them that hasn't even been played live for years...in fact
during the 300+ shows R.E.M. played on their '95 world tour, they only
played ONE song from Murmur as the FINAL song of the LAST gig. So it's
obviously a special album them. And if THAT doesn't convince non-believers
to buy it, just point out that Rolling Stone magazine's editors voted it
1983's album of the year over Thriller, Synchronicity, and War. A pity that
they didn't become a household name for another decade or so...
Are you on drugs?! Murmur is fantastic. No other REM album comes
close!
when you're not listening to it, you think you remember the album being
boring and many of the songs skip-worthy...but when it's on, you can't
tear yourself away...man, i got into this when i was listening to noise
rock and shit and it was still one of my favorites, still is. you gotta
love everything about it. even if they inspired hootie and all that
jangly Matchbox 20 crud. 9.5
Murmur is one of my all-time favorites, a real winner. I think it's R.E.M.'s
best by far. The tone is haunting, beautiful and NOT boring for one minute.
Name me a bad song. The trio of "Laughing", "Talk About the Passion", "Moral
Kiosk" and "Perfect Circle" is enough to make a man go jump off of a tall
bridge or something. Listen to it, love it, and bask in the glow that was
R.E.M. at it's most stunning.
Geez. I'm lookin' at this here R.E.M. page and I see A LOT of comments
like (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Murmur is really good, especially when
compared to what crap was popular at the time." Is it like necessary to
hate all 80's pop music. I guess it's just me but I think that popular
80's music was really REALLY good! I guess it was 'cuz I grew up with it
or something but I hold the opinion that Thriller was a fucking great
album! So was Rio! And So! And No Jacket Required! And Hysteria. I could
go on and on... I don't see what's so bad about 80s pop music. Come on!
you guys out there in Internetland email me right now Savage1561@juno.com
and tell me WHY 80's music sucks cuz I'm listening to "Come On, Eileen"
right now and it's a fucking great song!. I long for the day when popular
music used to be good like it was ten years ago. Call me a dork but I'd
rather listen to Hungry Like the Wolf than just about anything on Murmur.
But that's just my opinion...
The great thing about R.E.M. is how they make simplicity sound so
breathtaking. Murmur is the finest example of that. None of these guitar parts
are hard to play ( PB was an amateur player back then), and Stipe's voice is
not especially remarkable. But it has a steely solemnity to it that makes the
songs have gravity and emotion, and the melodies here are just amazing, "moral
kiosk" being my personal favorite. And how about the guitar in "9-9"?
Brilliant.
CLASSIC!! I bought this album SIX MONTHS ago and it's STILL in my CD player!!
Absolutely every song a winner. And listening to "9-9" makes me want to
play guitar. Oh and "Perfect Circle" is one of the greatest ballads ever
written. And what the hell are you saying when you call "Laughing", "Talk
About The Passion" and even "Radio Free Europe" BORING!?!?!?! Techno, now
that's boring. Murmur is a college-rock underground classic, even
though it did inspire Matchbox 20. I guess you gotta take the bad with the
good. Oh and dig Stipe's mumbled vocals!! Not only the greatest debut album
I've ever heard but also a major grunge precursor. 10/10
No way this gets an eight!
A great album, just don’t listen to the critics first and you’ll
be all right. One question—how in the bloody hell could one consider
"Radio Free Europe," "Talk About The Passion," and "Laughing" boring?!?
Those’re probably in the top 5 of the whole album! At least you like
"Perfect Circle"—what a great song! And I actually heard it on the radio
about a month ago! There isn’t really a bad song on here, but it doesn’t
blow my mind or anything (though I’ll admit it sounds nothing like
anything of its time) so I’ll give it a 9 as opposed to the 10’s which
everyone else (save Mark and Ben) gave it—but given time it could get
that too! But what’s everyone’s problem with "We Walk"? I love that
song!
I have not the slightest clue how anyone could call any songs on this
album "Boring". But anyway i think this is a Brilliant album. It is sorta
simple if you look on how to play the songs, but it doesnt sound like it at all.
A great album. Id probably give it a 9/10. By the way, i love "We Walk"
as well. I dont get why people dont. Its a great song to me. I also love
"Catapult", "Perfect Circle" and "Talk About the passion". The guitar
in "9-9" is fuckin great
10/10: It's just good from start to finish plus it's got a
really nice feel as a whole.
Only a retarded or Italian person would assert that this album's not perfect
(including the commonly-dissed "We Walk", an obvious musical homage to the
great Herman's Hermits). Sounds like being a Southern college kid in the
early eighties, feeling the past and the future and getting drunk in the
woods. Michael Stipe's hairline is backing up a bit.
An all-time classic. Not sure if it's better than Life's Rich Pageant, it's
damn close. Every song on here is awesome(well, "We Walk" is a great
sing-along number, but isn't really awesome). "9-9" might be my favorite
track. That melody is so cool and unique. "Catapult" is close, with 4
great sections. What's a section? "Laughing"'s got that great bass intro
and the whole song rules. "Talk About The Passion", "Moral Kiosk", "Shaking
Through", "Sitting Still", "Radio Free Europe"...are these guys serious?
Every one of them's catchy as hell. Let's not forget the beautiful "Perfect
Circle". An easy 10. Maybe the best album of the 80's. A lot better than
London Calling. Does "Lover's Rock" suck or what?
Excellent, excellent record. Not a masterpiece though, just excellent songs side by side,
not a bad one on here, or one that even fails to be called Great. "Shaking Through",
"Perfect Circle", "We Walk", "Laughing", and "Talk about the passion" are my faves, but the
rockers like "West of the fields", and "Moral Kiosk" are just awesome. I really cant
understand how any of these can be called boring (okay, save for "Radio Free Europe", the
original Hib-Tone single version is way superior) because the melodys are stunning. I'll also
agree with Rich here and give it a 9.
murmur, while not REM's masterwork is still an indispensable document of jangly post-punk. The atmosphere is great, although most of the songs could not stand alone
together they work beautifully, But "Pilgrimage," "sitting still," "west of the fields" and "laughing" are incredible with or without the others. A must buy for those into great
collage rock.
It doesn't sustain the energy of Chronic Town the whole way through, but
it isn't trying too, what with 12 whole songs covering a gamut of emotions
and moods. Absolutely a wonderful album, and I'm shocked that my favorite
track, "Sitting Still," is mentioned only twice in the above comments. Now
that is a rollicking good tune, people. "Perfect Circle" is breathtaking,
and "Radio Free Europe" is one of those songs in my musical past that
pointed to a wider musical world that wasn't being played on commercial
radio or promoted by most of the media. Hearing it on a local college
station was one of those happy accidents that got me out of my heavy metal
rut.
A democratic group, without spectacular guitar solos or complicated drumming techniques? R.E.M. How come the non conclusive lyrics aren't practically audible? Because
Stipe is only a quarter of band. No wonder why this album received instant cult recognition in America, as it demonstrated that rock and pop's influences for a promising debut
album can be sufficiently simple enough for mass appeal whilst being as hermetic as a strong personality. Without Peter Buck's relaxed, non-pretentious style (reminiscent of
The Byrds), or Michael Stipe's obstructive, yet thankfully shy voice (reminiscent of Nico!?!?), the group could have been a very nasty pill to swallow. Their originality lies
basically in their taste for acknowledging their influences. Had they been fans for Collins-style Genesis, it would have been a complete different story.
WAAAYYY overrated. I can't believe so many people hold this as the first alternative, er, excuse me, post-punk album and one with a sound that came
out of nowhere, when U2's Boy came three years earlier. If you ask me, U2's debut did what others claim this one did, and the sound is like a delfated
version of that album. Not to say that it is, though. There are some good moments, like "Talk About the Passion" and "Perfect Circle", but I agree with
you on a lot of the songs being boring...stragley they are not the same ones....
I'm glad to see everyone can agree. The album is
always an enjoyable listen and the songs that bring it
to life are "Radio Free Europe"(just because something
is popular doesn't mean it sucks), "Catapult",
"Sitting Still", "Moral Kiosk", "9-9", "Perfect
Circle", "West Of The Fields", "Talk About The
Passion", and "Pilgrimage"(we don't need more
religious crap, but its a good song). "We Walk" is a
fine album track and "Laughing" and "Shaking Through"
are lowpoints. It works well as an album and I would
agree it is an 8 out of 10.
I used to set in a chair, flop back and drink Seagram's' and Seven-Up in a plastic quart cup when the weather was bad and I couldn't work. My first wife could though so that gave me a start real early in the a.m. I'd put 'Murmur' on and get lost while the dreamy music played and Michael mumbled. Seagram's helped me a lot then. A strong nine.
Murmur is a solid nine. It's full of great songs, even if most of them sound almost the same. My favourites are "Perfect Circle" and the catchy-as-hell "Catapult". Also, what's wrong with "We Walk"? It's a great song! Maybe the best REM album, along with Out Of Time and Automatic For The People.
High number? Who?? A HA HA!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
Talk About the Passion is “lifeless” and a “bore?” Maybe you’ve heard it too many times. I recently re-discovered this album and am enjoying that track immensely. I think it’s among their best songs.
Back in the early Eighties, I was a college disc jockey who played vinyl
albums for songs and eight track cartridges for PSA's and sponsor
announcements. This album is the first American effort to be classified
as "Alternative". The English and Irish contributions at the time were
U2, The Alarm, Cure, Modern English, and so on, but no bands, except
maybe The Ramones,B52's, and X were not looking to target the
mainstream, but the college and young professionals market, Thus the
term "Alternative".
Yawn. Even slower than Murmur. Still, how can one haughtily deny the
grandiose worthiness of songs as well-thunk as "So. Central Rain," "Pretty
Persuasion" (Goddamn, you're confusin'!), and "Time After Time?" They sound a
little exhausted. No energy in their gas tank. Voxsmelly Michael Stipe
carries on his mumbling tradition from the last record.... Still, the mood is
nice. You don't need to rock all day. Just slow down for a good forty
minutes, eat a delicious glazed doughnut, and relax as "Camera" and "Seven
Chinese Brothers" drift over your head dripping little bits of rainbow in your
hair, setting it aflame with pleasantness and a really smelly "burning hair"
odor. Then smoke some reefer and drive a truck full of explosives to an
elementary school.
I think the album on a whole has a quicker pace than Murmur (save for
"Camera"), but that doesn't mean it's better. I will always wonder why the
band stopped at ten songs on this album. HOW could they try to top Murmur
with this if it didn't have as many songs? It's certainly one of R.E.M.'s
weaker discs, but if you know the lyrics and what each song is really about
the whole shebang becomes a lot more interesting.
This album is a very strong follow up to the Godhead Murmur. "7 Chinese
Brothers" is a rollicking, beautiful beat poetry song, "So. Central Rain"
makes me melt every time, and I love "Letter Never Sent"'s guitar line to
death. Only misstep is "Camera"....that song I find boring. Other than that,
lots of great Southern-fried jangle rock, and while not as breathtaking as
Murmur, it's a solid album all the way through.
Reckoning is another explosion of crafty melodies, heartfelt (though not
cheesy) vocals and great pacing. The two ballads are in the correct spots so
that the album is well spaced. Personally, side one of this album, containing
"so. central rain" and "pretty persuasion" is pretty much flawless. Side two
is great also, with the fine song "don't go back to rockville". Basically, I
like it almost as much as Murmur, and it's certainly more concise and direct
than Murmur, despite what the Spin Record Guide would have you think.
Much better than the hit-or-miss debut, Reckoning somehow manages to
pack plenty of catchy melodies into a smaller number of songs. The
entire first side is fantastic, with "Harborcoat" being perfect pop and
"Time After Time" being one of those immortal ballads that sounds like
you've heard it endlessly on the radio. And, by the way, "Pretty
Persuasion" and "So. Central Rain" have plenty of gas in their tanks!
They rock harder than anything on Murmur, and more convincingly than
Monster. And, again, "Time After Time" is perfect. Sorry, that fact
just bears repeating.
No weaker than the last album, it has only about half of the
atmosphere but at least twice the energy. More individual songs stick
out, in particular "Harborcoat," "Time After Time," "Don’t Go Back To
Rockville"(which is actually listenable country because of how
tongue-in-cheek it is) and "So. Central Rain," which they rewrote 14
years later, added a bunch of sound effects onto it, and called it "The
Apologist." I’d give this one a 9 too, it’s just as enjoyable as the
debut!
8/10: Similar to above but with some less memorable songs.
Very pretty guitars, perhaps Peter Buck's hour of most lovely guitar. Drags
a little. I like all of side one. "Time After Time" is my favorite song, not
just to get back at Pavement either. Michael Stipe's hair is in a holding
pattern.
This one would get an 8 or a 9 from me. When it works, it's
fabulous("Harborcoat", "Time After Time', "So. Central Rain"), but it's
definitely too slow at times("Camera"). I love the verses of "Rockville",
but what a nerdy chorus. Their 3rd best, if you ask me. What's he saying
though?
[WARNING: The following paragraph contains heavy use of parenthesis. If
parenthesis cause you great pain for some odd reason, please aviod reading
further.] Man, does this album start off great! "HarborcOat" may be the
most underrated song in R.E.M. history! The wonderful vocal melodies
(coupled by marvelous riffitude) and harmonies (love that chorus!
"Buuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyy my haaaaaarrrborcoat!"), and is packed with energy
(none in their gas tank? Waa!); I never get tired of it! "7 ChineSe
bros.", which might be the best song on here, has even more heavenly melodic
riffage courtesy of Mr. Buck (that riff just towers over everything during
the chorus, DAMN!). "so. Central Rain" is interesting because it sounds
absolutely nothing like the rest of the album (except maybe "ROCKVILLE") as
it's got a sort of countryish flavor and the production is completely
different (it's has a very subdued sound as opposed to being bright and
shimmery). And "Pretty Persuasion" rocks and kicks ass harder and meaner
than anything off Monster. However, I find "Time After Time (annElise)" to
be overrated. The weak riff just doesn't do the soaring vocal melody
justice (listen to the mostly accapella acoustic version on the Document
re-issue to get a good idea of the song's real potential). But it's not
bad; it certainly doesn't BLOW, despite what Brian Burks will tell you.
That aside, side one is almost perfect; the first four songs are absolute
classics, and "Time After Time" is just, ehh, average (aside from a killer
solo break).
Classic album, one of my favorites. "So. Central Rain" is really the most well known
song here (And still played live on their recent tours), probably, (maybe "(Dont go back
to) Rockville" too) but everything else on here is excellent shit, indeed. "7 Chinese
Bros." is peppy, and damn catchy, as is "Pretty Persuasion", "Harborcoat", and "Second
Guessing". "Little America" and "Letter Never Sent" are very nice songs with great creative
guitar licks courtesy of Peter. "Time After Time" (pretty weird in the beginning! The guitar
sounds like a dang sitar when it starts out) and "Camera" are beautiful ballads. So there
ya go, i definatly suggest anyone only familar with newer REM to get this album. Even
though i really like Reveal and Up, i do really miss this early side of them. 9/10.
reckoning is one of r.e.m's average albums, not because the song writing is spectacular but because it is probably the catchiest album of
all-time (and I do own nevermind).
Another winner in the R.E.M. canon. That's three winners in a row for those
of you keeping score at home. I like the cleaner production on this album.
It allows Peter's guitar to really chime and jangle with abandon. While not
as atmospheric as Murmur, it makes up for it by sounding a hell of a lot
brighter. And I don't buy your assertion that there was nothing in the tank
either, Mr. Prindle. The first three songs may not be hard-rockin'
masterpieces in the tradition of Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom," but
they sure as hell don't lack for energy. "Harborcoat" is a spiffy, poppy
wonder, and I just love those bass lines in "S. Central Rain" that lead into
the verses. And "Pretty Persuasion" flat out rocks indeed. I know that's not
one of the first three. I'm just trying to make a point... and my head
hurts.
An incredible follow up to an incredible debut. Amazingly, Reckoning has very few similarities to Murmur. In fact, they are so different I can't rate one above the other. Side one is
pure brilliance opening with Harbourcoat. Sounds like a single til Stipe opens with "they crowded up to Lenin with their noses worn off". I also challenge anyone to claim that
there is a more original and beautiful single than "So. Central Rain" from the 80's. (I still get goosebumps when I hear it) . "Pretty Persuasion has that magic quality, where when I
play it for the uninitiated, most claim that they love it and swear that they had heard it before. I concur when Pavement claimed that "time After Time" was their least fave
song......but that only means it is the lesser, yet inclusive of the ten classics. "pretty Persuasion", "rockville", and "camera" are also 80's classics. Murmur and Reckoning were truly
the most original albums of the 80's and deserve their high status.
The 3rd or 4th, if you count the bootleg, release from the band that
solidified Athens,Ga. as a musical mecca to be reckoned with, gave us a
more upbeat sound from the band as compared to their previous LP,
Similar to the "Chronic Town" EP.
Zzzzzzz.
Just when you thought they couldn't get any slower. I guess you'd
call these songs "folk lullabies." Or "coma boogie" maybe. So sluggish and relaxed. But
like that last LP, if you can separate (remember - there's "a rat" in
"separate" - you'll never spell it wrong again) each song from the one that
came before, you'll find that they're all actually very well-written. It's
just the overall mood that's pulse-freezing. The only "rockers" on the album
are the dark, confusing train ballad "Driver 8," the hilarious horn-laden funk
rocker "Can't Get There From Here," and the "Driver 8"-wannabe, "Another
Engine." All the others, like "Wendell Gee," "Green Grow The Rushes," and
"Maps And Legends," have all the energy of, say, the letter L. Pretty,
though. If you're looking for relaxing 80's college music, give it a whirl.
Some are dark, some are light, and they're all, you know, songs, pretty much.
Fables is a dreamy, southern, moody album with no commercial
appeal. The bootleg versions of many of the songs, especially
"Life And How To Live It", have more fire. Fables is a unique
artistic achievement - I dare you, double dare you, to name any
recording by R.E.M. or anyone else that is similar.
Hey! Fables is a lyrically superb album that sparks true feeling and
emotion. Yah, it's slow, but it's good, melodic, and inventive. It was
a lot like Automatic, and has its own unique feel that pulls you from
the
very first song to the last song.
I think you and my ninth grade English teacher are
kindred spirits. That's the way she taught my
class to spell separate! Yay for you!
I'm with Scott and Dick. This is art, and true art cannot be dull!!
Has any band ever, before or since, come up with as weird a riff/groove
as "Feeling Gravity's Pull"? And "Driver 8" and "Life" are incredible.
This album is far from boring. Only an untrained ear would say that.
It is an amazing album with lyrics and sounds that only REM could
accomplish so well. With songs like "Wendell Gee", "Maps and Legends",
and "Feeling Gravitys Pull" it is yet another great album by a unique
band.
It's certainly a different approach, and very hard to "rank" in terms of
their other albums. It's more ambitious than Reckoning but can't match
Murmur, so it makes a nice little in-betweener. Plus I love the fact that
Stipe borrows the "reason had harnessed the tame" line from the last song on
Reckoning and incorporates it here on "Feeling Gravitys Pull" (fans will
know what I mean).
'Tis a beautiful album, prolly the most atmospheric chunk of tunes
R.E.M. ever put out, but the Prindle-Man is right. The first time
I listened to Fables, I thought, "man, all these songs sound the
same." A week of careful listening revealed to me the dark
southern swampy American Gothic-ness of it, and the tunes were kicking
my ass (favorite song: Kohoutek. The way the enigmatic vocals are
almost competely swallowed by the wall of jangle... damn! The
epitome of mid-80's R.E.M.). But... after a few months, I'd
be crankin' the Fables, and I would realize... "hey! these
tunes are kicking my ass, but I can't keep my eyes open!" After
a good Fables-listenin', I'd be groggy and semi-conscious the
rest of the day. Oi!
This is where the band (God bless 'em) took a bit of a falter. Despite the
murky classics "Driver 8", "Auctioneer" and "Green grow the rushes", as well
as the fun(ky), hilarious "Can't get there from here", Fables of the
Reconstruction is a little inconsistent. And, for the first time in their
career, R.E.M. came up with a few songs that are forgettable, like "Kohoutek"
and "Wendell Gee". I still enjoy listening to the album, but it's a bit of a
downer.
Dude, Mark, "Life And How To Live It" isn't an energetic song? I mean, I guess it's
not the fastest song ever written, but it's a hell of a lot faster than "Driver 8" and "Auctioneer"!
This album starts to lose me a bit once the second half kicks in, but it still has enough
great songs and a cool, murky enough atmosphere to qualify as a classic. "Can't Get There
From Here" is out-of-place, but at the beginning of side 2 it works as a sort of
"wake up call" for those who were put to sleep by the slooow (but still good!) "Old
Man Kensey." 8/10
In 1985, a friend loaned me a copy of this, and when I listened to it, I
liked it very much. Considering what was going on in pop music at the
time, this album was like a breath of fresh air. At that time, most
bands were using drum machines and synthesizers and when I heard this,
it was great to here just electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums,
etc. The songwrting was also a step ahead of most other bands.. Looking
back now, there are some thin parts, but I think the dream-like quality
this has is a real plus. I agree with the reviewers' rating.
Sure, not as great as Lifes Rich Pageant, or even (dare I say it?)
Green, but this is a damn good early REM album - with one of their
best tunes, "Feeling Gravity's Pull." Man, I love it. Notice the
similarity (and superiority) to REM-clone Live's later hit "Lakini's
Juice." Both have a really akward guitar riff, both have out-of-place
strings, and both are pretty dang good songs. I prefer the REM, though,
because, unlike Live, they actually came up with some original ideas.
for those who don't like the mighty fables here's some advise. imagine being
in a band pissing each other off, being in a different country recording an
album in the freezing winter. with that in mind put on fables and then you
will relise just how good this album is. a definate 10 (up their and maybe
even better than murmur, remember i said maybe)
6/10: I'm sorry but this album is just dull - It sounds like they just couldn't
be bothered to do anything properly. (Apologies to Nicky Wire!)
Fables is the best thing they've done. It's just that if they'd kept
going in that direction on Pageant, they would of lost us. Still, its
the gem in their catalogue that needed to be made.
When this album is on, it's phenomenal. When it's off, it blows. It's
usually on, though. The first four songs are some of my favorites. "Can't
Get There", "Green Grow", "Auctioneer" and "Good Advices" are all brilliant.
But really, really we don't need "Old Man Kensey" or "Wendall Gee" in our
lives no matter how blissfully Southern they are. No Stipe hair news here,
but Mike Mills' shag 'do really enhances his natural resemblance to Bill
Gates.
Very great album in my opinion. Might be slow, but the songs are classics if
your paying attention. The only thing close to a stinker is "Maps And
Legends", which is Ok, but kinda bores me. "Life And How To Live It"
definatly gives a clue to whats ahead, as it is a song that would fit perfect
in Lifes Rich Pageant. "Cant Get There From Here" is a nice funky rocker. And
"Driver 8", "Green Grow The Rushes", "Feeling Gravitys Pull", and
"Auctioneer" are REM classics. "Kohoutek" and "Wendell Gee" are also
beautiful songs that seem to be underrated among REM fans as well. I love
"Good Advices" and "Old Man Kensey" as well. Id give it a very high 8.
Fables of the reconstruction is the most boring album in r.e.m's catalogue the only song I love is "feeling gratuities pull" the rest although well
written doesn't have enough hooks to keep my attention.
I went to dig this out of the old vinyl collection this afternoon to refresh
my memory in an effort to have a well-formed opinion if not an intelligent
one, and I couldn't find the damn thing. This being the case, a general
reminiscence will have to do.
Draggy. "Driver 8" is the only real classic here. Train song with a train
video. "Auctioneer" exists for reasons I'm not sure of. "Feeling Gravitys
Pull" rules too, but that little riff is stolen from "Pop Song 89" (released
3 years later). Step up. Step up. "Can't Get There From Here" sounds nothing
like R.E.M. Cool song, though! Most of the rest of them are not stuck in my
head because they have no melodies. One of those records that sounds fine
when it's on, but you don't actually put it on that often. 7/10
a good portion of this album is like going to sleep on a heavy dose of
sedatives, like cough medicine or opium. not that the album itself is
terribly druggy at all, but it is indeed terribly slow. 
Finally, they crank up the asbestos and rock!!!!! So long, folk! Hello,
audible vocals! A TRUE stand-out. And I mean that in the Spandau Ballet
sense of the word. Lots of hits - the moody lead track "Begin The Begin" (can
you beat that little "doodle-oo-doo-dee-doo-doo-doo" guitar bit? No, you
cannot!), the sad harmonious "Fall On Me," the dark sandbagger indictment
"Swan Swan H," and the upbeat Mike-Mills-larynxed "Superman" cover all
polluted the airwaves with tasty goodness for a good half-year or so. And did
someone say "rock?" No, they didn't! Nevertheless, "Hyena," "I Believe," and "These Days" totally book ass along
like folk punk or something! My two
favorites weren't hits, but neither fails to bring a chill to my refrigerator;
they're called "Cuyahoga" and "What If We Give It Away?," and I suggest you
run on down to your local Blockbuster and rent them tonight. Sure, one or a couple seem to slip by with no noticable effect, but only because the
rest are so outstanding. Lots of terrific melodies and excitement. Yes sir,
ma'am. The pinnacle.
In terms of this album, you forgot to mention that when it came time for
the band to record this album they had little material, resulting in them
putting on covers or old songs ("Superman," "Just A Touch," etc) which led to
a somewhat incoherent flow, although the album contains some AMAZING
tracks like "These Days" etc....
Right on!
I completely agree with you...Life's Rich Pageant
is an absolutely wonderful album, but one of the
only songs you didn't mention is my favorite on the
album! "Flowers of Guatemala" is a breathtakingly
beautiful song with wonderful imagery. Others,
such as "These Days" and "Begin the Begin" are also
amazing, but "Flowers of Guatemala" deserves
recognition.
I agree completely and absolutely - only Husker Du (I'm quite serious)
approaches this in terms of quality output in the eighties. This album
makes me feel really good, even the sad stuff like your faves. And I
really like your term "folk-punk".
(My name is not really Peter Nicholson, my friend wrote this, I don't
like them myself):
A fine album by any standards. Four million out of ten!
I really used to despise REM about three years back; "Shiny Happy People"
sounded a little gayish to say the least. Eventually I got around to
appreciating their longevity and consistency, and started compiling a
collection of their past albums. At first listen Life's Rich Pageant
didn't strike me as anything great, but after reading your review of it
I decided to give it a listen all the way through and I enjoyed it much
more. I still think AFTP is their finest record.
This is the album that made me discover the band. And what an album! Some
relief it was, since Robert Palmer, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi and Wang Chung
(where are they now?) reigned supreme during that period. Best record
R.E.M. ever made.
I totally agree. This is definitely R.E.M.'s best!
I love anything that REM puts out, and "Fall On Me" is my favorite single.
It converts Life's Rich Pageant from a decent album to an REM
essential.
Takes a back seat to Out of Time for their best album, but it's awesome
nonetheless. "Superman" is THE best REM song of all time. And "Fall On
Me" is, of course, a classic. My only complaint is a lot of the songs
(like "Hyena", "Just a Touch" and "These Days") sound the same.
For some reason I used to HATE the album for many moons when I compared it
with R.E.M.'s previous work. Why? I wish I could answer that, but one day I
was listening to it and I realized something: THIS is the new R.E.M., and
they kick ASS now! Can't say it's better than Murmur, but musically it's got
some real power to it (witness Peter Buck's fist guitar "solo" on "The
Flowers of Guatemala"), and all the lyrics are related to America in some
way, shape or form, but they're really tough to crack...in fact when I saw
the lyrics to "Just a Touch" for the first time I couldn't stop laughing.
The only weaknesses are that "Underneath the Bunker" is too short for an
instrumental (or an official track), and "Superman"--although I love the
wind-up Godzilla toy featured at the start of the song--is a pretty weak way
to end an album like this, especially since it's a cover. But the only thing
that's really missing from this album is...THE APOSTROPHE! It's nowhere in
the title, just like
"Feeling Gravitys Pull!" Methinks someone has to teach this band proper
grammer...er, grammar!
I believe that some people are music critics and that other people have
their their own web pages. You sir have your own web page! Life s Rich
Pageant is superior to Murmur and Fables of the Reconstruction
in the same
way that Beavis and Butthead think Ozzy is superior to the Replacements.
Pardon me for using B&B, as an example but considering your understanding
of REM music they seemed a likely source to cite. It rocks therefore it is
good? Compared to their previous work Life s Rich Pageant has all the depth
of a bottle cap. Have you listened to this LP more than once?
I echo Mr. Prindle's sentiments here! This album is probably the most severely
underrated one of all time. It's got a "rock" feel to it, while still
retaining the dreamscape ruminations of the past two records. "Fall On Me" is
breathtaking. "Just a Touch" is their most punky, fun song, perhaps of all
time. The instrumental sounds inane and boring, but other ballads like "Swan
Swan H" and "Flowers of Guatemala" are very beautiful. This one's probably
even better than Reckoning. So why does everyone label it as being mediocre?
Lifes Rich Pageant is a definite step up from Fables, in that it is a light-
hearted, positive, friendly album as opposed to Fables' creepy older brother.
A few songs, like "Fall on Me", "Begin the Begin" and "Just a touch" are die-
cast classics and are some of the most brilliant work this band has ever done.
Again, as with Fables, there are a couple of nondescripts here ("Underneath
the bunker", "What if we give it away") but for the most part I love this one.
And there's a cool pictogram on the cover (Buffalo Bill)!
Awesome album. I guess that in retrospect it's a bit of a sellout, but only in the sense
that the guitars are charged up and you can actually hear what Stipey's saying. I agree that "What If We
Give It Away" and "Cuyahoga" are the outright highlights on this one. Especially the former -- yowee, what
a great song!! "Begin The Begin" and "Fall On Me" also impress me. Easily one of R.E.M.'s best
releases. 9/10
SWEET!!!! you kick ass!! not only do you put up with all the hate mail
you get for not workshipping
everyone's favorite band, but you like life's rich pageant!! i read the
review because i assumed you
would have some "asanine" comments on how it could have been sooooo much
better, but instead you
like it as much as i do! this is the only rem album that really means
something to me; i thought i was the
only one who likes it..
do you know what would be cooler? if you caved in and gave daydream
nation a 10 rating! submit!
submit! you know it's a good album! it's a 10! the sprawl is genius and
total trash is funny!
anyway. i'm going to go calm down now.
I don't know why it took me s long to comment on this album - it's one
of my faves, and really makes me feel stupid for saying that Green
gets a ten.
No, no, no Ben, I wasn't saying that "Fall On Me" is the only good song
on Lifes Rich Pageant--it has tons of great songs, but I personally feel
that they all work well together sitting there on one album as opposed to cut
up into little chunks. "Fall On
Me" however was the big single from the album and if one song had to
come off of it, it was the best choice. Well, "Superman" probably
could've been taken onto Eponymous too since it seems sort of like a
really really catchy afterthought instead of part of the whole. "Swan Swan H"?
Good song, but "best of" material ahead of "These Days" and "Cuyahoga"? No way!
Oh yeah, this album is great. It gets no better than Fall on Me.
8/10, I say behind Automatic in the band's pecking order, think about that what
you will.
9/10: This is such an underrated album, and it's got 'Fall On Me' on it.
Not their best, no, that'd be Murmur sir. Nice try, but dull tracks like
"Flowers Of Guatemala" and "What If We Give It Away" render this album a
pathetic almost-perfect. Sorry. Michael Stipe has a wide expanse of
forehead.
When I told one of my friends I had gotten an REM album, he was pretty
upset; being I'm mostly a metal guy. Maybe I'm getting too soft lately, but
this record is just amazing. I really like Michael Stipe's voice and his
lyrics quite a bit. This is my first REM record. Forgive me because I don't
know much about REM as whole, as most people that have written in here do,
but I do know what sounds good and this records sounds exactly that. I
especially dig the chorus in "These Days". "Fall on Me" is just great.
Wonderful production too. I can't compare this to any of their other albums,
but this is pretty freakin' great. 10/10 even though "just a touch" is
stupid.
If you're listening, Prindle, it was your review of this record (oh, and the Tom
Petty/Ramones connection) that convinced me I could trust your critical opinion---no one who
considers Lifes Rich Pageant the best R.E.M. album would ever lead me astray, I figure. It's
been my favorite R.E.M. album---and probably my favorite album period---for almost 10
years, and it hasn't aged a bit (unlike, and again I find myself in agreement with Prindle,
Murmur).
This is REM at their most punk rockiest. I dont know if its their best album, but its
definatly up there. Great combination of straight ahead rockers ("I believe", "Just a
Touch") and regular beautiful classics REM always comes up with like "Flowers of Guatemala",
"Fall on me", "What if we give it away". "Just A Touch" is actually a old REM tune, that
they have been playing around with since 1980, so i guess they stuck it on here for lack of
tunes, and it is the weakest song on the album, as well, in my opinion. 9/10
A fabulous album. I give it a 10 and rate it just a little behind Murmur.
I can't even believe how good the start of this album is. "Begin The Begin"
destroys me everytime. "These Days"? Wow! "Fall On Me"? Beautiful.
"Cuyahoga"? Ok, nerdy chorus, but good song! The only misfire is the short
and useless "Underneath The Bunker". Dig the weird as hell folk-ballad
thingy "Swan Swan H" and the great cover of "Superman" sung by "nerdy" Mike
Mills. "Just A Touch" and "I Believe" are also excellent. Really
impressive album, but for some reason, I always feel there's something
missing or it's somewhat uncertain. Know what I mean? Stipe's lyrics are
still insane, but I can hear them this time!
Criminy, is that feedback at the beginning of this album!?! So much for the
somnambulent folkiness of Fables... Like many of you, I rank this as my
favorite R.E.M. album. It's got a nice, full sound and some really
wonderful tunes that more than a couple of you have mentioned above. And
that cover of "Superman" is fantastic. I've never heard the 60's original,
but I can't imagine I need to hear it now. Other standouts to my mind are
"Fall On Me," "What If We Give It Away" and "Flowers of Guatemala." Give
this to anyone who says R.E.M. don't rock... this and some of the songs off
Document. After saying this is my favorite, I should probably write more
about it, but I'd just be parroting what a lot of you have already said.
Great album by a great band!
Is it just me, or is Begin The Begin one of the coolest, most rockin' songs ever to not have
a chorus? Anyway, along with Murmur and Reckoning, this release has to be
considered a true 80's classic. Not a bad song in the bunch (save the terrible and
pointless Underneath The Bunker). Both sides are equally excellent. Side two probably
(well in my humble opinion) contains the most underrated REM song I Believe. These
Days, Flowers of Guatamala, Superman, and Cuyahoga are also classics. By the way, I
live near Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio..and my only gripe with Stipe is the ridiculously bad
pronunciation. It is (chi-a-hoge-a)...OK I will stop bitching now...Peace!!!!!
I traded a bunch of albums at the Record Exchange in Greensboro, North Carolina for this CD back in the Eighties. One of the best trades that I ever done. I gave it to a kid who lived around us and he loved it. I kinda felt sorry for him because he'd hang around me [an old guy in his mid-thirties] and I thought that he needed a little attention. That was over ten years ago and I never replaced it but the tunes still linger. Maybe it's about time to.
I just picked up this album a few days ago, and... wow! At first, I was like "this sounds like the same song over and over, save for the singles 'Fall on Me' and 'Superman' which were released in 1986 and 1987 respectively. 1986 was a great year because this album came out and that album by the Smiths that everyone likes came out. I haven't listened to the Smiths album yet, but maybe I should pick it up at FYE when it's really cheap, like I did for this album 'cause it was only TEN DOLLARS and I thought 'My God, I haven't listened to R.E.M. for over a year now, I-needs-a-refreshin'!'"
Is it just me, or does this rank up there with the entire Replacements discography in its need for remastering? On every format I've heard (LP, cassette, CD), the volume of the album is a couple clicks lower than just about everything else I own. Great songs though, one of their strongest batches!
Tons of lousy covers (Three Velvet Underground songs? How could that
possibly be necessary?) and some fairly interesting/intriguing original material. In fact, I
seem to recall "Ages Of You" being a hit for a few weeks back when I was about
thirteen! You? Some rock, some drunken country, some silliness, but all as a
whole to end well, really fun. Highlights include a version of "Seven Chinese
Brothers" with lyrics read directly off of an old gospel album cover, a horrid
take on "King Of The Road" during which you can clearly hear the guitarist
shouting the chords to bassist Mike Mills in the background, and a
headspinningly stupid hard rocker called "Burning Hell." Go ahead and buy it;
where else are you gonna hear a band as serious as R.E.M. doing an Aerosmith
cover? Hah? Did Joy Division ever do "Dude Looks Like A Lady?" No, I don't
think they did.
It's Mike (Bass) who does the shouting. He's shouting "E" to Peter
(Guitar) for the first minute or so.
It's important to remember that the Dead Letter Office CD also contains the
entirety of Chronic Town at the end of it. This alone makes it worth
buying, since it's (at least in my experience) much easier to find than
Chronic Town by itself.
The CD issue is great for its inclusion of Chronic Town. Also, I
really love the cover of Pylon's "Crazy".
8/10. Especially since Chronic Town is on the cd. This album is a lot of
fun to listen to. You're not supposed to take songs like "Burning Hell"
seriously.
You should mention that Chronic Town is included on the CD release, but I
guess everybody else has already done that! Y'know, when I first bought this
album I laughed my fanny off, because there truly is some weird stuff on
here! Unfortunately, after you listen to it a couple of times the joke gets
rather old, and you find yourself listening to it only for the Chronic
Town
songs. So even though big R.E.M. fans will love what's on here, the average
listener will be INCREDIBLY tempted to get rid of it in any way (s)he can.
I personally love the Aerosmith cover of "Toys In The Attic" on here, its funny to hear
Peter Buck soloing, he hardly ever does shit like that. And the "7 Chinese Bros." (called
"Voice of Harold" on here) with the gospel liner note lyrics is interesting. Plus
"Walters Theme" and "King Of The Road" are pretty darn hilarious too. 8/10
The only reason anyone should own dead letter office is because it contains chronic town.
This one is not for the casual fan, but I like it bunches because I was more
than a casual fan for a while there. Personally, I like hearing bands do
covers, and as Stipe and Buck, at least, are avowed VU fans, three songs by
those guys seems okay to me. Anyone who doesn't have a problem with the
Velvets shouldn't have a problem with R.E.M.'s take on "Pale Blue Eyes." It
rivals "Superman" as their best cover ever.
If the cd didn't have Chronic Town at the end of it, then it wouldn't be
very good! Okay, it has its moments like the great VU cover "There She Goes
Again" and to a lesser extent the other two VU covers, but none of the three
are better than the originals. "Walters Theme" and "King Of The Road" are
funny, but if I wanted humor I'd buy a George Carlin or Sesame Street
record. Who's funnier than Grover? The first song sure is good, though. 6/10
Not to be a voice of discontent, but this ranks as one of my favorite REM albums. It is definitely the REM album I reach to most often now that the '80s are a long shadow. Nostalgia may have a lot to do with it, but I really dig the rawness of the whole thing. It may not be as inventive as Murmur, or as ass-kicking as LRP, and 'Burning Hell' is pretty bad, but it reveals the quirky underbelly of the band. And I love Peter Buck's sloppy as hell guitar on 'King of the Road'. I don't know how many times I've unsuccessfully tried to replicate that solo.
The Replacements weren't no joob. When they released an illegally recorded bootleg under the title When The Shit Hits The Fans, they knew that their young emasculated audience would laugh ironically at all of their unlikely, hilarious cover tunes that were unavailable to the homebound Replacements product purchaser. REM did not feel the same, so a bootlegger was forced to create Dead Giveaway Office and sell it on street corners 'round the globe, as women of the night showcased their wares and drunken charlatans staggered through the bracing Chicago wind to islets of their own sick misery. "Your loss is my gain," this bootlegger cliche'd to Messrs. Buck, Stipe, Mills and Dolenz. "What you refuse to share, I make my bed upon."
Stronger production, tougher overall sound (more bassy, heavier kinda), but the (a) folk, (b) punk and (c) jangly melody of Lifes Miss America Pageant are gone the way of the passenger airliner. It's sure a varied record though. I tell you what -- any album with the fast as hell and catchy as hell hell "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" and evil anti-love song "The One I Love" needs to be purchased. But you're not going to convince me that "Finest Worksong" shouldn't be oodles faster than its snail-paced negativity portrays, and does anybody actually know how "King Of Birds" goes? I sure don't -- and I WROTE Mike Mills! At least Peter Buck is still playing notes and arpeggios and beautiful, smart guitar things like that. Because that would soon be entirely deleted from the overall REM sound.
Every bit as good as Pageant.
It's really good; less melodic, but has it' points of excellent
kick-butt crank the volume-until-your-next-door-neighbor's-ears-pop-off!
NOT every bit as good as Pageant. The hits
deserved to be hits, but overall the album was
missing some of the melodiousness that REM usually
manages to put in their albums. Part of the reason
REM is so great is that they can rock with the best
of them, but even their hardest songs have great
melodies and harmonies.
Not quite as amazing as the last, but I think as individual songs,
"Occupation" and "Fireplace" surpass most of Pageant. I happen to
really like "Worksong" and I have to say that it was a great breath of
fresh air in a '95 show dominated by Monster (eeek).
This album has some incredible songs and some really annoying ones, but not
the extent that Green does. The only things that piss me off about it
are
that people still regard "The One I Love" as a romantic tune (like this one
guy I stood next to at a concert...when the song came on and he started
singing only the first part with a smile on his face I wanted to take a
Louisville Slugger to those balls of his!), and that yet another cover on
here was tacked on for filler. Seeing as this is R.E.M.'s FIFTH studio
album, aren't they a little old for this? In fact, they seem to take this
cover approach in a half-assed way. Their first three albums have NO covers,
but the next two (which are arguably their best) have one each! The game is
afoot...
My second favorite R.E.M. album ever. This one is SEVERELY underrated by Mr.
Prindle as well as other guests on his page. Let me explain.
Excellent album, it rocks in the same way Lifes Rich Pageant
does, but with slightly better production and more of a sense of
individual songs. I like every one of the last four songs that seem to
be universally panned by reviewers—"Lightnin’ Hopkins" is awesome! The
drum beat that dominates the song works well, and even with Stipe’s
hokey accent it sounds great. And of course there’re undeniable classics
like "End Of The World," "One I Love," and "Finest Worksong"(by the way
Mark, the song honestly wouldn’t WORK if it was faster—as it is it’s a
kickbutt opening tune). It’s not a PERFECT album, but each and every
song is great in some way. "Welcome To The Occupation" wins the award
for "most generic R.E.M. song ever" - and it rules! 9/10
R.E.M. is many different things to many different people, so it's hard
for me to say which is the best album they have done. This album, to me,
is a step up production-wise. The hits hold up after a decade of
listening, and the lesser known tracks are still interesting. They try
to be a little more mainstream with this outing, and they do so without
sacraficing their uniqueness.
Yes, it's overrated, and yes, it stinks after Life's Rich Pageant -
but...
How could you give this an eight? I'd say it's at least a nine, maybe
even a ten! I can't believe anyone would dislike Finest Worksong because it's
"too slow"! Also, Lightning Hopkins is one of my favorite songs on the album.
It has that cool thing at the beginning, and what I'm going to call the
chorus doesn't even have words!
9/10: This is nicely varied and one of their most interesting albums.
R.E.M. has not made a rock record as satisfying as this. It has a
perfect mesh of bass and guitar and packs some punch by not being dull
like monster. Occupation is one of their top five songs ever, ranks up
there with Drive and Stumble. Also, this is the best record from a Bill
Berry standpoint. His drums are phenominal here.
My second favorite REM album. The hits are pure genius, and all the other
tracks are arresting, from the white funk of "McCarthy" and "Fireplace"
(love that sax solo), to the work songs "Worksong", "Occupation", and
"Oddfellows", to the holy fake-sitar anthem "King Of Birds". I'll admit the
cover and "Lightnin' Hopkins" are weak, but that's all I'll admit! Michael
Stipe has started to sort of comb his hair forward.
Damn good! Everyone whos anyone knows "One I Love", and "End of The World As We Know It".
Classic songs known as a couple of the best songs of the 80's. I love the cover of
"Strange" on here too! They totally REM pop-ified it and made it a totally catchy classic cover
version! I also really like "Exhuming Mccarthy" too, may be dopey, but its a nice pop
song. "Distrubance at the Heron House", and "King Of Birds" are also a few songs i like a
lot from this album. "Finest Worksong" is an awesome opener here too. Looks like they are
getting stronger with the production here, this would be their last album till they sign
to a major label. 9/10
"king of birds" is r.e.m's best song, "the one i love" is really catchy, "end of the world . . . " is a lot of fun, "oddfellows local 151" is a disturbing
tale of alcoholism, and "disturbance at the heron house" is weird. unfortunately the other songs on document sound like filler. but those 5 songs
raise the grade of document to ay least a very low 8.
This album starts off with a great track, "Finest Worksong." The sound is
just huge, especially for R.E.M., and Berry's pounding rhythm really sends
it over the top. I can't imagine why Prindle thinks it's too slow. Played at
Ramones speed or faster would rob the song of its grandeur, its sonic depth.
Elsewhere the band is in typically fine form, especially on "Disturbance at
the Heron House," "It's the End of the World...," "Exhuming McCarthy," and
"Oddfellows Local 151." And the ballad "King of Birds" just slays me. What a
great song!
Political, yet good. Stipe's almost coherent, and this album is heavy on the
guitars. He's singing songs about (Paul) McCarthy and (Sam) Lightnin'
Hopkins, noted politician, but even though he's singing about important
stuff, the songs are very well written. They're catchy too. "Finest
Worksong(not the alternate horn mix) rocks hard and I love that cover of
"Strange". It kind of tails off at the end a little, but before the end
there's many good tunes! "The One I Love" was a huge hit, and even though
all three verses are exactly the same, it deserved it. The standout is
obviously the one with the really long title that I'm not gonna type, though
I guess I could've instead of typing that crappy substitute. A tournament, a
tournament, a tournament of lies! I like the one where Mills is all "it's a
sign of the times!" too. That one is actually the same one that's about
McCarthy. This is right before their sell-out (every seat in every arena
they play) phase, filled with bubblegum pop and cherry flavored licorice,
but for the moment they were on top of their game. I give it a 9.
Just a couple notes:
Ooooohh! A compilation of all the pre-Warner
Brothers hits! Fantastic record, as you probably already may have suspected.
Far from comprehensive, though. Only one track from Life's Rich Pageant,
but THREE from Document? And what the boop is "Talk About The Passion"
doing on here? If you're cheap, buy it immediately. Otherwise, do the right
thingy and buy all the original albums.
As I did when I was 15 and tired of shitty hard rock, this is a great
way to start. You'll find yourself having everything else pretty soon,
though. Listening to this is like watching only the asteroid field
scene in Star Wars. You just can't get by on only this much.
I have to agree that Life's Rich Pageant is underrepresented, but there
is something to Document. I'd have a tough time deciding which one to
omit. Eponymous is an excellent sampling of REM's early work, but I
would also recommend buying the albums themselves. It's worth it.
I like the version of "Gardening at Night" on here better than the one on
Chronic Town, and the new horns mix for "Finest Worksong" is certainly an
improvement from the original, but it's just unforgivable that only one song
from Pageant is on here. It kinda makes the album look like a black sheep to
anyone who buys this album first, like Van Halen's Diver Down akin to Best of
Volume 1. Comprende?
Good compilation, but the thing is that early REM wasn’t a
singles band at all. The first five songs all blend into a uniform mush
that doesn’t let up until the easily identifiable "Can’t Get There From
Here" comes on, then the mush starts again until "Fall On Me." R.E.M.
didn’t become much of a singles band until Document (and then they
stopped being one again after Out Of Time) --while the albums released
earlier were great, the songs still didn’t lend themselves to singles.
Also, I think the reason that only "Fall On Me" was included from Lifes
Rich Pageant was because it’s the album’s only real standout track — the rest
of the album only works well as a whole. Plus, it offers more of an incentive to buy
that album, which no person even slightly into R.E.M. should be without. 8/10
"Talk About The Passion" is on here because it's a classic, obviously.
It still gets radio play, at least where I listen (though that may be
only because it's on this album.
"Talk about the passion" definatly belongs here. A good compilation. I would of added a
few songs, though, like "Superman", "Swan Swan H", "Wolves, Lower", and maybe even
"Wendell Gee".. I love that song, even though not many people give a damn about it..
Pretty slight as far as anthologies go. Skip it and get all of the original
albums. They are that good, even Fables...
This record is amazingly poorly-paced. An equal distribution of electric
rockers and mandolin-driven folk songs makes for a pleasantly diverse
listening experience, but the fact that the first seven songs are about ten
times better than the last four kinda does it in a little. "Pop Song 89,"
"Get Up," and "Stand" are stupid, exuberant, and wonderful pop rockers, "You
Are The Everything" and "The Wrong Child" are beautifully sad (and sadly
beautiful) mandoliners, and "Orange Crush" and "World Leader Pretend" are the
same sort of pessimistic rock that propelled "The One I Love" into the hearts
of dozens. In fact, rumor has it that the reason only the lyrics to "World
Leader Pretend" were printed on the inner sleeve is because Michael Stipe
thought the rest of the songs were garbage. I like 'em, though! At least
those first seven. And then?
REM goes pop.....AHHHH! No! But some songs were great like "WORLD LEADER
PRETEND," and Mike Mills steps up with actually good back-up vocals.
Green shows a multi-talented band at a sadly low point.
Green is definitely a good album. I pretty much
agree with you..."Hairshirt" and "Turn You Inside
Out" are two of my least favorite REM songs, but
don't discount #11. It has a certain lilt to it
that always cheers me right up if I'm in a bad
mood. Also, it's not really a "mandoliner," it's
just a really happy song a la Frente's
"Accidentally Kelly Street" (which I also love).
I'm with Scott on "World Leader Pretend". Too beautiful for
description. "Turn you Inside Out" always sounds like a half-assed
"Worksong" rewrite to me. "Orange Crush" is perfect car radio ear
candy.
If REM aren't the most boring band in history this album goes pretty
f*@*ing close to being the most worthless and pretentious piece of crap I
ever bought. God save the Ramones and let this stuff pass into the FM
catalogues of the world along with Phil Collins and Starship.
8? Where are the other two? Hell, where are the other three? Green is
undubitably the single greatest album ever recorded. "Pop Song 89" and "Get
Up" start this one off real well, and then it takes off. "You Are the
Everything" is the greatest poignant song in history, and the only reason
I don't miss it when it ends is that "Stand" and "World Leader Pretend" are
on the same five-star level. "The Wrong Child" is actually pretty
cacophonous, but it always seems to pass quickly and thus detracts
minimaly from the album... and it's all the more tolerable when you
realize what's after it. "Orange Crush" absolutely rocks and "Turn You
Inside Out" (how is it slow? I don't think it's anything like "Finest
Worksong"....it's much more powerful...you obviously like their pre-WB
stuff better, and I prefer the WB) keeps up the pace. The last three are
a bit disappointing, but they're certainly tolerable and can be easily
omitted from your listening, seeing as they're at the end of the CD.
GREEN kicks ass.
Green used to be my favorite R.E.M. album, but then I realized how annoying
"The Wrong Child" and "Hairshirt"...it's certainly two of their worst songs.
"Turn You Inside-Out" is quite a rocker when performed live, and the rest of
the album is very good. The reason for all the mandoliners is because the
band originally wanted the "air" and "metal" sides of the album (R.E.M. comes
up with different names for both sides of each of their albums...how now,
brown cow?) to have acoustic and electric tracks. However, that idea was
abandoned and the song discrepancies on this album remain. At least Stipe
still can't type..."R" is right underneath "4" on standard keyboards.
Ooopsie!
Amusing trivia: The reason track 4 on Green is listed as track "R" is that
Michael Stipe is an awful data entry specialist. He typed the inlay card,
messed up, and the lazy sod didn't bother to go back and fix it. That's the
same reason there's no apostrophe in Lifes Rich Pageant. Go ahead, pull it
out
and look for yourself.
Nice album, 8, same sentiments as our man Prindle...
I'm sure a lot of people noticed about that 4=R thing, but I'm not so
sure that it was a typing error. Document had "No. 5" on it, and the
next one had a four meaning something weird. Almost as if they were
counting down to something...I mean, why is the 4 only visible on the
cover when it is in the light? That doesnt sound like a typing error,
more like trickery. Did anybody happen to look real hard at the album
covers before Document??? Ah HA!!! FOOLS!!! Well, neither did I. Oh
well, your'e probably right anyways.
It ever occur to you(^) that Document may have a R.E.M. no. 5 on it because
it's their fifth record? Also, I never realized Turn You Inside Out was so
unpopular among R.E.M fans, I always really liked it. The last untitled track
is catchy too, although Stand kind of annoys me.
Unfortunately, I am in total agreement with Prindle's statement that the fun
stops after track seven. But, man what a first seven!!! "Get Up" and "Stand"
are fun, catchy as hell pop rockers, the two mandolin songs are beautiful, and
"World Leader Pretend" and "Orange Crush" are the two bonafide classics. A
great album up to number seven.
Really, really uneven. For every spectacular song there's a nondescript stinker ("The Wrong Child"?? Why?).
Also, the songwriting seems kind of restricted, like the band didn't want to take any chances this time
around or something. I really like "Orange Crush" and "Get Up" though, and "Stand" is a fun, if stupid,
hit single. Also, to Doug Tedeschi - if you agree that almost all of the songs at the end aren't
very good, HOW can you give the album an 11? 7/10
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this among all these Green-haters, but
this is my favourite REM album. And, yes, I do have all of them. I
realize it's kind of a sellout - but it's got great songs - especially
"World Leader Pretend", "Get Up", and "Orange Crush". And - you're
going to hate me for this, each and every one of you - I friggin LOVE
"Hairshirt". I think it's a damn pretty song - the most beautiful one
on here. Sure it's repetetive, but so was "Nightswimming", and everyone
loves that song. And, sure, "I Remember California" is a rewrite of
"Oddfellows Local", but first of all, that song was an awful rewrite of
"Feeling Gravity's Pull", and, secondly, it's a perfectly enjoyable
piece of music. "Turn You Inside Out" is not as good as "Worksong"
(what is?) but it's cool and catchy.
7/10: Bit patchy this, but 'Orange Crush' and 'You Are The Everything' are both ace.
I have to agree with Ben that this is absolutely the best thing they've
ever recorded. Wait a sec, what about OOT or AFTP? NAIHF? Fables?? Well
then...um...it's at least AS good as all their other stuff, although
The Wrong Child is 100 times better than just about anything they've ever written,
though the untitled song didn't strike me as being terribly
interesting. California is essentially the Oddfellows riff again, but the lyrics are different
and I'm more of a lyrical musician, myself. Hairshirt is
beautiful, almost as much as World Leader Pretend. Every streetlight creates a fly in the
hand of the world as we know it, and i feel the frequency, Kenneth.
Great album in my opinion. Id give it a 8. I personally think "Untitled 11th
Song" is very underrated, its probably one of my favorite REM songs. I also
love "Wrong Child". And i also think "You Are The Everything" is very
overrated. Pretty boring and uninteresting to me. "Turn You Inside Out" and
"Hairshirt" are pretty cool songs. I dont think they are as bad as some of
these people think it is. I do admit "I remember California" is a rip
from "Oddfellows Local 151" but its still a pretty cool song. 8/10. And i also
think that John Maitland is one of the most ignorant, people i encounter
everyday and he should put his head out of his ass and stop acting "punk" and
listen to the fucking music!
Half great, half weak. The first five tracks are some of the best they've
ever done. I'm pretty much disinclined to listen to the rest. I like
"Hairshirt" a little. Michael Stipe has grown his hair long and seems to
have gotten a perm, and he has long bangs that seem to come from the middle
of his head and thin out badly.
Sure "I Remember California" is likely to put one into a coma, but I'd like
to point out that "Oddfellow's" is a ripoff itself...but not of "Feeling
Gravity's Pull." Played on the guitar, it is EXACTLY THE SAME SONG AS "THE
ONE I LOVE." Put that in your pipe and smoke it. And anyone who doesn't
like "Turn You Inside Out" obviously never was so angry they wanted to rip
somebody's entrails out. Damn that grammar sucks. Gotta get off the booze.
Green sucks!!! Although several of the songs are fun it is extremely shallow. there are only 3 great songs "world leader pretend," "hairshirt" and
"orange crush," the rest are amusing but little more.
The major label debut! Hurrah! Actually, the label switch didn't seem to
have much of an effect on the guys, but maybe putting out their 7th release
of original material did. I agree with Prindle that they really shoot out of
the gate with the first part of the album, but on the whole the album seems
a bit disjointed and confused, like they decided to try everything without
thinking about how it would all sound together. And "Stand" is just a dang
goofy song. However, "Pop Song 89," "Orange Crush," "World Leader Pretend,"
and "Turn You Inside Out" are really fine songs, especially "Turn You Inside
Out." They almost sound menacing on that one until you go back and listen to
the Stooges or something that is actually menacing. If you can get past the
lack of sonic unity on the album and dig on their willingness to explore the
possibilities behind their folk-pop, mid-tempo rawk and somber balladeering,
it's good. I mean, it really is good. I don't think you can accuse them of
compromising for a major, anyway.
As I found with a lot of band over the years, I liked REM much better before I knew anything about them. Previous to the release of Green, Michael
Stipe started taking out ad in college newspapers that read Michael Stipe Says Vote Democratic! Not Michael Stipe Says Vote Democratic Because. .
. ., after which he could have added any number of arguments to educate his fans and convince them to support his cause. But hey, whatever you do,
don't fucking think about it! Just do it 'cause Michael Stipe says to! God, what a fucking prick. . . .
Well, I guess it sounds like Joy Division, but I don't care, because a lot
of the songs are really catchy. It might be a little too samey and
one-dimensional, but, listened to in small chunks, it's totally satisfying,
no matter how overdramatic and silly the darkness may seem at times.
Shoes! Ten years into their career, they're still coming up with this many
creative pop-folk-rock melodies? What are the odds on that? I'll be the first in line to
pronounce "Belong" a stinker, but the rest are grander than a banjo! Just melodies from Heaven that stay inside your head where you must sing them all day! Stipe is singing louder and prouder than ever, and hitting notes all over the place. In fax,
this one ends with four of the greatest songs they've ever performed;
learning from Green's mistakes, eh? EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?????????? Plus, Mike Mills sings "Texarkana" and "Near Wild Heaven" just wonderfully; he doesn't have the presence
of Stipe, but he hits all the notes, and it's a nice break from Mr. Smelly's
increasingly James Taylor-ish twang. The many, many hits off this record include "Radio
Song" (jangle-funk-rap, but not nearly as embarassing as it could've been;
it's actually quite playish and fun), "Losing My Religion" (an obsessive
follow-up to "The One I Love"), and "Shiny Happy People," which is a much
better -- and less sickeningly happy -- song than I used to think it was.
This is a great album from a great band. The melodies are excellent and,
for the first time, when faced with the challenge of true
radio/TV/Platinum/Record Company Parties/Charity Work/Joining Scientology/
Planet Hollywood Openings/Dating Madonna success, they turned out an
excellent album, lodging them permanently into the spotlight like Rush
Limbaugh into a movie theater seat.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for ment