| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1888 Registered: 05-2005 |
Following on from the Neil Young... For me they could have given up after Document, even then that might have been an album too far. Be interesting (for me at least) to see who rates mid period REM(Green - Monster) above the first five. 1. Murmer 2. Fables etc 3. Reckoning 4. Life's Rich Pageant 5. Document | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1000 Registered: 08-2006 |
Good one, Kev. I actually rate "Monster" pretty high, and the one after makes my top 5. Everything after that, though, goes in the scrap heap. 1. Document 2. Out of Time 3. Murmur 4. Reckoning 5. New Adventures in Hi-Fi | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 804 Registered: 09-2006 |
Dunno if I can formulate a top five...I can say that I value much of the Green-New Adventures era as much or more than the first five. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 791 Registered: 10-2004 |
I could (and have!) live a perfectly great life without anything after Document. Chronic Town Murmur Reckoning Fables of the Reconstruction Life's Rich Pageant | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1820 Registered: 05-2005 |
1 Murmur 2 Out Of Time 3 Life's Rich Pageant 4 Fables Of The Reconstruction 5 Document Automatic For The People would have made it if it didn't have the dire Everybody Hurts on it. Rob, I really like Monster too. I've been laughed out of here everytime I've said so though. Good to know someone else rates it. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 793 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'm surprised to see no mention of Chronic Town. That, to me, is one of the most insanely brilliant things anyone has ever done in the history of pop music. After owning it for over 20 years, it still never fails to floor me whenever I hear it. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1895 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff, Chronic Town is of course brilliant. But its not an album, at least not here in the UK. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1822 Registered: 05-2005 |
No EPs Jeff! We could all be cool and slip it in; but we're sticking to the rules! | ||
| Dr Girlfriend Member Username: Doctor_girlfriend Post Number: 9 Registered: 10-2007 |
Murmur Life's Rich Pageant Reckoning Automatic for the People Document | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 323 Registered: 07-2006 |
reckoning automatic document life's rich pageant green sorry murmur, though sitting still is my fave rem track! | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 124 Registered: 10-2006 |
reckoning fables green out of time life's also the dream, one of those semi-legal (at the time) live cds - most songs taken from a dutch radio broadcast of their 1989 show at the pinkpop festival (green tour). and what does the board say about the real live album recently issued? i was pleasantly surprised. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 192 Registered: 01-2007 |
Bingo Hand Job_Live at the Borderline is a great live recording at the time of automatic for me : Murmur Fables Reckoning Life Rich Pageant Out Of Time | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2430 Registered: 03-2006 |
Frank, I'm gonna be lazy and just sign on to your list. It's perfect. Bubbling under for me are some albums that probably don't get a lot of love here, but wtf: Automatic New Adventures Monster Green | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 795 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kevin - of course chronic town is an EP, but I think you're being a total fascist with your non-LP insistence. Chronic Town HAS to count for this list. I mean, wtf? | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 796 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig, that goes for you too! Chronic Town, for me, is he most majestic thing they ever released, so not including it is just absurd. | ||
| Jonathan Evans Member Username: Jon Post Number: 126 Registered: 04-2005 |
Mine seems a little different to those above, but here goes:- Green Document Murmur Automatic Out Of Time Cheers Jon | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1863 Registered: 05-2005 |
Its really not difficult is it? Murmer. Reckoning. Fables. Life's Rich Pageant Document/Green. Jeff I know what Kev means and I know what you mean. Chronic issue is definately a US thing. Over hear amongst the REM people I remember over years gone by, many people could not afford to buy it,(it was always sold at a stupid import price, you coulda bought a Lloyd Cole, Orange Juice and Prfab Sprout album for the price of 1 Chronic Town!) and had it only on tape. Because all the albums were easily affordable and thus available, the albums got taalked about as albums, and Chronic Town, like The Talk about..e.p., people always knew weree absolute gems but never got played at disco's or party's...It ws always talked about but not obsessed about, same for Falling and Lughing by Orange juice, the first postacrd single. Yes it wa fab and groovy, but no one had it, so all t'other songs eclisped it. In fact, the first time I have actually seen that single, was indeed on ebay, that's how rare it was. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1900 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff, I thought the clue was in the topic subject- "top 5 REM albums"  In the UK, I'm not 100% sure what constitutes an album release, but it sure as hell aint 5 songs. Thats side 1 of an album!! | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 797 Registered: 10-2004 |
My point is that no discussion of REM's early material can ever be complete without some mention of Chronic Town. Yes, it's an EP, but I think this is a case where that full length LP rule can be discarded because Chronic Town offers a truly vital and pure look into REM's early musical output. For a debut it is stunningly mature. It's not merely some great but obscure oddity like the Go-Betweens' Peel Sessions EP. It's a crucial part of REM's early history that people in my circles over the years have always talked about with utmost reverence. No, Chronic Town isn't technically a full-length album, but it IS a stunning collection of 5 songs. And hey, at least it's not a single. I can draw the line there. Spence probably has a point about Chronic Town being rendered totally obscure in the UK due to it being some hard-to-find import-only oddity. But in the US, back in the 80s you could find just as many brand new, shrink-wrapped copies of Chronic Town as you could Document or Pageant or Murmur on the record store shelves. It was the first REM record I bought, too, when I was a mere 12 years old, and it still holds up brilliantly. So, apologies for my refusal to be anal retentive, but my list above stands! | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 194 Registered: 01-2007 |
LK we both have very similar tastes in music, I like green/document/automatic not big on later stuff but do have listen to New advestures occasionally. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 856 Registered: 01-2005 |
Murmur Reckoning Fables Dead Letter Office (it contains the Chronic Town ep) Document | ||
| Juan Vera Bellon Member Username: Veritabellon Post Number: 5 Registered: 09-2007 |
Automatic Murmur Life's rich pageant Green Hi Fi | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1593 Registered: 04-2005 |
Until about '95 or so, R.E.M. could do no wrong in my eyes, and a top five list would have been really difficult, short of "Murmur" at #1, which has always been true for me. But their decline and retreat from their earlier principles has forced me to reexamine their whole catalog, and I realize now I was overrating it. I don't think they made five really first-rate albums--they were the masters of boring second sides in the '80s (even "Murmur" sags a bit), for one thing, and some albums I rate have horrible lows (Automatic's "Everybody Hurts" and "Ignoreland," for example, keeping it out of the top five). So all this aside, I guess the top five would be: Murmur Reckoning Life's Rich Pageant Fables of the Reconstruction Document (great first side, second is pretty thin) Their first five full studio albums, in other words. And "Chronic Town" is of course a great EP, and if we had a category of best EPs ever, it would be a strong contender. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 800 Registered: 10-2004 |
Here's my rambling assessment of REM's career, as an attempt to open up more discussion... For me, REM's Chronic Town through Reckoning was an absolutely stellar run; 3 releases by a band who, at that point, could do no wrong. Perfect, gorgeous, tasteful, shimmering, melodic, unique, fresh pop. Growing up, my friends and I were ridiculously obsessive about Chronic Town/Murmur/Reckoning, speaking of them in hushed tones as if we had in our midst the very meaning of life. But w/ Fables, cracks began to appear. Not wanting to drive themselves into an artistic cul-de-sac, they made an ambitious but uneven set of songs: some great, others forced and awkward. Pageant compounded the problem. Sure, it had some truly stellar tunes, like the lovely college radio hit "Fall on Me," but at this point they were veering mighty close to self-parody; a band running thin on fresh ideas. Document seemed a bit of a rejuvenation, especially since "The One I Love" gave them their first US top 20 hit, while "End of the World as We Know It" was an energetic breath of fresh pop. The rest of Document was an eclectic mixed bag, but REM seemed more comfortable, even like they were having fun, playing with new styles. A lot of people slag Green, but I think it's so-so. Although depressingly weak compared to Murmur, it almost seemed more unified after Document, not to mention the move to a major and playing shows in football stadiums didn't seem to mess with their overall aesthetic too seriously. Had they called it quits after Green, I'd still have quite a lot of respect for them. Out of Time was an unmitigated disaster; a band searching in vain for a purpose and not coming within miles of anything credible. "Everybody Hurts" and "Drive" were so tedious that they kept me away from Automatic, initially. I can see Automatic's appeal, but for me, the magic had long since disappeared. Monster seemed like REM's sad attempt at staying relevant, playing generic grungy distorto-rock 'cause that's what everyone else was doing at the time. Everything since, with the exception of "Up," (whose Beach Boys/High Llamas inspired moods and melodies seemed an interesting and slightly daring move) has been a sad case of REM on autopilot. Churning out occasionally pleasing but thoroughly bland/uninspired albums to pay the bills and keep the people working for the REM machine employed. I've listened to every single REM album except their most recent, and I've found just about everything in the past 12 years to be really unengaging. I think it's great when bands change, evolve, etc.. even radically. It's how artists stay fresh. But I honestly feel like REM ran out of ideas long ago, and were just too chicken/stubborn to realize that the well had run dry, that the time for dying with dignity has long since passed. I realize most people may disagree with this, and I know those mid-90s records get a lot of love, but to me the REM saga is a frustrating story of a band not knowing when to quit. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1594 Registered: 04-2005 |
Jeff, that's a very accurate and thoughtful summary of the band's history. The band used to say in interviews that they'd break up at midnight, January 31, 1999. And they really should have. Probably a lot sooner, actually. Their career trajectory has been fairly similar to U2's, and I think comparisons can be made. I've always been an R.E.M. diehard who was at best suspicious of U2 and very selective about what I like of theirs, I'd say that from 1990 on, U2's catalog has dwarfed R.E.M.'s in quality and relevance, though R.E.M. was by far the superior band in the '80s. And the biggest disadvantage U2 had compared to R.E.M.--a megalomaniacal front man--has been basically negated as Stipe has become almost as obnoxious as Bono in his public persona. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1005 Registered: 08-2006 |
I think I have a slightly different view of REM's output than some people here. I actually rate their mid-period rock stuff a little higher than their early period jangle-folk stuff. I listen to "Green" more than "Fables," "Out of Time" more than "Reckoning," and "Document" more than anything else. For that reason, I see their decline after "New Adventures" as more like a fall from a cliff than a slow slide. The new live album certainly supports that theory. The quality difference between the older stuff and the post-Bill Berry stuff is shocking. After listening to the wan, lifeless new stuff hearing "Cuyahoga" emerge from the murk almost makes you want to cry. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 722 Registered: 08-2004 |
Up gets short shrift all the time but I'd make it top 3. 1. Murmur & Chronic Town (They go well together) 2. Reckoning 3. Up 4. New Adventures 5. Out Of Time I really don't like Document or Green much. Save for the odd classic song, World Leader Pretend, Welcome To The Occupation for instance. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2434 Registered: 03-2006 |
Amen, Rob. You beat me to the punch. I was going to post almost the exact same thing, but my phone rang. Yeah, that mid-period stuff, to me, has the most "zazz". The most personality, oomph, moxie, etc. Funny thing was, once Stipe started enunciating, it turned out that he had some pretty interesting things to say in his songs (as album titles go, "Murmur" wins the truth in advertising award). For sheer listening pleasure, "Out of Time" is most often the one I reach for on the shelf. Though I still think "Shiny Happy People" is an evil turd from hell. But I really dig OOT's Beach Boys-y excursions, hyper-melodicism and droney, feedbacky touches. And having KRS-One rap on a song is one of those weird, out of left field artistic risks that totally paid off. And, honestly I don't think they made any albums they needed to be ashamed of, all the way up through "New Adventures". After that, the less said the better, because I see even those records have their fans. I will say this, though, I think I set a new personal record with "Around the Sun", trading it in the same day I got it. I never, btw, particularly thought the sun shone out of REM's behinds. Never thought they were seminal, or magic, or rock gods, just smart, creative guys, real mensches, capable of making great music on occassion. Probably because, in the South, they were fairly ubiquitous back in the day. They played in my college town just about every month, and when I started seeing 'em it was typically $5 at the door. So, bottom line, though I've followed them closely and know their catalog (except for the excresences I traded in and forgot) pretty well, I probably don't have the burning passion for them as a group some do... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 860 Registered: 01-2005 |
I'll agree with Jeff and second Kurt's opinion regarding REM and U2. REM's 1982-84 run was a gorgeous slice of heaven for me, although I didn't discover them until mid 1983. Just a notch behind was Let's Active ep and first album that I used to play a lot with the early REM. They made great traveling music on my many trips up north. "Night Swimming" and "Find The River" from AFTP still haven't wained for me though. They take me back to where I was 15 years ago this month when I bought the cd. LK, It's been a while since I played Out Of Time. I always did like the KRS-One rap on it. A nice bookend for that rap is Kirsty MacColl's rap "Walking Down Madison, also from 1991. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2436 Registered: 03-2006 |
Nightswimming, to me, contains everything that's great about REM! Funny thing is, they ain't no geetars on it, is there? Oh well... | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1869 Registered: 05-2005 |
Lots of interesting thoughts here... on their past and present. I think the thing about REM for me, as a 14 year old, to become obsesed by a band after hearing one song for the very first time...Radio Free Europe on The Tube, says a lot to me about how original they were. I had heard nothing lke it in my short amount of years. I had seen nothing like it. I think that's it. REM were original. I also think that's why they are allowed if you like tomake bummer records, or duff tracks. The only thing is with REM is that they are the only band that I had adored from my ealy youth that are still around today, treading the boards. The only band still playing and having lived through, 2 Iraq wars, the borth of the Internet, MP£ etc's yadda yadda yadda, they still exist. I think this must be the reason. Changing times etc, they ry to change withthem, but in most cases for the worst. I'll stop now as I don;t even know what I'm trying to say, see ya! Oh, anyone ever notice the striking similaruty between Find the river, great tune, and Walking on the spot by Crowded hoose? | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 197 Registered: 01-2007 |
Michael I'm with you on Find The River and Nightswimming are their any finer closing track to an LP? | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 325 Registered: 07-2006 |
can we add man on the moon to that frank to make for one of the best end-o-record trifectas? i wonder if it's also anything to do with how we listen to music. i seem to have become a lot more direct and almost mor with my taste the more i age, with the murky and ambiguous not having quite the same appeal that is used to. which is probably why i go back to automatic more than most....if it wasn't for the odd bit of pomp, it unashamedly sounds cut right open and stipe's voice never sounded so pressingly beautiful. it's true...everybody hurts was everywhere for what felt like an eternity but i can't help but think of (this isn't mine...i read it somewhere) how many people that song stopped from killing themselves. and more personal still, as a young teen watching my so-called life it plays over a particular scene which even now makes me burst into tears and want to run home and hug my mother for dear life. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1873 Registered: 05-2005 |
Everybody Hurts for me was worse than one of those backing tunes you'd find on old karaoke tapes, in the early 80's that some old dear would croon to thinking it was a Slim Whitnman track! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 863 Registered: 01-2005 |
Joe, "Man on The Moon" is my third favorite track from AFTP. Ignoreland is more than decent. I don't care for "Everybody Hurts" at all. Soul Asylum "Runaway Train", Suzanne Vega's and 1000 Maniacs "Luka" and "What's The Matter Here" were all prominent "helper" songs as well. I can still listen to them however. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1876 Registered: 05-2005 |
There is a light that never goes out, that were a prominent helper too, the kings of miserablism wanted to go out, anywhere, they didn't care!!!! | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 326 Registered: 07-2006 |
haha....loves it spence. there is a light only ever made me depressed...i've actually seen people weeping in the corner of discotheques to that one. the bad drvgs probably had something to do with it too. i listened to out of time last night....it does tend to meander about a bit throughout the second half (see kurt's thoughts above), but still a strong, bright listen. | ||
| Dr Girlfriend Member Username: Doctor_girlfriend Post Number: 14 Registered: 10-2007 |
i liked my brother's REM albums when i was younger, but now their albums are just boring...you guys are lucky you heard them when they were still good! | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 274 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've got to say that after the last one, I've just about given up on them. I USED to rank them as below.... Pageant Out of Time Reckoning Murmer Reveal. The last time I tried Monster it was nearly thrown out the window! - I think it's an aural tattoo no less! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 110 Registered: 10-2006 |
Country Feedback was my big "helper" REM song... without it, a rather lumpy Scottish body might have been found in a Valencian orange grove about 17 years back... I was quite surprised to find out it was the "most voted" song to play on the REM tour a few years ago, and even more surprised that when they kicked it off, I immediately burst into tears. Reeeeeeeaaaaaaaally hardcore! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1833 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart, Country Feedback has always been the one that seperated serious REM afficionados from the diletantes. Jeff, what Spence said about Chronic Town was on the money. In Ireland you almost never saw it and the very rare time you did it was so expensive it was way beyond reach. Nobody I knew had even heard it. So when I went to live in Boston in 1989 I was astonished you could just walk into a record shop any buy it! And I did! It's fantactic, of course, but I wish I'd heard it in the context of the early days (I got into them with Reckoning) rather than after six albums. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 39 Registered: 08-2005 |
Reckoning Life's Rich Pageant Document Automatic Green (though my favourite song - Driver 8 - is on none of these. Hey ho) |