REM should have broken up after lifes rich pageant, and they'd be remembered fondly. or after reckoning

/awaits harshing

albo: REM should have broken up after lifes rich pageant, and they'd be remembered fondly. or after reckoning

/awaits harshing

I'll go as far as to say that they were fine up until Bill Berry left. I was a hard-core fan, seeing them every tour and paying to be in the fan club (great swag at Christmas!) But eventually after wanting to slit my wrists after three or four albums straight, I gave up on them. I've heard their new CD is good, I just haven't gotten around to downl-, er, buying it.

I saw them on the LRP tour in 1986. They were awesome, although I'm fairly certain Stipe was tripping hard based on his stage banter. All their albums through LRP were really good. Green was a disappointment. I still hate Out of Time.

I thought Automatic for the People was an excellent album. Monster wasn't bad either.

I do still like Murmur the best.

ricewater_stool: I do still like Murmur the best.

their EP, murmur and reckoning were an elvis-costello-like string of excellent first albums

ricewater_stool: I still hate Out of Time.

Everything after Shiny Happy People on that album is sooooooooooo good.

Earguy: I'll go as far as to say that they were fine up until Bill Berry left.

Bingo. Artistically they peaked w/ Automatic,
but Reckoning was/is/shall ever be the uber-REM shiznit.

Yeah, they took a HUGE dive when Berry left. I will say that Accelerate is very good, though. Surprisingly good, considering what came before it.

What would Gibby Haynes say?

Dancin_In_Anson: What would Gibby Haynes say?

I dunno, but he would have no qualms about setting an old tour bus on fire right on Micheal stipe's lawn

HappyHarryHardOn: I dunno, but he would have no qualms about setting an old tour bus on fire right on Micheal stipe's lawn

With a little poetry?

You do know that Stipe is a farker, right?

Yeah he posts as robober.

I just want to announce that I used to go see these guys in Athens when they were still playing the bars around town. I had a terrible crush on Peter Buck. And Stipe wore his hair all over his face so nobody could even see what he looked like. Serial.

Kind of like how good M*A*S*H was before Alan Alda's sanctimonious ego took over. Even though it was still pretty darn good after that happened.

I'll go against the grain here. I first saw REM in 83. Stipe was unintelligible. I think the band improved and their sound became more distinctive.

Life's Rich Pageant was my favorite.

Not their best by a longshot. They really miss Bill Berry. I still think Fables is their best. The last really great one was New Adventures, & the last good one was up.

I can see the railroad trestle that's on the cover of that album from my front yard, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

I gave up after Document

Control_this: I'll go against the grain here. I first saw REM in 83. Stipe was unintelligible. I think the band improved and their sound became more distinctive.

This. I think they became better songwriters and musicians, too. My first exposure/purchase was Green. Because the band was new to me, that album had the most impact, and so it remains my 'favorite', but I don't know if that qualifies it as 'best'. (I think Up is a close second with quality of songwriting, clear definable hooks and varied sounds). I'd never heard Murmur all the way through until a week ago and thought it was one long mopey, messy chord progression, a messy glob of mid-tempo strumming that seems more befitting My Bloody Valentine. I remember Eddie Vedder raving about Murmur... I finally heard it and was all, "Meh." It left me curious as to which songs in particular were drawing people to say it's their best album.

I prefer the early stuff, but they're still good for the occasional fantastic song. I never bothered listening to all of Reveal but I love "The Lifting."

Maybe he's pretentious but Stipe seems like a good guy. I think it's cool that he took the time to answer a massive number of questions that fans sent in about his songs: http://popsongs.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/ask-michael-stipe-1/

Pylon were better.


....even REM admitted this.

I saw them in '83 at the University of Rochester, warming up for the English Beat. Fantastic concert, even if I couldn't understand Stipe.

Accelerate is their best album since Berry left.

Lifes Rich Pageant is probably their best album, actually. But all the pre-Warners stuff is golden. All of it.

Brad_Will: Kind of like how good M*A*S*H was before Alan Alda's sanctimonious ego took over. Even though it was still pretty darn good after that happened.

No it wasn't.

galactus5000: Accelerate is their best album since Berry left.

Absolutely. I really wish he felt up to coming back. One of the enigmas about REM is who contributed what to which song, because they always shared writing credit as Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe regardless of who wrote the song.

But articles and books suggest some of my favorites were written in large part by Bill Berry. "Leave" being one of them.

I was lucky to see them when they played the Del Mar Fair in San Diego County back in '83. $2 to get in the fair, the concert was free. They had a stage set up on the race track. Stipe was wearing a sombrero. I was 15 years old and the world was out there waiting for me to take a slice out of it.

Now I'm a bitter old Farker wasting time online on a Friday night.

jiaxiaobo: I'd never heard Murmur all the way through until a week ago and thought it was one long mopey, messy chord progression, a messy glob of mid-tempo strumming that seems more befitting My Bloody Valentine.

???

I've thought Ecstasy and Wine-era MBV sounded REM-ish, but that's about it.

i'm glad there's all this good praise being heaped on "lifes". it's one of my very fav. albums, if not very fav. by R.E.M.
2nd is "Automatic".

i like the first 4 or 5 songs on "murmur" a lot, but the rest just aren't as good, IMHO.

and "fables" is one of the worst albums i've heard from the mid 80's. by anyone. it's so boring and nothing is good on it.

dammit
that should've been "if not my *very* fav. by R.E.M."

I live in Athens and just ate at Weaver D's this week, so I'm getting a kick...yadda yadda yadda.

/Mmm...mac 'n cheese
//Communication!

Automatic for the People is their best, so shutup subby.

Instead of trying to pick their best, I'll just say Reveal was their worst. Everything else is my favorite.

I was also a hard-core fan until Berry left. Thats when they released that turd called UP.

Thier best imo is a toss up between Life's Rich Pageant and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Yes I liked it.

Subby:
You realize that the deluxe edition came out in November of last year?

jiaxiaobo: It left me curious as to which songs in particular were drawing people to say it's their best album.

All of them.

Every REM album is farking great. They should all exist.

Murmur is good, but not their best.

The band is better now than ever.

I farking LOVE Up, Reveal, and Around the Sun.

That is all.

I made it up to Document before saying, "fark that shiat".

Still like Dead Letter Office the best... the re-release with the addition of the Chronic Town EP is pretty awesome.

Not sure it counts as a real album, but Dead Letter Office was always a favorite of mine. Also, much love for New Adventures.

Things were rocky for a while after Berry left, and I do tend more heavily towards the pre-Warner catalog... But there isn't a single album they've ever put out that doesn't have at least one or two moments of brilliance. Hell, even Dead Letter Office has some gems.

Ha, I didn't even see those last two posts immediately above mine. Hooray Dead Letter Office!

Boris S. Wort: Still like Dead Letter Office the best... the re-release with the addition of the Chronic Town EP is pretty awesome.

Ebenator: Not sure it counts as a real album, but Dead Letter Office was always a favorite of mine. Also, much love for New Adventures.

Maynard G. Muskievote: ...Hell, even Dead Letter Office has some gems.


Burning Hell! Actually, I still have the 12" that was originally on.

ELF Radio: Every REM album is farking great. They should all exist.

Murmur is good, but not their best.

The band is better now than ever.

I farking LOVE Up, Reveal, and Around the Sun.

That is all.

This. (Well, almost. If Around the Sun is trimmed into an EP or performed live, we're good.)

R.E.M. is an incredible band because they evolve and mature with every album. The R.E.M. quality is always there, but each album is still it's own uniquely-sounding entity.

It really bugs me when musictards somehow decide new=best and maturity=irrelevant. Two of my favorite artists, Peter Gabriel and Natalie Merchant, consistently top themselves with each subsequent album. This doesn't diminish the quality and charm of their earlier work at all, of course. There are times when you want to listen to something more raw and uncontrolled, but saying that rawness is inherently better is a great way to miss some of the best music out there.

There are times I want the college radio garble of early R.E.M., times I want the clean and rich sounds of their 90's albums - and times when I sit back and listen to Reveal with awe, as that album is exquisitely crafted.

And let's not forget Accelerate, a loving "fark you" to all the people who felt a band moving in one direction negated or discredited its previous path. Is nuanced music too scary for you? Fine, we'll keep moving and ROCK YOUR FACE OFF this time!

R.E.M. is one of the best live bands out there, you know. The last time they came to DC, they put on the best concert I've ever seen. (It's neck in neck with a B-52's/Blondie doubleheader, but I think my face my have been rocked harder by Stipe.) Wrinkles aren't musical kryptonite, yanno. This is a band that loves what it does and is doing it better than ever.

Yes, yes, I am the apologist fanboy, so my gushing is expected. I'm in the fan club. I took a pilgrimage to Athens. I have a pressed piece of kudzu taken from the bridge from the Murmur cover on my wall. Heck, when REMhq was told of my existence, they sent me a huge package of R.E.M. goodies. (I've been bribed!) Take my words for what they are. But I'm still totally right.

Well, at least there aren't any "Murmur is the only good REM album" snobs in this thread yet.

I'm a huge REM fan, but I'll have to admit their post-Berry albums have been pretty damn weak, and in increasing quantities. Accelerate is a bit of an upturn, though... here's hoping they reverse the trend.

Even without Berry, though, they still put on a hell of a live show.

Fables is my fave.... Automatic is my second fav
But can find something good in every album.
/met my husband at an REM show in '99.
//Like "Galveston" on new album

Every year since sometime in college, on the first nice day of spring I open the windows and play Murmur. It just seems to fit.

carmody: Lifes Rich Pageant is probably their best album, actually. But all the pre-Warners stuff is golden. All of it.

Amen; LRP is definitely a desert-island disc; but I'd settle for Murmur or Reckoning. My favorite song, however, is "Burning Hell" on Dead Letter Office.

Um.. no.

Murmur was their pre-getting-good album. I'm amazed that people were prescient enough to see potential in it.

Also, Reveal was their first bad record.

It's a damn shame. They were awesome right up until the moment that they started to suck.

that murmur album first appeared at the radio station
where i had my first show back in the day;
i played "talk about the passion" at lunch hour


later on i listened more and more to what at first blush
seemed rather plain

but as genius rock writer lou stathis wrote in heavy metal magazine
"next thing you know, you're mumbling along to the lyrics."

and it's true, i got sucked into that passionate musical oddity.
last album to hit me that way recently was Midlake's Van Occupanther

slow revealing musik is the best

http://myspace.com/daveyunderground