Your Eyes Are Burning POLLs Through Me: REM's "New Adventures In Hi-Fi"

yeah totally. did any New Adventures songs get much play in post-BB tours?

iirc they played "so fast so numb" and "low desert" a lot during their tour for in time

or maybe i just saw a video of them playing "low desert" once on that tour and stipe calling it his favorite song

I move across
innocence lost

all static and desire

'Low Desert' got shafted a bit in this poll, I think. Wonderful track.

i just can't get into this album, never could. I don't know why, it seems like it should be good when I listen to it.

Think I'll be breaking this out tomorrow, thanks y'all. In my head "How The West Was Won" overlaps a lot with Doom II music but that's a few years off. Something real weird and spare, the piano riff to this, and not a way they really use keyboards in the rest of their catalog. There's this real almost chamber music feel to some of the arrangements on this album, when they're not outright rocking they sound almost like a brush-kit coffee shop quartet or something. There's aspects of that to Automatic, especially "Sweetness Follows" but there's a willingness to leave empty space here that really changes the sound of the band for me.

I am here to report back that this record rules, and the answer is "Be Mine."

There's a chord in that song that's so beautiful. It reminds me of the Verlaines. Right at the end of that repeating progression - when it goes from F# minor to the parallel major. And then the two added sixth chords that wrap it back around to the beginning.

That is exactly it. When that came around and I just found myself rocking along, pummeling an imaginary guitar and letting my heart dip a little into my stomach - oh, yeah.

In my darkest hour as an REM fan, when all my beliefs seemed to be put under test, this was the one WB era album I could never deny.

This could be a sort of anti-New Jersey album, a follow up to a huge but not that beloved album (not to me, I really like all REM albums up to this one, Monster included) which surpasses its predecessor in every way but falls very short commercially. Maybe it was the lack of a clear lead single, maybe there was REM exhaustion to some degree, but there are a lot of standout tracks in here and though I suppose So fast So numb would be my choice, any of the other songs could be a pick depending on the mood.

Back then I was really into William Messner Loebs' Wonder Woman and Mark Waid's Flash, and I can't listen to this album without recalling the image of WW selling burgers.

sales slid after 'monster' scared the people who started listening because of 'out of time' and 'automatic'? their loss. who else makes a record that rules this much ten albums into it? "so fast so numb" and "leave" are so good. "bittersweet me" might be michael's best set of lyrics, and that's really saying something. "oh my peer, your veneer, is wearing thin and cracking -- the surface informs the underneath: the underneath is lacking." fuck

poor show for Be Mine.

I'm really surprised too. Interesting that Yorke seems to be a huge fan of that song as well.

at the Tibetian Freedom Concert Yorke sang the Patti Smith part in "E-Bow..."

Just a wee bit long and dips a little in the middle, but this is a very very good album. All REM albums make me think of travelling. This one especially so.

It's no exaggeration to say that this is one of a handful of albums that saved my life/sanity.

at the Tibetian Freedom Concert Yorke sang the Patti Smith part in "E-Bow..."

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, October 16, 2014 9:07 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was there! Stipe also sang with Radiohead for "Lucky"

So was I. Will never forget the sonic boom that was God hurtling a thunderbolt as punishment for the Herbie Hancock-Dave Matthews Band jam.

Kudos to R.E.M. for playing "Airportman" and a bunch of other new and obscure songs while Stipe shimmied in a sarong.

god smote them later

http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070309/michaelstipe/skirt_l.jpg

Yeah, 'Be Mine' has always been a favourite... great set of chords in the chorus! Mike Mills was responsible for writing the music for that one (hence why he's playing guitar on it). Really though, I don't know what I would have voted for in this poll. My favourite on this album changes all the time, there's not one track on the album I dislike, and it's one of the few albums of this length that I can listen from start to finish and it doesn't seem to drag for me. I have no problem with a lot of what R.E.M. did afterwards, but if they'd broken up after this record they certainly would have ended on a high.

I've enjoyed the talk on this and the previous albums. I'd like to see a threadpoll for Up but I'm scared to make an album poll in case I screw up the track list. It's my favourite Rem album. I've been thinking about "Suspicion" recently and it's one of the best things they ever did.

I Ate The POLLtus: REM's "Up"

(I did 'em all, back in the day, as the runup to a tragically fumbled ballot poll.)

Cool, I'll probably be on that thread in a couple of hours.

What was fumbled about it?

For some reason, I thought it would be cool to use the radio button poll results to generate the nomination list, which at the time seemed like a fun new way to use radio button polls. And there hadn't been as many artist-specific ballot polls so there wasn't really a standard in place. In hindsight the flaws in this approach are really obvious and basically it made for kind of crazy results although they were certainly interesting.

\///\/// It's the ongoing R.E.M. SUPER SUMMER POLL of POLLS \///\///

god Buck's guitar tone on this album is so crucial. such a long distance from any of their previous iconic sounds and yet really great for this material, for Stipe's voice and themes. "Be Mine" is such a towering, pummeling thing but also so raw and crunchy and approachable.

Berry killing it too, obv

it is a bit too long, but then i dont know exactly what i'd leave off. Probably the ones at the bottom of this poll I guess

like say the lonesome crowded west, i think the sprawl is a feature. perfect driving record

otm

also skimming back a bit, i think i must post about "Be Mine" every other time i listen to this album.

"Be Mine" is R.E.M. thinking, "Those dudes in Collective Soul made a lot of money with a power ballad..."

“Be Mine” maybe 1 of 5 songs I have memorized on guitar.

I never thought of this as funny
It speaks another world to me
I wanna be your Easter bunny
I wanna be your Christmas tree

Probably some of the most genuine, heartfelt lyrics Stipe penned.

alfred, that is COLD. collective soul (who probably really got going saying "those dudes in R.E.M. made a lot of money with "Losing My Religion") wish they could manage something as good as "Be Mine."

I like "Shine" (Dolly Parton's cover) and love "Be Mine."

have we ever polled Collective Soul's singles? i admit i like a few enough to keep 'em in my 90s alt-rock radio playlist.

I seem to recall reading Stipe somewhere saying that the character singing Be Mine is actually a bad, manipulative, controlling etc.

Some genius made a playlist of all their Xmas fan club singles. I really must go through this.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmTbXnVonpqc3EzXCcnfLZM9N4tw_KsXv

Thom Yorke shows up 30 minutes into this to sing Be Mine, and Mills says "That was his choice.. an interesting choice, i like that song a lot it's kinda one of mine.."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT1wdva2jbU

xp missing my fav, their goof on "Silver Bells"

when I saw R.E.M. at the Tibetan Freedom Concert, Yorke sang the "you 'n' me" bits.

what was THAT like.. seemed like such a weird gig from the random bits of footage i've seen.

crazy set..

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/rem/1998/robert-f-kennedy-memorial-stadium-washington-dc-5bd697f4.html

Stipe shimmying to "Airportman" in a sarong!