POO- REM

"did we miss anything..."

Also, it's funny to see that POO used to be a happenin' trend!

Favourite R.E.M. original: "So. Central Rain". At least while the song is playing, I can briefly glimpse a hint of (what I think is) the whole enigmatic/magnetic aura that made so many people (aside from myself) worship these guys. As usual, I'm not sure what Stipe was singing half the time, but his "I'm sorry" sounds sincere enough, and that appropriately sad little 12-string intro helps.

In fact, now that I think of it, I consider (nearly) that entire first side of Reckoning to be pretty enjoyable. Guess I don't hate 'em as much as I've always pretended to. (I do hate most everything post-I.R.S. tho.)

Don't know why this song gets such a bad rap, even from the band. I've always loved it.

But push come to shove...Fall On Me

I'd pick Me In Honey. though there are many i could pick.

moral kiosk for me

but there are so many awesome songs

Driver 8

Kahoutek for the middle 8, or The One I Love for abject effective simplicity

oops I meant "letter never sent" for the great bridge, okay i'm totally botching this

So. Central Rain

"Monty Got A Raw Deal" today. I don't listen to that album much but I love how this song shows that R.E.M. could be forbidding and deeply mysterious even when Stipe and his mates were being as articulate as possible. Plus, Berry's drum thwack before Stipe sings "You don't owe me anything," then followed by a Mills harmony = near wild heaven.

World Leader Pretend

i said "Leave" a year ago, and i'll stick with that answer :)

"9-9" for the middle, with Stipe's drone and Buck's hypnotic guitar - aw, the whole thing is great.

Kahoutek. While Fables isn't a solid album all the way through and I prefer other albums more on the whole, it has my favorite songs: Kahoutek, Maps and Legends, Feeling Gravity's Pull.

Perfect Circle

ah, Perfect Circle is gorgeous...and Bill is right, Fables is full of unsung gems, esp. Maps & Legends

paint me pink and call me populist, but 'losing my religion' was, is, and will be a fantastic song

you
are
the
everything

"Find The River"
(for just tonite, mind)

Shame or not: "Radio Free Europe" still stands.

I think there are eight different picks from Murmur on here.

"Driver 8" right now. Basically, everything about it: from that understated yet attention-snagging opening riff, through the propulsive jangle, via that gorgeous bridge ("Way to shield the hated heat /Way to put myself to sleep /Way to shield the hated heat /Way to put myself, my children to sleep") to the overall mood that rides a difficult line between a literal Southern train ride -- rich and imagistic -- and some other more figurative journey (toward death?). R.E.M. were almost always better when they were ambiguous.

"Fall On Me," for the last 15 years or so.

Has anyone ever noticed how much the coda to "Finest Worksong" sounds like mid-80s-era Rush?

"Shaking Through" from Murmur. Because of the poignancy of the first few lines
"Could it be that one small voice, doesn't count in the world",
and then it becomes incomprehensible, something about geisha girls.
Lovely guitar line. Great middle 8.
From when they were mysterious, not a big fuckoff rock band.

Disturbance At The Heron House - Mainly because I got into REM just before Document came out and it's the first REM song that really caught my ear and I love Stipe's beautiful vaulting vocal melody in the verses, he never sang it live the same way so it must have been a bit of a stretch.

sitting still

haha i didn't see my previous post

One I Love, End of the World as We Know It and Radio Free Europe were all indie disco floor fillers in my formative years and as a rule I'd normally side with IRS era stuff but I think I'm going to go with What's the Frequency, Kenneth? as it's the only REM song I ever think about listening to these days. I love the intro and the guitar sounds and Stipe's voice is less irritating than normal.

Drive

Close runnerup: Life & How To Live It

Man on the Moon wins despite strong competition from about a dozen others.

I'd still go fo' "Find the River"

there's a copy of Murmur for sale at my workplace for like $12.99...am totally buying it this Friday (provided it doesnt cut too deeply into my Watchmen movie money)

nightswimming. its their only song, really

It's something of an apotheosis, I admit. But it's also a sign of indulgence to come that R.E.M. had a perfect album ender with that one and didn't end the album with it!

So many songs I like from throughout their career, but the correct answer iiiiiis... "Country Feedback".

"shaking through"

Gardening
At
Night

The One I Love

Laughing

Harbourcoat no contest

qualmsley sending me back to Shaking Through. Glorious. I keep finding tracks on Murmur that I feel like I've underrated.

The reason I choose GAN: I hadn't listened to REM in years and a friend put that song on a mix which ushered in a new era of REM obsession for me and got me to go back and check out all their 80s output and really fall in love with it. There are many other REM songs I love that I could imagine POOing at one time or another.

E-Bow the Letter

but Gardening at Night comes in at #3 trip

Shaking Through is the best song from the pre-major years. The chorus breaks through like sunshine through clouds.

for a third time in five years: "find the river" :)

xpost Love "Country Feedback," but it's another example of enlisting a dramatic, striking song as the penultimate track (much as I like "Find the River!"). Speaking of "Automatic," I'm a big fan of "Try Not to Breathe." In terms of song placement, it's such a perfect follow-up to "Drive." Killer bridge.

"Blue", the closer on the new albummm, starts out almost like a reminiscence of "Country Feedback":)

Radio Free Europe

Please file my "Harborcoat" vote.

"could it be that one small voice, doesn't count in the world..."
(at least that's what I think he says.)
I love the early mysterious REM, not the big rock band of later years so much
So it's between Shaking Through, Feeling Gravity's Pull and Fall on Me.
I'll go for Shaking Through for that wonderful wordless middle 8 that's all Stipe mumble

I forgot Boxcars. Also sublime.

early mysterious rem is my favorite too. "long gone intuition / to assume are gone / when we try / listen with your eyes / oversimplify / westest." i still have no idea what he's on about, but i'll never stop wanting to. sometimes i think because rem stayed and aged together, it's harder to remember how michael was sort of like morrissey to a lot of us clueless yanks back in the day

Have I really never posted in this thread before? OK, then. "Pilgrimage."

Stipe has often said "County Feedback" is his best song -- listening to it now, I think it's diluted by association with many similar-sounding tracks on later albums. The songs on Out of Time that sound freshest are the ones whose sound REM never really returned to, like "Me In Honey," or, at least until the newest record, "Low" and "Belong."

Curious if there's a cultural/commercial context in which the remaining REM members would go on and on about how the new album is their best since Green and very Green-like and really taps into that Green vibe for the first time since Green.

Whever I see this thread title I think about how pleasantly unexpected it would be for R.E.M. to title a new album Poo.

POO is hard (giggles) but I think i'd have to take Rockville. It lyrically resonates with me more than any of their other songs. I know it's not their best or coolest, but if I could only listen to one REM song before I died, it would be Rockville.

or pooing while you're in a light sleep phase. xp

Since "pick only ten" is POX and "pick only five" is POV; shouldn't "pick only one" be POI?

Much more palatable IMO.

REM POI, er, POO: "The Great Beyond"

another vote for gardening at night, which i think i also put as my #1 in the 'best rem song' poll that we did recently. i'm in the 'mumbly mysterious early rem is my fave' camp, too, although i do enjoy lots of their other stuff too. there are at least a few songs on every release up through the late 90s that i love.

my first favorite was 'belong'. no idea what i'd poo, but it would certainly be from nothing later than out of time.

Curious if there's a cultural/commercial context in which the remaining REM members would go on and on about how the new album is their best since Green and very Green-like and really taps into that Green vibe for the first time since Green.

The context in which everyone else's level of excitement about a new R.E.M. album were determined by mine would be one such.

see I don't get that remark (haven't followed the discussions on the new album) - is the album objectively errr Green-like or do the REM guys generally describe their latest as a "return to form"?

"The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite"

Don't know why this song gets such a bad rap, even from the band. I've always loved it.

― Marmot 4-Tay (marmotwolof), Thursday, June 15, 2006 12:53 AM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm. EEEE DEEE DEEEEEE

yeah that’s the best song on the damn album, ffs

pilgrimage

#1 singalong song. i dunno if it exists in karaoke form but that would be a hard go.

(sidewinder)

how the west was won and where it got us

first instinct is to say "talk about the passion"

COMBIEN

Checks thread to see if I already said "Pilgrimage," OK, I did, but it's still "Pilgrimage"

Gravity’s