\\\///\\\/// It's the ILX SUPER SUMMER R.E.M. POLL OF POLLS RESULTS THREAD \\\///\\\///

re: this poll in general. I put all of the nominees on my iPod and listened to them several times over the last week, and wound up unable to choose and basically just listening to a lot of R.E.M., which was awesome. Wish I had voted though.

No love for the little instrumental coda at the end of "shaking through"?

I have never heard either of these two Green songs.

"Turn You Inside Out" was my favorite deep cut off Green. I love how Buck gets the guitar at the start to sound like a harmonica. The song is no blues but it flirts with being one. I don't love the drum sound on it. Mills is great on it!

Someone voted "World Leader Pretend" #2? I'd like to hear something from them about why.

I certainly didn't vote for "World Leader Pretend" but that steel guitar backed bridge into the piano backed chorus(verse?) is pretty powerful. On the other hand "Let me make it good" I find both annoying and extremely hook-y. Not a fun combo.

I like eephusl's idea of it being the same narrator as "The Wrong Child". Then later in "Orange Crush" he sees a commercial for soda pop and gets his mom to buy him some. Taking this new-found consumer confidence out into the world and rules the neighborhood playground with a can of Crush in his hand. His leadership ability makes him such a pimp that he doesn't just start turning his playmates out, he turns them "inside-out".

I forgot, one of the things I really like about "Shaking Through" is when Stipe holds the note longer on the first syllable of "shaking" in the first chorus. I also really like the bridge. Great song!

re: WLP, I always liked the odd, medieval-sounding discussion of practicing weapons, "I fitted them myself." Stipe the Armorer.

http://prettyfakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/rem-leave.jpg

#26 (tie): Leave
6 votes, 38 points
Highest position: #8 (Euler, Doctor Casino)
Position in New Adventures poll: #3 (8 votes)

<…>like REM produced by the Bomb Squad or something.

emo memory: my first kiss was to "Leave"
― the maximum value that ZS obtains given its constraint is 8 (Z S), Sunday, January 25, 2009 7:28 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I once had the idea that I wanted "Leave" played at my funeral.
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Wednesday, January 28, 2009 11:34 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.svs.com/rem/gif/discog/sp-70416pa.jpg

#26 (tie): Ages of You
5 votes, 38 points
Highest position: #1 (contenderizer)
Position in Dead Letter Office poll: #2 (7 votes)

After "Crazy" I'd go for one of the VU covers or "Ages of You", which is kinda like "Sitting Still" but not as good.
― Euler, Saturday, February 7, 2009 10:39 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://991.com/newgallery/REM-Daysleeper-123325.jpg

#26 (tie): Daysleeper
6 votes, 38 points
Highest position: #4 (dad a, brontosaur)
Position in Up poll: #1 (9 votes)

<…> then their best single since "Drive".
― Geir Hongro, Saturday, November 29, 2008 7:25 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

<...> one of their best ever singles.
― Gavin in Leeds, Friday, November 14, 2008 6:17 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Stipe is fantastic, truly underrated, when his lyrics hint at a story and you're left to fill in a lot of blanks ("Daysleeper," "Sad Professor," "So Fast So Numb") <…>
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:37 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Sorry for the spam - we're in the midst of a big block of tie votes. These are three very very good songs though. Daysleeper is one of maybe five CD singles I ever bought. Fabulous song, I think, and I really wish Stipe had been able to maintain that level of lyrical quality across the last few albums. They're more directly sympathetic than IRS-years lyrics but they've re-acquired some of the odd-word-choice poetry that made him great as a lyricist ("I'll squeeze into Heaven and..Valentine!") Not crazy about the "bull and the bear" part, but I love this section:

I cried the other night; I can't even say why
Fluorescent, flat, caffeine light
It's furious balancing
I'm the screen, the blinding light
I'm the screen - I work at night!

I'm surprised that Leave made the list. I wouldn't put it in the top-half of NAIH-F.

I once had the idea that I wanted "Leave" played at my funeral.
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Wednesday, January 28, 2009 11:34 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OK, this is making me 100% sad right now.

Oh my. I hadn't put 2 and 2 together on that comment.

"Leave" is terrific. The album was a crushing disappointment to me, but "Leave" wasn't. Stipe's vocal sounds frail, ugly and sweet (in contrast to his harsh, barky vocals elsewhere on the album). Was it an Automatic outtake? The riff sounds a bit like an electric "Monty", sad and clear, filtered through the ongoing grief and confusion of the Monster era.

I forgot, one of the things I really like about "Shaking Through" is when Stipe holds the note longer on the first syllable of "shaking" in the first chorus. I also really like the bridge. Great song!

Yes, that specific bit is great. I think Mills or Berry do something similar in the last chorus as well. It's such a shifting harmonic chorus!

Acc. to Wikipedia re. "Ages of You": "It was intended to be a track on the band's EP Chronic Town, but producer Mitch Easter felt it let down the tracklist – "Gardening at Night," "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)," "1,000,000," and "Stumble." Easter felt that the song "Wolves, Lower" was a better and stronger song in the context of the EP."

I'd never heard this, but yay youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFcaxmxkR-k

I like it, though I'd like to hear a better fidelity version. The bass sounds chunky, and Buck and Stipe take turns spitting out notes on their respective instruments. It's a more frantic version than the one I'm familiar with.

Finally, some songs on my ballot! "Daysleeper" at #4 and "Leave" at #9, "Ages of You" was on my short list too.

"Daysleeper": Love those lyrics that Doctor Casino posted. Also, the 6/8 time signature and the slide guitar on the chorus really make this song swing, glide, and soar. In the context of Up this song really seemed like a cop out at the time. "Bill Berry's gone. We brought in all these synthesizers. But we can still sound like the REM you know and love." And it does, and its great.

"Leave": It has always seemed significant that the intro ends exactly on the one minute mark. I would love to know at what point the the songwriting process they decided to use the car alarm sound. I'm not as into this song as I was when the album first came out, but I let teenage brontosaur vote this one in.

"Ages of You": That Chronic Town outtake is super. I too want a better fidelity version. "whoo-ooo"

Man. How did I miss this poll during the summer? What was I doing? Hmph. Ah well, it'll be fun watching the results roll in, at least.

looking for a better version of that Chronic Town "Ages of You" I stumbled across this "Shaking Through":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0uo3kPmDfc

re: Daysleeper - also really like the opening lines:

Receiving department, 3 AM
Staff cuts have socked up the overage

The first gives us time and place efficiently, and the second clarifies the tone: within a web of corporate BS and doubletalk, this guy is working, at night, alone, the cameraderie of coworkers having been purged by the bottom line. Very nice.

re: Ages of You, I can only get the first three seconds to load on my crap connection but they've got me intrigued! Thanks for sharing, Euler.

Leave: There's a really crap version without the siren and a lot of spacey/floaty synth pad stuff in the background. I want to say it was on the Life Less Ordinary soundtrack or something like that.

I also didn't put it together concerning the funeral comment - really sorry if anybody was upset, that wasn't my intention at all in quoting it.

re: Leave, despite having my first emo kiss to this song, it didn't make my ballot. I've always thought it was one of the textbook examples of a song that's just too damn long. I'm sure plenty of people would disagree, but if it was 4:17 instead of 7:17 long, I'm sure it would have placed higher here.

So far only one of my picks (Shaking Through, my #15) have made the list, so I'm really looking forward to the rest!

Turn You Inside Out? Daysleeper? World Leader Pretend? Y'all need an REM refresher course.

Leave and Daysleeper are among R.E.M.'s finest achievements. Both would have made my top 10 if I had actually voted.

A 7:17 long emo kiss sounds great!

"Daysleeper" really did sound great on Up. I like that album a lot still but it has a lot of mid-tempo songs that don't leave much of an impression (e.g. "The Apologist", "Sad Professor", "You're In The Air", "Diminished", "Parakeet")---"Daysleeper" stands out among that bunch, even if it's an obvious nod to the earlier days.

"Sad Professor" almost went on my ballot in the 15th-place slot - I think it's a pretty good little character study. Maybe a bit clunky in places but I like the range of Stipe's sympathies.

I think it's their tempos---they just don't make an impression on me. It's my own lazy listening fault, and I ought to try to pay more attention on next listen.

But of course the records used to make you listen!

"Sad Professor" jumps out more than anything else on Up for me. Mainly just the strange juxtaposition of words, a whole story in a noun phrase. Not enough for me to vote for it, though.

Still my preferred Up listening experience

That's a good article, although I can never countenance the deletion of "Airportman."

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tRg73iZIquM/SqJBGSdmz2I/AAAAAAAAdH4/y8NvAxgFTIE/s1600-h/rem+finest+w.jpg

#25 (tie): Finest Worksong
6 votes, 43 points
Highest position: #7 (dan., rat bat bruce, G00blar)
Position in Document poll: #2 (8 votes)

Has anyone ever noticed how much the coda to "Finest Worksong" sounds like mid-80s-era Rush?
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 01:02 (1 year ago) Permalink

When "The Finest Worksong" came on, I thought to myself, "This is amazing! I can't believe that they've come up with the most irritating song ever recorded! What an unholy crock of shit!"
― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (7 years ago) Permalink

http://991.com/newgallery/REM-Life-And-How-To-L-457131.jpg

#25 (tie): Life And How To Live It
4 WILDCARD votes, 43 points
Highest position: #1 (dan.)
Position in Fables of the Reconstruction poll: tie for #5 (5 votes)

But there is no contest: with that shimmering riff, that shuddering tipsy feeling of love, loss and time as the track stops on a cliff's edge, that title even – LIFE AND HOW TO LIVE IT
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 14:51 (1 year ago) Permalink

I couldn't believe Life and How To Live It didn't make the poll. That could be another wild card dark horse.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 30 October 2009 17:06 (1 week ago) Permalink

Our last tie for a little bit, thank goodness. Two rock-solid songs - I think L&HTLI is way, way better, but don't let the pull quotes make you think I'm hating on "Worksong" - ILX just doesn't seem to have much to say about it!

I think L&HTLI is way, way way, way, way, way, waaaayyyyyy better

Truth.

I've skipped "Finest Worksong" when listening to Document almost every time since 1987. Stipe can't really sing the highest notes and nobly tries anyway; it's just that the noble failure makes my ears hurt. For some reason I like the Eponymous version, though; the horns counter-balance the caterwaul, maybe.

"Life and How to Live It" seems like a weird choice for so many wildcards, but I think it's a great song. As the pinefox points out, the riff is key, so frantically played; and the explosion at the end when Stipe finally blurts the song's title.

listen, listen to the holler

http://991.com/gallery_180x180/REM-Near-Wild-Heaven-5261-991.jpg

#24: Near Wild Heaven
10 votes, 52 points
Highest position: #4 (Euler)
Position in Out of Time poll: tie for #1 (10 votes)

"Near Wild Heaven" is a nice Beach Boys pastiche <…>
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, October 8, 2008 7:23 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"Near Wild Heaven" would seem to suggest that he gets laid a lot.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, February 23, 2005 7:41 PM Bookmark

for some reason I'm leaning toward "Near Wild Heaven" here, I think because I love how it sounds not like R.E.M. but the jangle-pop that came in their wake. I also love the lyrics ("Holding our hands/feet/self together/In this near wild heaven/Not near enough!") and Stipe's backing "ba-ba-ba"s. <…>
― M Matos, Saturday, June 22, 2002 8:00 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

One of my unabashed favorites. This is also the first entry to really get in on a groundswell of several little votes as opposed to a couple of big ones. "Texarkana" is also quite nice - I don't think I'd go for a Mills solo record as such, but I wouldn't have minded if he'd been the group's Ringo with an obligatory lead on every album.

I like this song and it made my ballot but if I'm honest it was probably a proxy vote for "Half a World Away," which nearly got my wild card.

Most of these single covers are better than the covers of the albums they come from!

I like that it got in on a bunch of little votes. That seems sort of exactly right for this song and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. It's sweet.

re: sweet, pretty songs on Out Of Time - I was very tempted to throw my wild card to "Me In Honey"...this is just a good wild card album.

"Near Wild Heaven" is terrific. I remember when it came out that it was the consensus pick among kids at my high school (in Georgia so REM albums were big events among the kids). That's partly because it's fun to sing along to, and heck you can almost kicker dance to the chorus. Holy cow I love this era of the band: day-glo songs, switching instruments, a sea of possibilities.

What's weird is, I'm a lot like Euler except that I find this particular song kind of boring. "Stand" I love. "Shiny Happy People" I love. Their version of "Love Is All Around" I love. But not this (and not its sonic cousin "Man on the Moon" either.) I like it! And I probably find myself humming it more than most other songs on Out of Time. But there are five songs on the record I think are better. It doesn't come close to touching "Me In Honey."

Why boring? I think the harmonies are really obvious. I think there's not much of interest going on with the lyrics.

Right; for me the rhythm makes the song, especially on the chorus with Berry's cute little fills.

In the context of Out of Time I really enjoy "Near Wild Heaven". But when I was listening to songs to fill out my ballot, I found that this song on its own lands kind of flat for me. I think its mostly because Mike Mills' vocal performance feels like background vox. It hits the notes, gets the job done, but it comes across a little dull and lifeless to me.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Don%27t_Go_Back_To_Rockville.jpg

#23: (don't go back TO) ROCKVILLE)
6 votes, 53 points
Highest position: #2 (G00blar)
Position in Reckoning poll: #3 (11 votes)

I go back to Rockville again and again and again.
― Geir Hongro, Monday, 22 December 2008 22:57 (10 months ago) Permalink

"don't go back to rockville" was another obvious piece of american rock sound that led to me gagging on their early stuff. I don't care however ironic it might've been about some place or other in america. It didn't mean anything to all us non-americans, just sounding like that country rock band Alabama to me, ready to go on the redneck charts. <…>
― george gosset, Friday, 25 February 2005 19:13 (4 years ago) Permalink

Does 'don't go back to Rockville' partly mean 'don't go back to Rockism'?
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 14 April 2009 14:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

^^^ love this one. Their great teenage long-distance relationship song. No irony at all for me, a really solid song. Kind of surprised nobody's ever covered this in straight mainstream country style (slowed down, probably) and had a hit.

That actually is sort of surprising! Tough call for me between this and So. Central Rain. I think I went for the one with the weaker chorus and the stronger riff but I'm very very fond of both.

The "and waste another year" punch line always hits hard. It's a terrific song. It stands out in the early REM catalog for actually being "about" something, at least *clearly* about something. I don't usually think of REM as a piano band, but between this and "Perfect Circle" maybe I should.

Wendell Gee as well.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m271/somewhat117/CYB1%20CyberWarriors%20Rebirth/CYB1-EN019Darkloid-GravityMan.jpg

#22: Feeling Gravitys Pull
9 votes, 54 points
Highest position: #3 (rat bat bruce)
Position in Fables of the Reconstruction poll: #2 (13 votes)

"Time and distance are out of place here" sort of sums up the track. It's unsettling and fantastic.
― Guilty_Boksen, Tuesday, October 28, 2008 8:52 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

My first job after leaving school was in a drug company laboratory, and one of my jobs was to inspect ampoules for specks of dust, which had to be done in the chemical store cupboard with a lamp. I would sit there and play this album completely enraptured. The jar of amphetamine sulphate that was kept in there helped too.
Gravity always sends shivers down my spine.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6:28 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

or, if you prefer, classic, old-school Gravity Man:

http://www.ummagurau.com/writing/video/forte/image33.gif

I really like this track, but it's so far outside of their normal line of work that it feels on some level like the R.E.M. song for people who wish R.E.M. were some entirely different type of band - the song you play to your cool, arty friends to convince them that this band could do weird, dissonant sounds too! But that's a bit unfair and anyway, great lyrics and a hell of an album opener.

thanks for doing this, btw, dr. C! my apologies for complaining about the timing earlier, I was kinda drunk and was being a smartass, but putting all this together is a significant effort and I appreciate what you did. :)

I didn't remember to vote, but would have added another #1 to harborcoat

haha, no worries Z S! Thanks for all your contributions on all the related threads etc.

I didn't vote either but Harborcoat is my favorite REM song so well done guys!

looking back, i'm surprised I didn't have a song from maybe my favorite r.e.m. disc -- fables -- on my ballot.

I didn't remember to vote, but would have added another #1 to harborcoat

― iatee, Friday, September 3, 2010 3:44 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

What he said.

Great to see Sitting Still high up as well. No serious arguments with this poll - good choices folks!

1 Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)
2 These Days
3 Strange Currencies
4 Cuyahoga
5 So. Central Rain
6 Try Not To Breath - WILDCARD
7 What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
8 Losing My Religion
9 Country Feedback
10 Perfect Circle
11 Radio Free Europe
12 Fall On Me
13 The One I Love
14 Gardening At Night
15 Near Wild Heaven

Near Wild Heaven made my ballot only bc i couldn't vote for Half A World Away...

i going to listen to these songs in order and see if i appreciate them a bit more.

Still regret not voting in this.

gardening at night
gardening at night
gardening at night
gardening at night