I made a conscious decision to stop caring about new R.E.M. material after Berry left. Therefore, the last R.E.M. album was NAIHF, and the last words on an R.E.M. album were "I'm not scared... I'm outta here." Which is a perfect way to end a career.
I guess I'm pretending that R.E.M. doesn't make any new music so that they'll fit the narrative that I've constructed for them. As denials of reality go, this one's not especially unhealthy.
― Dodo Lurker (Slim and Slam), Friday, 24 December 2010 04:56 (thirteen years ago) link
The single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggQBU8eSXM
― timellison, Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Hmm, they've been playing "Discoverer" a lot on the local alt-rock station so I assumed that was the single.
― one pretty obvious guy in the obvious (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:41 (thirteen years ago) link
TO THE FINAL FAIL
― busytits (rip van wanko), Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
lol. yeah, it's sad.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
i thought the phrase was "my shit smells like roses"
― da croupier, Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Somewhere Bill Berry's all "Man, glad I got off that train."
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
meh. just after he left the band, berry did an interview where he said, "oh geez, i leave and they make their best album yet -- up!" tr: bill berry has dick cheney-like credibility.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:57 (thirteen years ago) link
(ah. maybe in his heart-of-hearts he is glad he got off that train.)
well, he's always seemed like a gentleman, and "hey, they're doing a great job without me!" is what a gentleman would say.
but "mine smell like honey" is some boxcar shit.
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:13 (thirteen years ago) link
yes, you are right. berry does seem like a gentleman. they all seem like gentlemen, to be honest.
i'm just bitter about what's happened to the favorite band of my youth.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:15 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i just watched youtubes of three songs off this album. kind of crushing. i'd successfully avoided the disappointment for years.
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Intro to this is pretty funny!
― timellison, Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:31 (thirteen years ago) link
is that also supposed to be 3d?
― erschloraque, Friday, 21 January 2011 00:11 (thirteen years ago) link
uhh . . . i've grown to kind of like this single with the terrible, embarrassing title?
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 21 January 2011 04:22 (thirteen years ago) link
still generic and indistinct -- and i've heard some other songs from the album that are just awful -- but i can still appreciate this one song, at least.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 21 January 2011 04:23 (thirteen years ago) link
There is something of the muse with R.E.M., especially apparent given that a lot of Stipe's lyrics come from dreams. Surely, someone doesn't think to take some of these very same themes (simple encouragement, "the end") and re-work them once again in simple, childlike terms like this?
And then to put it into a three-chord anthem? R.E.M. are amazing.
― timellison, Saturday, 22 January 2011 02:30 (thirteen years ago) link
This is better than the stuff on the previous album, but I seriously hope this one will also contain some great partly acoustic ballads or semi-ballads, in the style of "Wendell Gee", "Losing My Religion", "Drive", "Try Not To Breathe" and "Daysleeper". All among their best moments.
― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 22 January 2011 02:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, "Uberlin" seems to fit that category:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/emhuffpost-video-exclusiv_b_812864.html
― timellison, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 00:10 (thirteen years ago) link
That's the best of the songs I've heard from this album so far. For whatever that's worth.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 03:04 (thirteen years ago) link
"This is, song for song, the best thing we've ever done." Buck"our best record since Out of Time," Mills"A lot of people say we did our best work in the early Nineties. But 15 years later, here we are again." Buck again
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-e-m-roar-back-with-collapse-into-now-20110207
― piscesx, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:09 (thirteen years ago) link
oh, ILICISCOMK. actually, FFS, i'm SMDH. no, in fact i'm ROTFLMAOWTIME. now i have to GPF that opinion is so appalling. mills and buck must have their HWUA to even suggest that.
____________________________
got this from the CLOAKA btw.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:18 (thirteen years ago) link
A lot of people say we did our best work in the early Nineties
he's off by a decade.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:19 (thirteen years ago) link
bah.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Bassist Mike Mills agrees, calling Collapse Into Now, out March 8th on Warner Bros., "our best record since Out of Time," the group's 1991 hit. "We took the shackles off and wrote whatever sounded good — balls-to-the-wall rockers, slow sad songs, great mid-tempo songs in the tradition of R.E.M. We had quality, top to bottom."
slow, medium, AND fast!
― omar little, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Accelerate is no better than the 2 preceding albums despite all the hype beforehand so i shan't hold my breath this time. glad THEY like it though. that's something.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Isn't it maybe on the journalist, though, to ask questions that might get responses other than the little soundbites we've already heard several times?
― timellison, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:39 (thirteen years ago) link
"this is our best record in terms of tempo"
― pajamagram sam (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:41 (thirteen years ago) link
When the band itself adopts the hoary "best album since ..." line, I steer clear, because inevitably, doing press for their next album ("the best album they've done in years," natch) they relent and admit all the things wrong about the previous record.
I stick with what I said earlier in the thread: get these guys in a room and have them make a simple, few-overdubs album. Hell, just get T-Bone Burnett (who did a good job capturing that last Mellencamp album, a one-mic in a room deal). Get this band away from anything digital and see what happens.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 00:52 (thirteen years ago) link
in fairness, r.e.m. always says their new album is their best, iirc.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 9 February 2011 01:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Still, that's lame. That's like a band calling their new album a return to form.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 01:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Mike Mills should just start calling the new one their best one since "Some Girls" and see if anyone notices.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 01:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Is it true, though? I mean, I've certainly heard them say it before, but I don't think they always say it. Don't seem to remember it for the last couple of albums.
Someone cited the Bill Berry quote about Up above, but, you know, you can look back and see why he might have said it.
― timellison, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 01:20 (thirteen years ago) link
that was me. i can't see why he said it, but i guess i'm more tied to r.e.m.'s past than the band is?
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 9 February 2011 01:22 (thirteen years ago) link
My guess would be that due to their expansiveness and Michael's development as a lyricist, they might have thought that New Adventures, Up, and Reveal were, at least from a certain perspective, the best records they'd done up to that point.
― timellison, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 01:33 (thirteen years ago) link
huge lol
― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 03:14 (thirteen years ago) link
But 15 years later, here we are again.
This is so weird to say when your band NEVER LEFT.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 12:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Also what "shackles" could explain their last few albums
― da croupier, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 12:39 (thirteen years ago) link
It's their best album since Scary Monsters, oh wait
― philippe is standing on it (MaresNest), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 12:52 (thirteen years ago) link
I hear it's their best since "Blood on the Tracks."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 13:44 (thirteen years ago) link
i am looking forward to this new album less and less -- and i liked fucking Reveal, i mean come on
this is gonna be baaaaad
― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 14:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Meanwhile, what *are* the Decemberists up to with this track, I mean it's so blatant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_gykjRkVec
― philippe is standing on it (MaresNest), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 15:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Um, I think the REM single is miles better than any lead-off single they've done since E-Bow Shite.
― Morcheeba, simply happening. (PaulTMA), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 15:48 (thirteen years ago) link
MaresNest, yes, that one is a blatant R.E.M. rip, BUT, considering Peter Buck plays guitar on that one, its kind of hard to fault the Decemberists.
― one pretty obvious guy in the obvious (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 15:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Ah righty, but that's kinda worse no? 'Hey Pete, yeah buddy, 1984's where it's at, brought yer Ricky I hope'
― philippe is standing on it (MaresNest), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 16:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Of all the albums to say it's the "best since," Out of Time seems a weird choice to me. Sure, it was their most popular, but I think it might be the patchiest in their whole discography (mind you, that's not saying it's their worst). Never mind that Automatic came after OOT!! /nitpicking
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 16:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Like they had a run of three more albums after OOT that were all superior.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 9 February 2011 16:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Sure, it was their most popular
I would not be surprised if an artist of such rarified wealth/fame/acclaim eventually convinces themselves that their most popular album is also their best. Because it sold the most copies, you see?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 18:09 (thirteen years ago) link
that plus the "15 years and we're back" (which dates back to their last multi-platinum album) does suggest they're quite conscious of their commercial heyday
― da croupier, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 19:36 (thirteen years ago) link