i was both late to them and (slightly) early to leave. but they were certainly great for 15 years.
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:07 (twelve years ago) link
aftp has more than a couple skippable tracks but drive and try not to breathe among others are peerless.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:09 (twelve years ago) link
always thought that -- on AFTP -- find the river was a better sappy ballad than either (the cloying) everybody hurts or even nightswimming.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:12 (twelve years ago) link
everybody hurts sux, nightswimming rules
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:13 (twelve years ago) link
"Ignoreland" describes itself.
I wonder if they'd have relegated it to a b-side if they'd known that Clinton would beat Bush that year.
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:13 (twelve years ago) link
they needed a rocker
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:14 (twelve years ago) link
that's for sure
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:15 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.thegoodtimber.com/FinalPics/rockingChair.jpg
the secret jam on aftp is monty got a raw deal--that song rules
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:16 (twelve years ago) link
maybe they should have put circus envy on AFTP.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:16 (twelve years ago) link
but yeah, "Find The River" is a keeper. I love how it goes from its sweet lament into menace with its closing line, "all of this is coming your way".
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:17 (twelve years ago) link
"Circus Envy" is one of my favorite REM songs: as snotty as they ever got?
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:19 (twelve years ago) link
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:16 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
lol oh man, circus envy. i listened to that shit a couple weeks ago for the first time in probably a dozen years.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:19 (twelve years ago) link
monster had its production flaws, but it had a lot of very strong (if somewhat bland, for rem) songs, and circus envy is a corker.
yeah, snotty as they ever got. it almost snarled.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:21 (twelve years ago) link
what's the frequency kenneth is a total classic but i'm honestly not sure what else i would save from monster.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
i like to imagine that R.E.M. had been privately lobbying Lou Reed for years to make an album with them, and when he picked Metallica instead it just broke their spirits
― some dude, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:24 (twelve years ago) link
Pitchfork is reporting that the R.E.M. website is announcing the break-up of the band.
Stipe's comments about knowing when to leave the party are a bit laughable as the dried vomit has already been scraped off the floor and the lampshade hat has been returned to its proper perch.
I didn't care for much they did after Document; still, enough to be a bonafide classic.
― suspecterrain, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:25 (twelve years ago) link
of monster, i'd save the following:
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
Monster's got good stuff on it--"Crush w/Eyeliner" "I Took Your Name". Love Buck's guitar sound falling between garage & glam.
x-post
― The Man With The Flavored Toothpick (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
i really like some songs on Monster, it's just kind of deadening as a whole. makes for good compilation highlights.
― some dude, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
The best part of Monster IS the production -- so damn perverse. They reified glam with several removes of vocal and aesthetic filters, but left the sex in.
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:36 (twelve years ago) link
Idea of Monster was better than the songwriting but the idea was enough, after Green/OOT/AFTP and lot and lots of mandolins.
Berry even then would have walked if they hadn't made it
― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:38 (twelve years ago) link
I prefer the underbelly of R.E.M. - so I'm listening to the bonus disc that came with the "And I Feel Fine" IRS-years comp.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:41 (twelve years ago) link
For me, the most perfect song on Automatic is "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1."
Here's a clip from the second show I saw, a year later, in a much bigger venue; also an interview with Mills (the interviewer is Mordeci Richler's son). I hadn't seen this since it first aired, and was hoping I'd turn up in the front row...no luck.
― clemenza, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:42 (twelve years ago) link
"New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" is so beautiful
― some dude, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:44 (twelve years ago) link
^yeah!
Also OTM:
― bentelec, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:45 (twelve years ago) link
While we're talking about 90s REM, I want to say that while Stipe's singing largely left me cold post-Monster because of his retreat to that talk-sing you hear on "I Took Your Name", "E-Bow The Letter", &c &c &c, he lets it rip on "Leave" & that song's a real keeper; dig the Bomb Squad-style production on that track too.
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:51 (twelve years ago) link
R.E.M. News - boo
― timellison, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:53 (twelve years ago) link
Favorite nineties REM songs:
Half a World AwayNear Wild Heaven (lovely melody, lovely Mills vocal; glad he didn't get too many)LeaveBittersweet Me (my favorite of their nineties second singles)TongueMonty Got a Raw DealTexarkanaMe in Honey (effective use of Kate Pierson)
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:55 (twelve years ago) link
alfred otm
― some dude, Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:58 (twelve years ago) link
my first kiss was to Leave. thanks REM!
― rebels against newton (Z S), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:01 (twelve years ago) link
thread needs more awesome live REM videos like tipsy posted upthread. everyone's seen this one, but still it's a classic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykp0Vq77IBw
― rebels against newton (Z S), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:02 (twelve years ago) link
yeah to alfred's list. i'd add new test leper, which works really well despite being kind of bland, and electrolite.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:02 (twelve years ago) link
Alfred, I was gonna post something about how much i adore "Near Wild Heaven."
― Sophomore subs are the new Smith lesbians. (the table is the table), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:02 (twelve years ago) link
"Bittersweet Me" was great. I used to hear one of the other NAiH-F singles, "Electrolite" alot in grocery & drug stores. It made shopping pleasant.
― The Man With The Flavored Toothpick (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:03 (twelve years ago) link
That's a great list.
"Band and Blame" is my favorite second REM single of the 90s; Stipe's vocal is uncharacteristically tender & as Alfred said earlier, it exudes sexuality: open, vulnerable, wanting, "dares to cross your threshold".
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:04 (twelve years ago) link
ack "Bang & Blame", way to miss the point, self.
electrolite gets a bad rap because it's played a lot in grocery and drug-stores.
but the hook and melody makes it an unforgettable earworm.
i hate band and blame with the heat of a thousand suns.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:05 (twelve years ago) link
yeah "Electrolite" has had an unexpected second life as Muzak; I hear it far more than the other NAIHF singles.
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:06 (twelve years ago) link
"Bang & Blame" is kind of interminable, imo everything it does well is done better by "I Don't Sleep, I Dream"
― some dude, Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
"Do you give good head?"
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
and that terrific strummed electric hook.
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:08 (twelve years ago) link
My favourite '90s song, with my favourite R.E.M. lyric ever: "You know, there's talk of time/Talk is fine."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_JnCWT-_O8
― clemenza, Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:09 (twelve years ago) link
I adore Out of Time, which still doesn't get much love because It's The Big One. The marvel for me, as I wrote in my own obit, is how "Losing My Religion" sounded a hundred times more ambiguous with each radio play. I've never gotten tired of it.
And the record has all kinds of crinkles and filigrees. "Near Wild Heaven" I mentioned, but what about the loping "Endgame"? Those flutes!
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:09 (twelve years ago) link
i don't know if it's naive to hope for any fruitful side/solo projects at this point but i feel like one thing about the breakup is that practically any of them is more likely to make a really good record in the future outside of REM than they would have with the band
― some dude, Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:10 (twelve years ago) link
bang and blame made me wish michael stipe's lyrics went back to being unintelligible.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:10 (twelve years ago) link
And the record has all kinds of crinkles and filigrees.
yeah, this is kind of true. there's a mumblecore-type song on this disc that i liked. belong, maybe?
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:11 (twelve years ago) link
I listened to Out of Time today when I got the news. It's my favorite REM album. "Radio Song" gets hate here but I think the opening is thrilling: Buck strums a gorgeous riff, then Mills comes in with clear notes, then Stipe with lovely mystic nonsense.
― Euler, Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
i hate radio song with the heat of a hundred suns.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
it was around out of time's release that i realized i didn't love every song on every one of r.e.m.'s discs anymore.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 22 September 2011 02:13 (twelve years ago) link