REM: Classic or dud?

Though I guess Stipe means bands that went out on a high note

so ain't giving him that one

and we have to take his word for it that the dissolution wasn't acrimonious.

mills and stipe are at least still able to shell peas together

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/hugh-achesons-neo-retro-southern-cooking

super curious if either guy will bust out a solo album. sure buck will just stay a robyn hitchcock sideman

Buck can finally get Tuatara back together.

mills seems to be up for continuing to work w/ buck

AVC: Do you foresee collaborating with the other members under a different name or set of circumstances?
MM: Oh yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised. There could be any number of things. One thing I do want to do is write songs with people, and since Peter and I have always written songs together, we might continue to do that at some point. I would not be surprised at all.

also mentions doing a solo record, though nothing specific.

are they just decreasing overhead by breaking up or something?

sort of! will there be a buck/mills record with different lead singers, a la no talking just head!?

(hoping for lou reed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^)

R.E.(E.D.)M.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/rems-mike-mills,65206/

major points to mills for acknowledging the contract in this.

Who would expect a band to walk away when they’re hitting creative heights? But that’s just what we decided to do.

points revoked

AVC: The two songs that are probably most identified with you personally are “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” and “Nightswimming.”

WHITHER TEXARKANA???

not near enough!

Fuck a Texarkana, how about maybe SUPERMAN?

NOT NEAR ENOUGH

wait, why "Nightswimming"?

Mills is an infamous skinny dipper

ha forgot about superman myself. both that and texarkana went rock radio top 20, even. Wonder how Mills felt about that question.

Love that Salon interview. Softball questions, sure, but they do the job. Stipe's not usually that forthcoming.

Their best album... is Reckoning.

It's definitely an easy one to overlook. You go back, you listen to "Murmur," bask in its glow, and then bam, "you want more of that, well here's more of that!"

Really odd that I have never owned "Reckoning" considering how much time I have spent with "Murmur" and "Fables of the Reconstruction". Next time I see that cheapish on vinyl I am going to buy it. The time has come.

I think it's one of their weaker efforts. You have "SCR" and "Don't Go Back...", two of their best, but otherwise, it's a bit lacking.

lol what?

Pretty Persuasion, Harbourcoat and Seven Chinese Brothers are like all-time.

^^this

Reckoning feels like a GOAT candidate when it hits just right.

Reckoning def my fave, though i've known these albums for so long I basically just bracket the albums in my mind under slots - The Club/Theater Years (Chronic thru Fables), The Arena Years (Lifes thru Green) and The 4x Platinum Years (Out Of Time thru Monster) - and i'll get in a mood to dive into one. It'd be really hard to honestly rank each one individually.

LETTER NEVER SENT

Reckoning is the best

Every song is great... "Camera" is a career highlight; "Seven Chinese Brohans" is near-perfect.

The second side of Reckoning is weaker - good, but weaker - but that first side is brilliant.

I would say the same about Lifes and Docu

side 2 > side 1 of Reckoning

LETTER NEVER SENT
so the best

been listening to the i.r.s. comp today and remembering when this was my favorite band. the emo pours out of me.

Best song they ever did: "Life and How to Live It"

"BARK at night and RUN-ning round TALKing in the STREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETS" CHING-CHING! cha-da-chung, cha-da chung, cha-da-da CHING-CHING!

listen to the holler!

"Mine Smell Like Honey" is such an amazingly great song.

Unsurprisingly crap late period song title though

ha i could never get past that title. will there ever be a groundswell of love for REM's latter days i wonder, now that they're gone? guess i can see it happening.

Nah.

No, it's a beautiful title. I mean, obviously, there's a silly pun, but the sentiment of the song is so righteous.

You're going to sing the praises of your fruit
I can hear you shouting over it all

too late i'm already pitching my "why REM was the best band of the 21st century" thinkpiece to PASTE. xp

all i can think of when i think of Michael Stipe singing "Mine Smell Like Honey" is testicles

silly pun

or silly double entendre, I mean

The song is an affirmation of life.

And all its freaking scary-ness.

all i can think of when i think of Michael Stipe singing "Mine Smell Like Honey" is testicles farts.

new peter buck album is the best "rem" album since 'new adventures in hi fi'

hahaha, are you being serious or not? i haven't heard it yet. but of course every time rem put out a new album peter buck would always claim it was the best one they'd done in decades or something