There are great songs on every REM album. I love "Mr Richards" and "Supernatural Superserious" and "Accelerate". But I like Monster more. I have a big soft spot for Monster which I've probably said elsewhere in this thread. It's sort of an alien within their discography but it's cohesive unto itself and I really dig a lot of those songs--Crush, King of Comedy, You, Kenneth, etc.
I feel like they experimented with a new sound for "rock mode" REM on that album, which they then carried over to New Adventures ("Wake Up Bomb" sounds like it could be on Monster without a blink, for instance). But for the most part they ironed out some of the quirks on New Adventures (ie turned off the tremelo effect on Buck's guitar). Accelerate and Collapse, insofar as they "return to rock", sound to me like they were trying to reclaim what they were doing on New Adventures more than any other past REM album.
And I think the thing that nags at me about those last two albums is that they feel like the only two albums in the entire REM discography that saw them looking backwards more than forwards. That's one reason I'd never say Accelerate is better than Monster. For whatever faults you can assign to Monster, REM were being ambitious when they made it, trying to break out of the box they were being put in by the mainstream and also trying to make a rock record that didn't sound like one of their older more rock-oriented.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 10 March 2019 16:27 (five years ago) link
That's fair, but there's something brilliantly transcendent about the looking-back-as-farewell on Collapse Into Now. That record is magic.
― timellison, Sunday, 10 March 2019 16:31 (five years ago) link
For whatever faults you can assign to Monster, REM were being ambitious when they made it
This is where I disagree a little. I don't know as that I ascribe significant ambition to the change in direction with Monster or with Up. I don't know as that I feel that the approach to the last two albums involved less ambition overall just because it wasn't totally new.
― timellison, Sunday, 10 March 2019 16:44 (five years ago) link
Live βLet Me Inβ is the only thing Iβd save from the Monster era.
― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 10 March 2019 17:14 (five years ago) link
The post-Berry albums are so boring, ppl donβt even want to discuss them in their own thread π
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Sunday, 10 March 2019 17:29 (five years ago) link
There are 245 posts!
― timellison, Sunday, 10 March 2019 18:10 (five years ago) link
But we do go over the album hierarchy every year or so, in the various REM threads. I'm sure I've said what I have to say about Up many times, I love it forever, and I will defend Reveal quite a bit (the atmosphere and humid sunny blaze still impresses me) even though I understand the idea that it feels like the start of a stagnation
pgwp- those are good points.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 10 March 2019 18:48 (five years ago) link
I really like about half of the individual tracks on Reveal, but the whole thing is too soporific to listen to in one go
― soref, Sunday, 10 March 2019 18:49 (five years ago) link
It's the nooks and crannies of the career that poke at you on Collapse Into Now, ending with "Country Feedback" in a big Radio Ethiopia mess with Lenny Kaye.
― timellison, Sunday, 10 March 2019 19:06 (five years ago) link
Ha, I'm listening to it now - forgot the "Finest Worksong" reprise at the end
― timellison, Sunday, 10 March 2019 19:10 (five years ago) link
still can't stand collapse but i do like your enthusiasm for it tim. maybe one day
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 10 March 2019 19:16 (five years ago) link
however i could mount a defense of about half the tracks on around the sun so
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 10 March 2019 19:17 (five years ago) link
Someone who knows more about the bandβs history than I could answer this better than me, but what I get from every R.E.M. album from Chronic Town to Reveal is a band that was constantly anxious about falling into a comfort zone. Every album or pair of albums seems like a purposeful move away from the previous pairβan approach that got harder and harder to maintain the deeper into their career they got, as I truly feel they didnβt ever want to repeat themselves. Whether you like specific albums or not, I think this is true.
Maybe that can be said all the way up to the last pair of albums too. But from what little Iβve read about that period, they had really stopped writing songs togetherβStipe came in and just reacted to things the other two created and then he wrote lyrics. And itβs no accident that the minute they fulfilled their extraordinary contractual obligations, they stopped. If Reveal or Around the Sun could have been their last record I think they would have been. Thatβs what I mean when I say that the last few albumsβeven though they contain great songs!βlack an ambition that imbues the rest of their catalog.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 10 March 2019 21:25 (five years ago) link
Thought Up etc. tunes came from Buck or Mills demos, too, Stipe adding parts after. Not sure how the process changed.
― timellison, Sunday, 10 March 2019 22:00 (five years ago) link
Yup. And on New Adventures in Hi-Fi, and on Monster, and on Automatic for the People, and on Out of Time, and on Green etc. etc.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 10 March 2019 22:20 (five years ago) link
I kind of wonder if I tried to make a best-of with tracks from this era if I could get to 12 tracks.
― campreverb, Friday, 15 March 2019 00:15 (five years ago) link
i find that baffling but i am an Up stan. the challenge is more in sequencing, to make the couple of tracks from the last couple albums feel of a piece with the chamber-pop of Up and Reveal.
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Friday, 15 March 2019 00:36 (five years ago) link
Off the cuff I can get 4 from Up, 1 each from Revea1, ATS and Accelerate and 4 from Collapse.so maybe not as bad as I thought. Collapse is the one I listen to the most of this era.
― campreverb, Saturday, 16 March 2019 00:30 (five years ago) link
a best-of with tracks from this era already exists, it's called up
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 16 March 2019 00:34 (five years ago) link
the cover of Reveal makes me angry
― but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, 16 March 2019 01:35 (five years ago) link
every time this thread gets bumped i re-marvel at how bad the around the sun cover is
― cheese canopy (map), Saturday, 16 March 2019 01:36 (five years ago) link
the up cover is also awful. maybe bill berry was secretly the graphic designer of the ban because after he left things went waaaaay downhill
― but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, 16 March 2019 01:44 (five years ago) link
Accelerate would be a much better album with less brickwalled production/mixing. Some of the songs are decent, but the OTT attempt at a "live" "in-your-face" sound doesn't play to their strengths at all
― Simon H., Saturday, 16 March 2019 01:54 (five years ago) link
are you saying you know more about producing then the legendary jackknife lee???
― but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:00 (five years ago) link
lmao
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:35 (five years ago) link
Catfish and The Bottlemen - The Balance (2019)Sneaks β Highway Hypnosis (2019)The Killers β "Land of the Free" (2019)Catfish and The Bottlemen - Longshot (2019)Jacknife Lee β Space Is The Plaice / Pussyfoot (2018)Sneaks β Hong Kong To Amsterdam (2018)Bob Moses β Battle Lines (2018)The Beaches β Facscination (2018)The Killers β Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin (2018)Snow Patrol β Wildness (2018)The Beaches βLate Show (2017)U2 β Songs of Experience (2017)U2 β "You're the Best Thing About Me" (2017)Alex Cameron β Forced Witness (2017)The Killers β Wonderful Wonderful (2017)Beth Ditto β Fake Sugar (2017)Michelle Branch β Hopeless Romantic (2017)Neil Diamond β Acoustic Christmas (2016)Two Door Cinema Club β Gameshow (2016)Twin Atlantic β GLA (2016)Bat for Lashes β The Bride (2016)Jake Bugg β On My One (2016)Raury β All We Need (2015)Yacht β I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler (2015)Silversun Pickups β Better Nature (2015)Saint Raymond β Young Blood (2015)Elle King β Love Stuff (2015)Kodaline β Coming Up for Air (2015)Conway β Shut Up (2014)Neil Diamond β Melody Road (2014)Vacationer β The Wild Life (2014)Snow Patrol β Divergent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2014)Twin Atlantic β Great Divide (2014)Silversun Pickups β Cannibal (2014)Silversun Pickups β Let It Decay (2013)One Direction β Something Great (2013)Bonnie McKee β "American Girl" (2013)Lissie β Back to Forever (2013)Tired Pony β The Ghost of the Mountain (2013)Snow Patrol β Greatest Hits (2013)Crystal Castles β Crystal Castles (2012)Taylor Swift β Red (2012)Robbie Williams β Take the Crown (2012)Two Door Cinema Club β Beacon (2012)Silversun Pickups β Neck of the Woods (2012)LostAlone β I'm a UFO in This City (2012)R.E.M. β Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982β2011 (2011)Snow Patrol β Fallen Empires (2011)The Drums β Portamento (2011)All Time Low β Dirty Work (2011)The Black Keys β "Tighten Up (Radio Mix)" (2011)The Wombats β This Modern Glitch (2011)The Cars β Move Like This (2011)The Walkmen β Juveniles (2011)Crystal Castles β "Not in Love" (feat. Robert Smith) (2011)R.E.M. β Collapse Into Now (2011)Blur : Video Game β Blur : Video Game (2010)Snow Patrol β "Just Say Yes" (2010)Biffy Clyro β Many of Horror (2010)Melee β The Masquerade (2010)Tired Pony β The Place We Ran From (2010)Crystal Castles β Crystal Castles (2010)Snow Patrol β Up to Now (2009)R.E.M. β Live at the Olympia (2009)AFI β Crash Love (2009)Regina Spektor β Far (2009)U2 β Medium, Rare & Remastered (2009)Weezer β Raditude (2009)Amanda Blank β Shame on Me (2009)Bloc Party β "One More Chance" (2009)Marmaduke Duke β Duke Pandemonium (2009)Snow Patrol β A Hundred Million Suns (2008)Bloc Party β Intimacy (2008)Weezer β The Red Album (2008)Hadouken! β Music for an Accelerated Culture (2008)R.E.M. β Accelerate (2008)PlayRadioPlay! β Texas (2008)The Hives β The Black and White Album (2007)Nicole Scherzinger β Just Say Yes (2007)Snow Patrol β "Signal Fire" (2007)Green Day & U2 β "The Saints Are Coming" (2007)Editors β An End Has a Start (2007)Bloc Party β A Weekend in the City (2007)Editors β "Bullets" (2006)Juliet β Ride the Pain (2005)Bono, The Edge, Andrea Corr and T-Bone Burnett β Don't Come Knocking (2005)Snow Patrol β Eyes Open (2006)The Freelance Hellraiser β Waiting for Clearance (2006)Vaux β Beyond Virtue, Beyond Vice (2006)Vega4 β You and Others (2006)U2 β How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)Kasabian β Reason Is Treason (2004)Aqualung β Still Life (2004)Snow Patrol β Final Straw (2003)28 Days Later OST Enhanced β Ave Maria (2003)Sack β Butterfly Effect (1997)
he blows
― but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:46 (five years ago) link
Silversun Pickups β Cannibal (2014)
great song
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:48 (five years ago) link
also responsible for a weekend in the city the most frustrating album i love
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:49 (five years ago) link
He did a good job with that Bat for Lashes album.
― Simon H., Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:49 (five years ago) link
that snow patrol album sure got him a lot of work forever
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:51 (five years ago) link
Tbh A Weekend in the City would probably have been superior without his influence
― Simon H., Saturday, 16 March 2019 02:54 (five years ago) link
wait did the killers actually release an elton john / bernie taupin tribute record or did you just slip that in there to fuck with us
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 16 March 2019 03:12 (five years ago) link
i wish i would have, but that's just c&p'd from wikipedia
― but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, 16 March 2019 03:16 (five years ago) link
OK I looked it up and it's a John/Taupin tribute record with ONE SONG by the Killers, which makes more sense
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 16 March 2019 03:22 (five years ago) link
Sack β Butterfly Effect (1997)he blows
β but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, March 16, 2019 2:46 AM
!, I have this album. It was a band Morrissey put on a compilation, a good song but I didn't like that album much. Yet another singer Morrissey loves because he's borrowing heavily from his own voice.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 16 March 2019 12:04 (five years ago) link
the cover of Reveal makes me angryβ but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, March 16, 2019 1:35 AM (fifteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
β but i'm there are fuckups (Karl Malone), Saturday, March 16, 2019 1:35 AM (fifteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah, I remember thinking at the time that the Reveal sleeve felt lazily put together.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 16 March 2019 16:46 (five years ago) link
What's wrong with it? I think it represents the album quite well.
I remember Stipe saying he was deeply involved with album art and wouldn't give it up for anything.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 16 March 2019 16:53 (five years ago) link
It looks like it was thrown together in ten minutes, pretty much. I'd say that of all the post-New Adventures in Hi-Fi sleeves, Accelerate is probably the best. For me, at least.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 16 March 2019 16:59 (five years ago) link
What's wrong with embracing a rougher sleeve aesthetic, as they do on Accelerate? The Hib-Tone 45 sleeve was rough.
― timellison, Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:02 (five years ago) link
IMO, their taste in non-musical indicia (album titles, cover art, general aesthetics) did fall apart after Monster.
― What's that Phish song that goes "Bag it, Tag it"? (morrisp), Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:03 (five years ago) link
There's nothing wrong with the idea of embracing a rougher sleeve aesthetic. In the case of Reveal, the main photograph on the sleeve is actually pretty great - it's what's been vomited all over it that's the problem.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:04 (five years ago) link
(It's a shame, because I like Reveal more than most.)
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:05 (five years ago) link
I'm not saying I'm totally crazy for the later sleeves - I like the covers on the early albums best - but I'm certainly not crazy for the Monster sleeve either.
― timellison, Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:06 (five years ago) link
Oh, I love that one! Murmur, Green, Automatic for the People, Monster and New Adventures in Hi-Fi are my favourite sleeves of theirs.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:10 (five years ago) link
I think mine are Fables, Pageant, Document - beautiful
― timellison, Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:13 (five years ago) link
Stipe's present visual art doesn't seem to be in that vein at all, so perhaps it's not wrong to say that his current aesthetic has more to do with the late period band sleeves.
― timellison, Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:16 (five years ago) link
I do take him seriously as an artist.
― timellison, Saturday, 16 March 2019 17:17 (five years ago) link
The Monster cover has taken on a certain baggage after decades of clogging dollar bins, but the new approach did seem cool & different at the time (and I do still like it).
― What's that Phish song that goes "Bag it, Tag it"? (morrisp), Saturday, 16 March 2019 18:05 (five years ago) link
Post-Around the Sun it's difficult for me to think of anything to do with Monster having "baggage" ...
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 16 March 2019 18:25 (five years ago) link
I bought that on vinyl when it came out. Looks like there were more pictures in the CD booklet? Like the ones with the fake song titles and the furniture - I like those.
― timellison, Saturday, 16 March 2019 18:26 (five years ago) link