REM: Classic or dud?

Reckoning > Murmur > Chronic Town > Fables > Lifes Rich Pageant > Document > New Adventures > Green > Out Of Time

(never heard Automatic; disliked the singles so much that I never bothered with the rest of it)

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

I agree with this 100%, except, having already bailed on the band, never listened to Hi Fi either; maybe i'll give it a spin - thanks!

I really like Up, although in my mind it's an album by Michael Stipe & Friends.

NAIHF is so good but it is a grower IMHO, give it a few spins. I put it on a couple weeks ago to top off a little REM marathon and it sounded like their greatest masterpiece in the moment even if song for song the first four records are kind of untouchable.

I think NAIHF is my favorite record of theirs, definitely a grower though.

yeesh I guess I should try new adventures again after all these years but it's easily one of the most disappointing records I have. maybe 20 yrs out it'll click? I just don't like shouty stipey (cf ignoreland and strange currencies also)

the worst thing about monster was stipe being all 'this is our return to PUNK ROCK'

Thought it was done to appease Bill Berry, who wanted a return to guitars.

I still posit that 'twas the click track that hurt REM. After a certain point - Out of Time? - it just sounds like everything was recorded piecemeal, with no one in the studio at the same time. Well, maybe the last couple albums, ironically, sound a bit more "band." On the other hand, I think the piecemeal approach helps "Up," which has some awfully pretty stuff on it.

Would love to hear someone like, I dunno, Lorde cover "Falls to Climb."

Yeah, that's a fantastic song. I've seriously cooled on my teenage Up worship but I think the highs are really really high.

Don't agree about the click track thing though. I mean there's definitely a lot of air and space in something like Automatic but there's so much warmth there that it still feels very "band"-ish. And I mean, NAIHF is all about that live-band sound. The thing that most blew me away on last re-listen was the last couple minutes of "Be Mine," it gave me goosebumps and I was 100% picturing them facing each other, grinning at each other in joy of how fucking good the take was, giving the nod to take it around for eight more bars, etc. Maybe I'm totally wrong but it gave me that vibe.

They're pretty cagey, but from at least Up and beyond, post Berry the tie-breaker, they didn't even seem to me like they were friends anymore, let alone a proper "band." Just a going concern. But who knows?

yeesh I guess I should try new adventures again after all these years but it's easily one of the most disappointing records I have. maybe 20 yrs out it'll click? I just don't like shouty stipey (cf ignoreland and strange currencies also)

there's really not that much shouty stipey on that record outside of like 2-3 songs, though!

berry was the social glue from what i've heard, and the one who'd come up with a little something extra to make good songs great

Guys. . . guys, you're missing the point, here.

Which is that R.E.M. is one of the best shoegaze bands, with one of the most essential shoegaze songs of all time.

Not that far of a stretch to say that, without R.E.M., there is no shoegaze.

Gazes of Shoe

ha, very good.

I don't get the love for "Fables..." bar a couple of tracks from it. Horribly produced too

i agree tbh

i mean, it's classic... but...

No way, Joe Boyd in the 80's, man. Classic as hell. My favorite album of theirs.

I've never much liked it, especially not "Can't Get There From Here."

R.E.M. ruled so hard in those days. Amazing set of songs if not as brilliant sounding as the Easter/Dixon records wrt to guitar tones.

'Feeling Gravity's Pull' is one of the strangest and most mesmerizing riffs ever.

"Life and How to Live It" is my favorite R.E.M. song.

It's a really strange one for "Old Man Kensey" and "Maps And Legends"

fables isn't flawless or anything but it's at least half awesome

i'm barking in the street to tell what i have hidden there

Listening to Monster now and I fucking love this record so much more than I did at the time.

One of the best shoegaze records of all time.

R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands ever yet I don't think I've ever made it through even half of New Adventures in Hi-Fi or Up or could remember three songs from either album, save for that E-Bow song, which I always thought was dumb.

If those albums are actually masterpieces then I'm in luck because I'll have something to discover but to me they barely exist and my eyes glaze over whenever anybody talks about them.

These guys were like the Dead for me, in a small way. Followed them for a bit on the Monster tour (summer after finishing high school), got into tape trading via usenet not long after. Haven't listened to any of the studio records in ages. I don't know if that's a common R.E.M. experience or not.

No way, Joe Boyd Biden in the 80's, man. Classic as hell. My favorite album of theirs.

― Austin, Friday, 16 June 2017 23:06 (three days ago) Permalink

threw it on a couple days back and holy hell i had forgotten that opening 1-2-3 might even be better than that on "reckoning"

I've never been a fan of the band. I liked "out of time" and "automatic" as a teenager but that's about it.
Like many people I bought "monster" upon release and quickly left it taking dust...
as for the E-bow song, I think that's the only one I heard from that album. I liked it alright at the time and listened to it again this week-end due to this thread.
I still like it. and I find there's a surprising... t-rex vibe in it ! especially in the intro.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi is one of the best records this band ever made.

If you only heard their 90s ones, it's definitely top three.

err they released 4 albums in the 90s !

ah no, 5.

I think post-Monster they tended towards over-indulgence with album lengths. I love much of New Adventures and Up but I feel like they could easily both do with losing three-four tracks each.

I know Monster is supposed to be their "rawk" record(I'm a little biased as it was the first album I owned that wasn't a copy of someone elses) and contrived though it might be, it still feels a more successful attempt at that sort of album than Accelerate was later. It also has the wonderfully atypical Tongue, which seems really disliked among some REM fans for reasons I don't quite get.

If you only heard their 90s ones, it's definitely top three.

― dorsalstop, Monday, June 19, 2017 10:33 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree. Also, if you've heard their 80s, 00s and 10s work, it's still definitely top three.

Yeah, the albums from 1996 up to 2004 are longer than before, but it works on New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Up would definitely benefit from a trim. Around the Sun is really the only out-and-out awful record the band made. I prefer Accelerate to Monster, although New Adventures in Hi-Fi crushes both.

oh wow so New adventures is THAT good ? ok I'll give it a try.

Tongue, which seems really disliked among some REM fans for reasons I don't quite get.

― Pheeel, Monday, 19 June 2017 12:30

Never heard about this before, it's a great song

*checks*

my first kiss was to Leave. thanks REM!

― rebels against newton (Z S), Wednesday, September 21, 2011 10:01 PM (five years ago)

yep, already posted it. but for that reason alone new adventures will always be a nostalgically pleasing listen for me. i love e-bow as well, and i think how the west was won is a great opening track. has anyone ever done a re-sequencing thing for new adventures? i have to say that i've never really liked the wake up bomb and it's placement in the #2 spot always takes me out of it

Really?

"*last chord of 'How The West Was Won...* - *short pause* - *inhale* I LOOK GOOD IN A GLASS PACK!" is one of my favourite bits of sequencing on there. Still kicks my arse into gear all these years later.

the opening kicks ass, i agree. unfortunately, the rest of the song follows ;)

i'm not really a fan of monster-era r.e.m. though, and the wake up bomb sounds like a relic of that to me. before anyone answers...yes, i know that i'm wrong

I've always loved Up. It's got lots of MOR, indistinct songs, but it's also got some of the band's most interesting songs, i.e. 'Airportman', 'Lotus', and 'Diminished.' It's a great record, I've always maintained.

Aw, I love "Wake Up Bomb" - but it's also the most Monster-like track on NAIHF so if you hate Monster then it would follow you hate WUB.

The one track on Hi Fi that bugs me is "Leave".

I got off the bus after Automatic. Loved everything up to and including it, no use for anything after it.

leave bugs me too, actually! the siren guitar noise is fun for a while but wears out it's welcome on repeated listens

It's an ARP Odyssey doing the siren - I love 'Leave' but I suppose enjoyment of it does hinge on whether or not you can tune out the siren and focus on the song.

I like 'The Wake-Up Bomb' more than pretty much all of Monster, though!

'Tongue' is underrated - I didn't like it for years, but it grew on me.