― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 8 November 2003 08:14 (twenty years ago) link
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Saturday, 8 November 2003 08:22 (twenty years ago) link
Oh, man! I bet Stipey and co. have sleepless nights over that one.
I'd take Monster over New Adventures. I don't know why I've never really got into NIAH, but Monster is almost always the one I have in my walkman. I like that it's a bit messed up and wrong. Great guitar sound as well.
― Philip Alderman (Phil A), Saturday, 8 November 2003 14:16 (twenty years ago) link
Uh, drummer. Guitarist = Andy Summers, bassist = oh, I think we all know by now.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:33 (twenty years ago) link
― disco stu (disco stu), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:39 (twenty years ago) link
Always liked 'Bittersweet Me' and 'Electrolite' OK. Maybe it hasn't really improved that much. We'll see.
― the bellefox, Friday, 19 August 2005 13:08 (eighteen years ago) link
Also from these sessions - a cover of Vic Chesnutt's "Sponge" that's probably my favorite R.E.M. track post-1992.
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:22 (eighteen years ago) link
But, yeah, up to about track 10 this is my favorite overrated underrated REM album, after Life's Rich Pageant.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 19 August 2005 15:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Friday, 19 August 2005 17:58 (eighteen years ago) link
I'd cut "Suspicion", "At My Most Beautiful" and...maybe "Walk Unafraid"? Maybe only 2 need to be cut.
I love "Parakeet".
― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― zeus, Friday, 19 August 2005 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:16 (eighteen years ago) link
x-post: "The Michael Stipe Band" is ridiculous. It's Buck, Mills, and Stipe, minus Berry. They have a great regular band w/ McCaughey and Stringfellow and Bill Rieflin is actually a stronger drummer than Berry was.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:26 (eighteen years ago) link
Bullshit.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 19 August 2005 18:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 19 August 2005 20:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 06:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 07:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 10:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 15:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:05 (eighteen years ago) link
I think the rockers sound fantastic - the opening racket of "Departure" might be what Buck was looking for on Monster but never quite finding. OTM on Low Desert's lyrics. "A road owl hit your windshield..."
I dunno. The whole package works, and it does deliver a consistent mood without sounding the same throughout. It's hard not to hear it as Berry's swan song though, or wonder what might have come next if he hadn't bowed out (and I'm speaking as a general defender of Up and to a lesser extent Reveal).
It's hard to believe this is now almost ten years old.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:45 (eighteen years ago) link
"Reveal" is also underrated, I think. Good songs all throughout, even the weird stuff like "Beachball" works.
― Chris O., Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Vornado, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:57 (eighteen years ago) link
agreed on the lyrics here. great stuff. contrast that with, say, "imitation of life," which came on at the gym the other day. aaargh. stipe's "greatest thing since bread came sliced" line. wtf is that? add mill's blander than bland songwriting/arrangement (i assume it's him, since it was such a big deal when his songs started getting more prominent around out of time. sounds like him even it's not.) and buck's surliness/seeming disinterest in being in a band (look at him, he constantly looks pained) and the result is a severely damaged legacy.
― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 17:16 (eighteen years ago) link
That's just nuts. They sure have done a lot of work and toured around the world relentlessly for someone disinterested in being in a band.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link
Stipe being silly.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 17:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link
And the noise/feedback stuff he does is kind of mediocre in terms of the heavy/psych guitar tradition.
It's such a relief when "Zither" comes on!
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I think my favorite recent instance is when he sings "Leaving was never my proud" in "Leaving New York." That's fucking hilarious.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 19:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 19:50 (eighteen years ago) link
'e-bow the letter', 'bittersweet me' and 'leave' are also fantastic.
― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Monday, 18 September 2006 14:29 (seventeen years ago) link
i relentlessly get out of bed to go to work five days a week. doesn't mean i enjoy it.
― john, a resident of chicago. (john s), Monday, 18 September 2006 14:47 (seventeen years ago) link
yr not rich. rem is.
― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 18 September 2006 15:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― john, a resident of chicago. (john s), Monday, 18 September 2006 15:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 18 September 2006 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link
i don't see it. especially from buck -- distant, never looks like he's having fun. seems like a guy who'd tell you not to look at him even as he's playing an instrument in front of you.
probably think they are making good records
the first two words are the key, huh? they say it every album they put out -- "best we've ever done" bullshit. they have to say it. press laps it up and spits it out verbatim cuz, well, it's r.e.m. for godsakes and they got to sit in the same room or on the same phone line with them for 25 whole minutes! all to themselves!
based on buck's prior goal of making an album as good as astral weeks (this long after they'd already put out murmur and reckoning, which he didn't think measured up), i can't see how he thinks they are getting any closer.
i guess i'm just amazed by how much it seems berry was the pivotal member keeping all their worst attributes (stipe's attentionwhoring, mills' cheesiness, buck's...i dunno, surliness? personality?) in check. if the rumor is true and he's back in the studio with them...well, just please let it be true.
― john, a resident of chicago. (john s), Monday, 18 September 2006 19:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 18 September 2006 19:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 18 September 2006 19:25 (seventeen years ago) link
On Up:I think the songs are our best group of songs
On Reveal:It might be the best record we've ever done.
On Around the Sun:as good a group of songs as we’ve ever done
Buck said basically the same thing about New Adventures, but at least he got it right that time.
i kno
― john, a resident of chicago. (john s), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/3kgJcTN.png
― just staying (Karl Malone), Thursday, 4 November 2021 16:41 (two years ago) link
still wish Lady Gaga had gone with my "climb atop David Howell Evans's shoulders shrieking 'I'm on The Edge!'" music video treatment
― I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 4 November 2021 16:42 (two years ago) link
I think I also just find something off-putting about Wake-Up Bomb's positioning on the album as the second track after How The West Was Won, although they do something similar with the first two tracks on Up - slow, low key, atypical opening song with Airportman, then swaggering suggestive rock song with Lotus. I think Lotus was the last time they did anything in the same style as Monster? I'm not that familiar with the last two albums so maybe I'm forgetting something on one of them.
― soref, Thursday, 4 November 2021 16:59 (two years ago) link
and think it really works with those two tracks on Up, so idk why it doesn't quite come off for me on New Adventures
― soref, Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:00 (two years ago) link
zach i'm stealing that for the memes thread.
up fucking rules.
― the beginning of the end of discourse. (Austin), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:32 (two years ago) link
hmm
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:43 (two years ago) link
just got the vinyl, playing it now
WOW, they did such an amazing job on this, hats off to Kevin Gray who remastered and cut the vinyl
modern vinyl can be such a crapshoot, but I tell ya what, when they hit it out of the park nowadays it's as good as vinyl has ever sounded. this sounds huge and i'm noticing little things in the mix i never heard. dead quiet, no bullshit black vinyl, high quality plastic sleeves, A+
especially noticeable during the quieter stuff, new test leper really blew me away
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 4 November 2021 18:05 (two years ago) link
anyway if you've been thinking about the vinyl i would definitely pull the trigger on this. on the bad and hated hoffman boards, praise for the new pressing/master seems almost universal which is rare
thanks for the heads up! buying now
― lukas, Thursday, 4 November 2021 19:57 (two years ago) link
Listened to this quite a bit during my final year of high school in 1997. Returning to it today, it's definitely patchy, but that said, Electrolite could be one of their best songs. I'd completely forgotten about it.
― MikoMcha, Thursday, 4 November 2021 20:39 (two years ago) link
wow, did not realize the original had become one of those $200 records for some reason. tempted to shine mine up, sell it off, and grab the new one, but it's not really how i relate to my stuff.
― I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 4 November 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
I fucking love this record.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 November 2021 20:56 (two years ago) link
ty for the nudge ums, i hedged and bought the package with both the vinyl and cds
― call all destroyer, Friday, 5 November 2021 01:10 (two years ago) link
aluminum, it tastes like fear
― brimstead, Thursday, 14 September 2023 01:03 (seven months ago) link
idk why i thought this album had a bad reputation (must have missed ivy's p4k review lol), but i listened for the first time ever today and it might be my favorite post-reckoning r.e.m. album? combines the best aspects of automatic and monster with fewer clunkers and higher highs
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:11 (five months ago) link
like "undertow" in particular sounds to me like they're subconsciously saying, "sorry about monster we have actually figured out how to use feedback now"
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:13 (five months ago) link
it's always been one of my favorites, i think it has a pretty strong cult following
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:22 (five months ago) link
It got great reviews on first release, did better business in the UK, and has never gone away.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:24 (five months ago) link
my parents had out of time, automatic, and monster on cd, but not this one. maybe that's what tricked me
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:31 (five months ago) link
Wake Up Bomb and Undertow feel like they've fully realised their straight-up glam side whereas Monster is this weird, slightly stunted mix of things (not a criticism).
Hi-Fi was the first R.E.M. CD my mum didn't have so I get believing that this one was where things fell apart. I only knew about it when I was little through my uncle's CDs (ditto the next two).
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:50 (five months ago) link
yeah this always had a positive reputation but it was definitely the first R.E.M. album in awhile that didn't make any radio impact iirc. It didn't have big singles, it's entirely stellar deep cuts. Classic album.
― omar little, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 15:58 (five months ago) link
R.E.M. from this point on did benefit from the way the UK singles chart's infrastructure changing though - lengthier gaps between radio and physical and crucially having built a dedicated enough fanbase helping contribute to the new climate of first week peaks and front-loaded sales (and the marketing and managing that pushed this change). Hence, E-Bow being their highest charter to date, despite probably having not been played on the radio since (and, if they could help it, probably not too much at the time either).
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 16:08 (five months ago) link
I've always wanted to call a song "E-Bola, The Virus" but never got around to it
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 16:19 (five months ago) link
I enjoy Monster now, but, when E-Bow came out as the first single, it was such as relief to have "the old REM" back. And "Electrolite" is so pretty.
These days I think New Adventures is very listenable but is also kind of... their first boring record? Almost everything sounds like another, older, better song.
I always thought "Low Desert" was an intentional Stone Roses' Second Coming pastiche -- the swampy riffing and the "hey heys".
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 17:06 (five months ago) link
Every good band releases one of these variety packs a couple times in their careers: a summa of what they do best (think Tattoo You, Lil Wayne's Funeral, any number of Yo La Tengo albums).
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 17:10 (five months ago) link
I adore this album. Well, except for “wake up bomb” and “bittersweet me”.
― brimstead, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:13 (five months ago) link
Do I think The Cure’s Wish might be one of these?
― piscesx, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:19 (five months ago) link
* I think, that should’ve said.
I was thinking the same thing ha. That's the first album with no genuine new territory covered (for all that there are shoegaze guitars and beefy dance-via-baggy rhythms on some songs). Rather it's a this-is-us-and-we're-top-of-the-mountain record.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:23 (five months ago) link
it's a record of synthesis, not evolution. the fact that it was all recorded while on the road, and they were playing selections from all over their catalog, probably contributed to that (and also gave them an idea of the kinds of experiments that worked and did not)
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:37 (five months ago) link
― piscesx,
Why I love it best.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:39 (five months ago) link
Adore NAIHF, loathe Wish
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:58 (five months ago) link
despite a half decade of the most intense Cure fandom preceding it
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 31 October 2023 18:59 (five months ago) link