― 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
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Erroneous Botch (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 23:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 23:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 23:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 23:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 01:31 (seventeen years ago) link
I love about half of this album and usually end up skipping most of the other part.
Will you show me something that nobody else has seen? Smoke it, drink - here comes the flood! anything to thin the blood.
awesome!
― Z S, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 01:56 (sixteen years ago) link
this is still the REM album i enjoy the most. even more than green or murmur or automatic. i hardly listen to them anymore, except for tracks off new adventures. e-bow, electrolite, how the west was won, bittersweet me. all some of their best.
― Emily Bjurnhjam, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 02:36 (sixteen years ago) link
So very classic. I just lost an auction on ebay for a sealed vinyl copy. =(
― Davey D, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 02:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Also, my best friend bought this cd for me on my 16th birthday. Even more classic!
― Davey D, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 02:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Still an excellent album.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 11:35 (sixteen years ago) link
'binky the doormat' ... best song about a doormat ever.
WORD!
― t**t, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I downloaded this on the recommendation of ILM yesterday-- some pretty good stuff on this, but good God, the "rockers" are incredibly painful ("The Wake-Up Bomb" for example).
― Richard Wood Johnson, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 19:47 (sixteen years ago) link
OOoohhhhhh the wake up bomb.
― piscesx, Saturday, 19 July 2008 02:47 (fifteen years ago) link
This is my favorite REM album, bar none.
― stephen, Saturday, 19 July 2008 02:57 (fifteen years ago) link
i think it just might be one of their best. certainly their last really good record.
― the next grozart, Saturday, 19 July 2008 03:18 (fifteen years ago) link
It's way below their best early to mid-career work, but it's half a terrific album and yeah, it's "certainly their last really good record."
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 19 July 2008 03:21 (fifteen years ago) link
way below their best early to mid-career work
strongly disagree w/this, I think these songs are some of their best
half a terrific album I would say 2/3 terrific 1/3 good to decent, which considering the length is impressive. Still their longest release by far and quite varied, it's almost like their version of Sandinista.
― sleeve, Saturday, 19 July 2008 04:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Great album. Will it also take six years that people will discover how phantastic "Reveal" is?
OTM! Reveal is also excellent.
― stephen, Saturday, 19 July 2008 06:04 (fifteen years ago) link
The end of a really bad period for R.E.M. It wasn't as bad as "Monster", but still had the same weaknesses. They would get better on "Up" and really good on "Reveal".
― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 19 July 2008 09:27 (fifteen years ago) link
oh my peer your veneer is wearing thin and crackingthe surface informs the underneath -- the underneath is lacking
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 19:38 (four years ago) link
my favorite r.e.m. lyric!
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 19:38 (four years ago) link
i couldn't taste it. i'm tired and nakedi don't know what i'm hungry for. i don't know what i want anymore
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 19:45 (four years 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