Yeah, I was disappointed to read that. It has such a strong sense of nature and geography, whereas other R.E.M. records address that stuff more directly. With this one, the sense of place is in the music.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Saturday, 17 January 2015 17:10 (nine years ago) link
It's got that Americana vibe, like Wichita Lineman.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Sunday, 18 January 2015 18:12 (nine years ago) link
Pulled out the album again on Friday to absorb to and from work. For the love of god I don't hear what you guys do: retreads, murk, bleh.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 18 January 2015 18:18 (nine years ago) link
Relistening to Life and How to Live It, I'm struck by how much it sounds like Makoto Kawabata nicked the opening for Pink Lady Lemonade
― spliffify (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 18 January 2015 18:39 (nine years ago) link
Love this record. Their last really great record IMO (he writes, ducking).
And EveningStar, it is totally true that Driver 8 was covered by everyone, even by bands for whom it was their one "indie" song (also Radio Free Europe). But the Buck lick is the one song everyone with an acoustic guitar knew. (Even though Boxcar was a little cooler.)
― stop torturing me ethel (broom air), Sunday, 18 January 2015 20:56 (nine years ago) link
read just about every paragraph
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:35 (four years ago) link
the sky is open armedwhen the light is mine
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:36 (four years ago) link
Surprising poll results; these are some of the best songs on there:
"Maps and Legends" – 3:10 3"Good Advices" – 3:30 2"Old Man Kensey" – 4:08 0
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:37 (four years ago) link
look at his shoes
ew
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:39 (four years ago) link
at the end of the daywhen there are no friends when there are no lovers
― L'assie (Euler), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 22:16 (four years ago) link
what do you have to saaaaaaayyyy
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 22:24 (four years ago) link
Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent, hear the bells ring again
― Mule, Thursday, 7 November 2019 13:47 (four years ago) link
"Life and How to Live It" – 4:06 5
my actual favorite rem song
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 November 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
No album sounds like this album
― Mule, Thursday, 7 November 2019 14:00 (four years ago) link
So there's a dude named Pablo Hidalgo who is a longtime employee of Lucasfilm in their Story Group and (until recently) interacted a lot with fans on Twitter. His wife Kristen is also on there and her handle is @ManRaySky, which is awesome.
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:14 (four years ago) link
way up there for me, too
― at home in the alternate future, (Karl Malone), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:16 (four years ago) link
I've given this album more chances than most and it'll always be meh, but I do appreciate how the arrangements strive (and achieve) for a half-awake stumbling feel.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:22 (four years ago) link
This may be their most criminally underrated album.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:23 (four years ago) link
Embrace the murk, Soto!
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link
At this point every R.E.M. gets called their most criminally underrated album.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link
Except in this case it's true
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
r.e.m. didn't put out a "meh" record until reveal
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
I feel like Maps and Legends should be higher than Green Grow the Rushes.
For me it probably would be Driver / Maps / Can't Get.
It is a pretty good record
― tempted by the fruit of your mother (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:47 (four years ago) link
I usually skip "Maps and Legends", too much of a drone. It's the song where I understand why someone wouldn't like this album, or even this band.
But those last three songs, or even the last four: building up to a final relief. maybe today I would rate "Auctioneer" the highest. they're songs of a band exhausted by the road that already an album earlier was at best viewed ambiguously ("another Greenville, another Magic Mart"). but rather than write about I dunno, Bob Segar style, they characteristically code their images. But they build and build, from frenzy to anxiety to a final passing.
― L'assie (Euler), Thursday, 7 November 2019 15:57 (four years ago) link
counterpoint: not a drone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-2QlXO1SYY
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 November 2019 16:08 (four years ago) link
And then there's "Life And How To Live It," maybe the last of their great skittery jittery rockers where it feels like the wheels are going to come off at any moment - the descendent of Chronic Town and "9-9." After this record they still did plenty of great rock tunes but they were more locked down somehow - don't quite know how to articulate this but there's a nervous energy that gradually gets concentrated into something more focused, not necessarily better or worse but different.― Doctor Casino, Monday, October 27, 2008 11:23 PM (eleven years ago)
― Doctor Casino, Monday, October 27, 2008 11:23 PM (eleven years ago)
OTM on "Life and How to Live It". When Bill "Blue"Berry plays that disco-esque beat at such frenetic tempo (a la "Hyena", "Harborcoat", et al) it feels like a dangerously-fast downhill ride on an unfamiliar road. I also love the backup vox in the chorus, and those walk-up bass notes that precede it. "my CARPENTERS OUT AND RUNNING ABOUT!!!!..."
What's the deal with the liner notes and its listing of trakcs that aren't actually on the album ("When We Were Young")? Or did I hallucinate that like a "Wendell Gee" fever dream?
― Bill Bruford's drumbeat for "South Side of the Sky": proto-dubstep? (Prefecture), Thursday, 7 November 2019 17:55 (four years ago) link