Xpost Strongly agree, FoG would easily be in my REMPOX at this point in my life
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 15:55 (nine months ago) link
Assuming I'm all better, on Sunday I'm going to see Michael Shannon, backed by Jason Narducy (on guitar), Jon Wurster (I think), and a few other ringers do "Murmur" in its entirety, plus other choice selections.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 16:39 (nine months ago) link
Can someone print those lists out? I don't pay for subs to any of those services, a little annoyed that this is the world we live in.
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 16:43 (nine months ago) link
Or, copy-paste them here— not print them out lol
I commented to REM HQ that they should at least add it to a few more of the major streaming services (why go halfway?)
― Empty Tushy Fills (morrisp), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 16:45 (nine months ago) link
Stipe -
World Leader PretendCountry FeedbackStrange CurrenciesThe LiftingElectron BlueSupernatural SuperseriousOh My HeartWe All Go Back To Where We BelongThe Flowers Of GuatemalaHalf A World Away
Buck -
Feeling Gravity's PullSo. Central RainWalk UnafraidYou're In The AirDiscovererAll The Way To RenoTry Not To BreatheUndertowElectroliteFinest Worksong
Mills -
Wolves, LowerPilgrimageI BelieveIt's The End Of The World...You Are The EverythingOrange CrushWhat's The Frequency, Kenneth?How The West Was Won...Living Well Is The Best RevengeEvery Day Is Yours To Win
Berry -
BeachballDaysleeperLeaving New YorkThese DaysWe WalkI Remember CaliforniaI Don't Sleep, I DreamRotary TenVoice Of HaroldFind The River
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 16:54 (nine months ago) link
Berry picked three post-Berry tunes, bless ‘im
― Davey D, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 17:02 (nine months ago) link
I don't pay for subs to any of those services, a little annoyed that this is the world we live in.
I don't pay for Spotify either fyi
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 17:23 (nine months ago) link
Wow Stipe @ thinking Electron Blue is one of their best songs
Stipe’s on record as thinking Reveal is one of their best albums, too. I wonder if this era is so associated with his personal good fortune – he now had tens of millions of dollars in his pocket and enjoyed a niche in New York artistic circles – that he doesn’t quite realize how weak the music seemed to listeners.
― Melomane, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 18:17 (nine months ago) link
tbc Reveal was (is?) much better regarded in the UK.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 18:22 (nine months ago) link
Hell, it could just be ego at work. Apparently "Up" was kind of challenging, because without Bill in the mix Peter and Mike sort of wrestled with balancing one another's songs. Maybe Stipe stepped up a bit more for the next album and had more involvement?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 18:24 (nine months ago) link
Poor fables
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 18:49 (nine months ago) link
A paltry 1 track
I wonder to what extent that is because they had such a bad time recording the album; that seems to bias the opinions of musicians more often that you might think.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 18:52 (nine months ago) link
One of the albums has to be like that, they can't all be winners
― a (waterface), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 20:21 (nine months ago) link
Stipe with 5 post-2000 tracks is…unsurprising
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 20:24 (nine months ago) link
I don't think it's surprising that an artist thinks their later work is their best work. They have a totally different perspective on their work and surely weren't that interested in chasing after something they'd already captured before. Everything grows out of what came before so I totally get him choosing a lot of songs from the later albums or being on record thinking Reveal is one of their best. But I also think it's wild, even if you had to do a POX of just the post-Berry stuff, to rate Electron Blue that high.
(Also for the record, I also think Reveal is a great album and is unfairly maligned. It's certainly better than the three that came after it and I might even argue that it's better than Up, too. Maybe.)
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 20:25 (nine months ago) link
xp
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 21:04 (nine months ago) link
I don't think it's surprising that an artist thinks their later work is their best work.
I can definitely see Stipe thinking that his later songwriting, in the abstract, was his best. But in terms of the recorded performances, especially with Accelerate on, his voice was so shot that the final product is weaker regardless.
― Melomane, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 21:15 (nine months ago) link
I love Reveal, and I'm not sure if how much better regarded it is here but two weeks at number one are nothing to be sniffed at. Although it had half the chart life of Up (which never went to the top because they released it the same week as Robbie).
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:09 (nine months ago) link
Im glad to see I Remember California get some love too — what a weird track and I’ve always liked it
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:15 (nine months ago) link
i can't believe no one picked Fall On Me
― all this time I thought you were British (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:59 (nine months ago) link
Love that one
― Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:04 (nine months ago) link
I Remember California is MAAAYBE my favourite 80s track. And I'm not sure how to feel about it being maaaybe my favourite 80s track.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:14 (nine months ago) link
I used to enjoy it but it was never a favourite. Then a good few years ago I reminded myself of the Tourfilm version - so much menace and electricity - and it has forever changed how I hear either version.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:16 (nine months ago) link
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:37 (nine months ago) link
yeah probably
― all this time I thought you were British (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:48 (nine months ago) link
i also love Fall on Me fwiw
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:27 (nine months ago) link
I went on a REM kick last week and gave a couple of listens to "Lifes Rich Pageant" and was reading some Wiki on Don Gehman and I got a chuckle out of this part.
However, the band believed that Gehman's "meticulously high standards" meant he did not consider the album a complete success.[14] When getting ready for their next album Buck says, "We were talking to Don, but he was getting kinda cold feet. He was saying, 'I really want to make a record that's a huge commercial success, and as much as I like you all as people, and I like the band, the way you work, I can't hear that you're going to have a huge hit.'"[14] When Gehman was not available as readily as the band wanted for their next recording needs, he recommended Scott Litt who went on to work with the band on future projects.[15]
I'd imagine Scott Litt says thank you for handing me a band that was on it's way to being one of the most popular in the world at the peak of their career.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:27 (nine months ago) link
I love "Fall on Me" too. It's one of their best. I love that whole album. That one, the first two and the EP are my favorites.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:28 (nine months ago) link
It's easy to imagine the guy responsible for John Mellencamp's biggest (and best) albums thinking that this band had no future.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:31 (nine months ago) link
I don't know, pretty much every REM album outsold the next one. I guess he was just a fogey that really did not get it. That said, that record does sound really good (as does the Mellencamp stuff). Gehman did later have a huge hit with Hootie and the Blowfish, which I guess was more his speed.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:36 (nine months ago) link
I actually wish they HAD made more albums together.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:45 (nine months ago) link
but then LRP is unique in their catalog anyway.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:46 (nine months ago) link
There might be a thread in records where engineers/producers of the old guard worked with new guard musicians and the results. Sometimes it works and sometimes it don't.
Say The Church with "Starfish" and Waddy Wachtel or XTC's "Skylarking" with Todd Rundgren - both were their most popular albums at least to that point, but the band's HATED the experience. Nick Cave working with David Briggs was kind of a disaster according to him. Red Hot Chili Peppers just did a bunch of drugs with George Clinton.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:52 (nine months ago) link
I wanna protest strongly this idea of Gehman as a fogey, for god's sake.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:55 (nine months ago) link
Litt was obv a great fitt, but I do wonder what their creative/career arc would have been if they had worked with different folks at that stage. They seem like a band whose sound was particularly influenced by producer(s), though maybe that’s true for many
― Empty Tushy Fills (morrisp), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 00:59 (nine months ago) link
From his work as remix guy on Nirvana and Liz Phair's stuff, Litt strikes me as an excellent tabula rasa.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 01:01 (nine months ago) link
Fun other quote from Cougar, who called Fables 'a dirge'. "I was much more interested in the Bruce Springsteen/John Cougar Mellencamp/Bryan Adams phenomenon. I was looking to three to five million, not the 100,000 sales."
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 01:21 (nine months ago) link
Gehman* obv
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 01:22 (nine months ago) link
Gehman otm. The band got what it wanted: "Fall on Me" on AOR radio, their first gold album, etc.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 01:34 (nine months ago) link
Having skipped the last few albums, Every Day Is Yours To Win is a lovely discovery for me. Good pick, Mike.
― Alba, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 09:58 (nine months ago) link
Reckoning was treated worse, and the Murmur picks are odd.
here's a half assed theory: from having listened to many REM bootlegs from the early years up through Green they played those Reckoning/Murmur songs soooo much, the ones I see here (We Walk, So Central Rain) stand out as being either not a song they played a lot live, or are a little different than the rest of the album. We walk stands out on Murmur because of the beat, So Central Rain stands out because it's the catchiest poppiest song on the record. I dunno. I'm guessing they like playing the hits like Fall on Me, but great songs like Harborcoat got worn out by playing them so much
― a (waterface), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 11:56 (nine months ago) link
bet you’re right
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 13:20 (nine months ago) link
Bertis Downs adds a few more
Ten more, Bertis’s version:
Gardening at NightTurn You Inside-OutLife and How to Live ItWalk It BackHorse to WaterPhotographGreen Grown the RushesMaps and LegendsCarnival of Sorts (Boxcars)Monty Got a Raw Deal
― a (waterface), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 13:54 (nine months ago) link
Waiting for Kate Pierson's top 2 list.
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 14:16 (nine months ago) link
I’d wait for Jefferson Holt’s Top 10, but I guess the terms of his settlement make that unlikely.
― Melomane, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 14:50 (nine months ago) link
Bertis gets it re: fables!
― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 27 July 2023 03:12 (nine months ago) link
https://xpn.org/2023/06/29/a-28-year-old-r-e-m-song-gets-a-new-life-in-the-bear/
― Nonhuman biologics enthusiast (morrisp), Sunday, 30 July 2023 22:21 (nine months ago) link