Author Topic: The R.E.M. thread (Read 4525 times)

Dr. DTVT · « **on:** December 13, 2010, 09:01:55 PM »

I tried using the search function, and got a billion random threads.

Anyone else a fan? I know this might sound weird coming from an admitted prog snob, but I've always had a place for R.E.M. Aside from writting songs that weren't drivel, they wrote relatively simple but catchy tunes I find particularly fun to play on guitar. They are one of my guilty pleasures. Document through New Adventures in Hi-Fi were an incredible run of albums.

ariich · « **Reply #1 on:** December 14, 2010, 02:32:38 AM »

I've recently started getting into them, been listening to Document (which is very good) and Life's Rich Pageant (which is excellent!). Need to check out more though. Mostly pretty simply music but it's got a nice feel to it and they have a great sense of melody.

Zydar · « **Reply #2 on:** December 14, 2010, 02:43:10 AM »

I've only listened to the hits. Growing up in the 90s I saw a lot of their videos on MTV.

My favourite songs of theirs include:

- Losing My Religion
- Shiny Happy People
- Man On The Moon
- Nightswimming
- The Great Beyond
- Daysleeper
- At My Most Beautiful
- (Don't Go Back To) Rockville

Progmetty · « **Reply #3 on:** December 14, 2010, 04:15:58 AM »

Hey steady steady, I don't wanna go until I'm good and ready

Big fan here.

Zantera · « **Reply #4 on:** December 14, 2010, 05:30:21 AM »

I really like R.E.M, they have some really good music when you just wanna chill out.
My favorite songs would be Daysleeper and The Great Beyond.

TheOutlawXanadu · « **Reply #5 on:** December 14, 2010, 06:55:48 AM »

Amazing, amazing band. Automatic for the People is one of my five favorite albums of all time, with "Nightswimming" being possibly my favorite song by anyone ever.

King Postwhore · « **Reply #6 on:** December 14, 2010, 08:11:03 AM »

I have all their cd's and is one of the only bands I've missed live. I'd like to see them someday.

Zydar · « **Reply #7 on:** December 14, 2010, 08:12:32 AM »

Apparently they're releasing a new album in April, Collapse Into Now. I don't know what their latest stuff is like, compared to their older albums.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_into_Now

contest_sanity · « **Reply #8 on:** December 14, 2010, 01:36:15 PM »

Well, since I live in Athens, it's kind of obligatory that I like them. Actually, though, been listening to them for a while. Out Of Time was one of my first cds. My favorite, however, is probably Monster.

EPICVIEW · « **Reply #9 on:** December 14, 2010, 01:42:12 PM »

sure..I appreciated them in the late 80s..

orcus116 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 14, 2010, 01:49:32 PM »

They started getting really good when they discovered distortion. Every song on their first two albums just kinda flow together despite seeming well crafted.

Progmetty · « **Reply #11 on:** December 14, 2010, 03:08:55 PM »

I enjoyed their 2008 album Accelerate a lot, I seem to recall I'm Gonna DJ, Horse to Water and Houston were really cool and catchy, the whole album was good though, maybe I'll dig it up soon.

Marvellous G · « **Reply #12 on:** December 14, 2010, 03:18:13 PM »

I LOVE this band, I can't believe I passed up on an opportunity to see them live a while ago. Also, Nightswimming is indeed one of the greatest songs ever written.

Particularly underrated R.E.M. track that I love: Living Well Is The Best Revenge.

jag66 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 15, 2010, 12:04:19 PM »

Find the River is my favourite REM song

Kotowboy · « **Reply #14 on:** December 15, 2010, 12:09:49 PM »

Quote from: jag66 on December 15, 2010, 12:04:19 PM

Find the River is my favourite REM song

My favourite song on Automatic....

But yeah HUGE fan. ( since 1991 would you believe ! )

Been a fan since I heard The One I love. First album I bought was Out Of Time on cassette in 1991

Seen em live once at the old "Arms Park" stadium in Cardiff Wales on the Monster Tour ( with Bill ! )

MasterShakezula · « **Reply #15 on:** March 25, 2012, 09:09:44 PM »

Today, I've begun my REM journey with Murmur and Reckoning. I really enjoyed the former and am almost done enjoying the latter as I type. After 1 listen a piece, I say Murmur's the better album, but both are really enjoyable, catchy collections of tunes.

What do you all like most from REM/how much of their discography is good?

73109 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 25, 2012, 09:15:24 PM »

Automatic for the People is one of my favorite albums

contest_sanity · « **Reply #17 on:** March 25, 2012, 10:32:22 PM »

Automatic For The People is probably their best album according to overall opinion. Monster, their ode to grunge, is my particular favorite. Out Of Time is probably their most commercially popular due to "Losing My Religion." So there's three I'd recommend.

Dr. DTVT · « **Reply #18 on:** March 25, 2012, 11:21:31 PM »

Cup, I would just like to thank you on behalf of the forum for ACTUALLY USING THE SEARCH FUNCTION instead if starting another thread like a noob.

There is hope for the youth of tomorrow. Thank you for restoring my faith in young people.

7StringedBeast · « **Reply #19 on:** March 25, 2012, 11:29:02 PM »

Their greatest hits disc are pure bliss.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #20 on:** March 26, 2012, 04:52:42 PM »

LOVE LOVE LOVE REM

When they split up :

Faves : Document / Out Of Time / Murmur / Automatic / Monster / Collapse Into Now / Accelerate

MasterShakezula · « **Reply #21 on:** April 14, 2012, 06:42:45 AM »

I don't necessarily enjoy Fables of the Reconstruction as much as the first 2. It's got a cool vibe and some songs are outstanding (Gravity's Pull, Driver 8, Can't get There From Here, Maps & Legends) but it doesn't have as many songs that really pop out.

Probably will get Life's Rich Pageant today.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #22 on:** April 15, 2012, 06:17:55 AM »

Document is my favourite of the IRS years.

MasterShakezula · « **Reply #23 on:** May 13, 2012, 02:26:22 AM »

In the past couple weeks, I've gotten Life's Rich Pageant through Automatic for the People, Minus Green.

All four albums are awesome. Like, normally a band can get way neutered by going for a more commercial sound, but not these guys. LRP and Document are about equal with Murmur, in terms of having awesome songs, while benefiting from being much clearer. Automatic is basically what everyone says it is. I don't necessarily say it's their best I've heard, but it's up there.

I really don't get the general consensus among some people that Out Of Time is a weak album. I say it's about equal with it's successor. And the two songs that often get bashed, Shiny Happy People and Radio Song are some of my favorites off of it. It helps that I know the former's not a banal mindless ditty. The latter's R.E.M. having fun and making a good tune while they're at it.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #24 on:** May 13, 2012, 05:16:49 AM »

Out Of Time has Texarkana, Country Feedback and me In Honey which are 3 of their best songs ever.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #25 on:** January 10, 2021, 05:49:40 AM »

It's not possible for me to rank the REM albums as i'm not overly familiar with the IRS albums. I do love Murmer and Document though. I remember Life's Rich Pageant being good

and not enjoying Reckoning or Green all that much. Also I usually forget that GREEN was their debut on WB and not Out Of Time.

Luckily I saw REM on the 1995 Monster tour when Bill was still in the band. Out of Time, Automatic, Monster are all classics. New Adventures is still good and Up is an interesting album.

I'm not sure how I feel about Reveal and need to hear Around The Sun again but I gave it a spin not too long ago and remember thinking it wasn't THAT underwhelming.

Luckily - Accelerate and Collapse Into Now are both great. "It Happened Today" could have been on Out Of Time. It reminds me a bit of " Me In Honey ".

** - Also I got the new double remastered / remixed Monster on Vinyl. It's interesting. The original album is remastered on 1 vinyl and there's a whole new remix of the album

on Disc 2 - which I haven't really delved into. It does weird things like remove the tremolo guitar from "...Kenneth. " I need to give it a proper listen.

But yeah. Kenneth and Circus Envy. Amazing songs.

Zantera · « **Reply #26 on:** January 10, 2021, 06:30:44 AM »

The IRS run is fantastic, for me personally Fables is the best album out of the bunch but you can't deny the quality of Murmur, Reckoning & Life's Rich Pageant either. The trilogy of Document-Green-Out of Time is mostly good but I don't personally think either of those albums are great from start to finish, perhaps a bit inconsistent but also with some great highs. Automatic For the People does have some of their most commercial songs but even though I went into it a bit skeptic, I must say it does deliver and is arguably their best (though Fables is a close 2nd for me).

I've tried getting into Monster but aside from the opener, 'Whats Your Frequency Kenneth?', none of the other songs really clicked for me and while I would say it's a solid album, there's just too few highs on it for me (so far) to give it a high rating. New Adventures in Hi-Fi is an album I appreciate a lot at face value - it feels more like an art-rock album almost with bigger ideas, and I would say it's pretty great. I always really liked 'E-Bow the Letter' since before getting into this album and I still consider that a great highlight of the album.

The albums post Hi-Fi are all more mixed and I don't think either of them reaches the level of the albums before. Up has a personal favorite in 'Daysleeper', Reveal has one of my favorite R.E.M songs 'All the Way to Reno' as well as the great 'Imitation of Life', and I haven't really gotten into the last 3 albums after that. Not bad but not amazing.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #27 on:** January 10, 2021, 07:05:56 AM »

Collapse Into Now is definitely a good swan song. Accelerate has that Document kinda feel and Collapse... sounds like classic REM.

Daysleeper and Imitation Of Life are both great songs - but they sound so like classic REM that i'm wondering if WB demanded they write something a bit more commercial

for those largely experimental sounding albums - having just paid $80m to re-sign the band.

KevShmev · « **Reply #28 on:** January 10, 2021, 07:40:57 AM »

R.E.M. is one of my major "late to the party" discoveries of the last few years (XTC in '18, R.E.M. in '19, Alanis Morissette in '20).

I always knew their hits for a long time, and always loved Stand, but never had the urge to check them out any further despite my younger brother Mark telling me off and on for, oh, decades that I should

Finally, one day at work back in the fall of '19, a song of theirs was playing at work in the background on satellite radio and I was like, "damn, I like this a lot." A quick google search of one of the lyrics gave me the name of the song: Me in Honey. I made a note of it and later that day asked my brother to send me that song the next time he was online. He was like, "Wait, what?!?!" Fast forward to several weeks later when I had most of their material by then and he was telling me that this was my most stunning turnaround ever (although the Alanis one a few months ago was even more shocking to him and several friends).

I actually still need to get Reckoning (I only have So. Central Rain and Don't Go Back to Rockville from that one), and I only have a scattering of songs from the post-1996 records, but I have everything else and am a huge fan of Murmur, Out of Time, Automatic for the People and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I find both Document and Green kind of spotty, but both have some great stuff on there, most notably World Leader Pretend from the latter which I consider a top 5 R.E.M. tune (along with Find the River, Radio Free Europe, Drive and New Test Leper).

I don't get some of the love I have seen for Monster at all. What's the Frequence, Kenneth? is one of their songs I have always liked (and the decision to remove the tremolo guitar from the remix was an awful one - that's the hook in the damn song!!!), but aside from a few other solid tunes, the album is mostly a miss.

I still need to spend more time with Fables... and Lifes..., both of which I like quite a bit, but haven't really binged on as of yet.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #29 on:** January 10, 2021, 10:17:24 AM »

I was already well into REM in 1994 When Monster came out and it sounded right for the time. Circus Envy is a belter. So is Bang and Blame.

I love that " New Adventures in HiFi " was a brand new album recorded on the road. You don't hear of many bands doing that.

Recording a new album whilst touring the current one.

Stadler · « **Reply #30 on:** January 10, 2021, 10:31:32 AM »

I just went through a phase, as I was ripping my REM to hard drive. I'm a big fan, and have been since the Fables era (my high school friend and bandmate was a fan; when Peter Buck wore an Iron Maiden shirt during the show he went to, we made a deal: I'd listen to Murmur if he listened to Number Of The Beast. Short answer: we both learned something new; we played Cant (no apostrophe, folks!) Get There From Here and Prisoner in our band. Badly.)

I think Murmur, Lifes (no apostrophe, folks!) Rich Pageant and Document are their best records. Out Of Time is close, Automatic is a very good album that doesn't click with me, and Hi-Fi and Monster are great, if flawed, works of art. I like Reveal, but not much else after.

I saw the Green, Monster, Up and Around The Sun tours. Green was probably the best SHOW. I saw them in Atlanta at Chastain Park (Up) in the third row center (I slapped hands with Michael once). During the show, I saw Bill Berry on the side and whispered to the hot chick next to me "there's Bill!" and she started screaming at the top of her lungs "Bill Berry! Bill Berry! Bill Berry!" and he - relucantly - came out for a wave. Pretty proud of that actually.

Worst was Around The Sun; it was flat, and uninspired. Side bar, Michael got booed vigorously for saying "this past Tuesday was the darkest day of my life" (Bush defeated Kerry to earn a second term as President; and this was in CT, a state that went heavy for Kerry. It was just so over-bearing and whiny.)

My ranking:
Document (1987)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Murmur (1983)
Reveal (2001)
Out of Time (1991)
Green (1988)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
Automatic for the People (1992)
Monster (1994)
Reckoning (1984)
Accelerate (2008)
Collapse Into Now (2011)
Around the Sun (2004)
Up (1998)

Oh, finally, the interview done my Dan Rather with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills is essential. Very well done, and they come off very human (and without most of the sanctimony that crept in to a lot of their later work).

Kotowboy · « **Reply #31 on:** January 10, 2021, 10:36:36 AM »

Collapse Into Now *worse* Than Around The Sun?!

Peter Buck on ATS : " It sounds exactly like what it is - a band who have been playing the songs for a year already - who are already sick of them - and only put out the album

to get it out of the way and move on" .

...or words to that effect.

Stadler · « **Reply #32 on:** January 10, 2021, 10:49:48 AM »

I switched them; I won't argue that. Still, both remain in the lower quartile.

WilliamMunny · « **Reply #33 on:** January 10, 2021, 11:29:32 AM »

Such a good thread!

I LOVE REM...perhaps now more than ever.

While the Document thru Automatic era was both my introduction and favorite ('Automatic' is a Top 5 album for me), I enjoy all eras fairly equally.

The IRS albums are obviously gold, but in recent years I've found myself revisiting (and quite enjoying) the Up, Reveal, New York albums.

In my opinion, it's an incredible 15 album run, complete with a stellar debut, a masterpiece (or two), and an amazing third act (Accelerate is as strong a 14th album as I can find).

I was incredibly bummed when they called it quits, but over the past few years, I've made my peace with the decision, and even appreciate the fact that they've stuck to their guns.

Stipe is an 'all-time' frontman for me, and I still find myself catching an odd line and marveling at the pure genius behind it.

HOF · « **Reply #34 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:31:49 PM »

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge REM fan, but I always liked their radio hits growing up, and Monster was one of the first albums I owned as a kid. I still think it holds up really well and it’s still my favorite album of theirs probably, but I only have Green through Monster plus a compilation album with some of their 80s stuff. After Monster I think Automatic for the People is really strong, but Green and Out of Time are a bit more hit and miss to me.

For those who don’t get Monster, for me it’s just a really interesting album with a bunch of different but cool styles, and I like the more grungy edge. What’s The Frequency Kenneth and Star 69 are really fun, then I really like King of Comedy as well. But the two kind of hidden gems are Strange Currencies (can’t remember if that was a radio hit or not but it should have been) and Let Me In, which was sort of a tribute to Kurt Cobain I believe.

News: BREAKING NEWS: Dream Theater reunites with drummer Mike Portnoy (10/25/23)

Author Topic: The R.E.M. thread (Read 4525 times)