The R.E.M. thread

[WilliamMunny]

It's so hard to pick a best.

I.R.S. Years – Lifes Rich Pageant (Murmur is a close second)
Warner Years – Out of Time (because of the deeper cuts) but I really enjoy listening to New Adventures...
Post-Berry Years – Reveal, by a LONG shot.  Not even close.

Wow, you might be the first and only other person I've ever met who enjoys Reveal.

Back in the day, that was the first R.E.M. release I worked through (as in, ran the record store on release day) and, boy oh boy were people bummed by that album. Except for "Imitation of Life," which funnily enough, is one the weaker tracks on the album for me.

[HOF]

Monster has great deep cuts like King of Comedy, Let Me In, and Tongue, which were all pretty unusual R.E.M. tracks but I didn't realize it at the time (it was my intro to the band). The radio hits are all strong, and Strange Currencies is my favorite ballad the band did.

[Zydar]

I gotta give a shout to Reckoning - such a great album. Harborcoat, 7 Chinese Bros, Pretty Persuasion, So. Central Rain, Rockville... It's almost as good as Murmur, I think.

[WilliamMunny]

I gotta give a shout to Reckoning - such a great album. Harborcoat, 7 Chinese Bros, Pretty Persuasion, So. Central Rain, Rockville... It's almost as good as Murmur, I think.

It's sooooo close...I give my nod to Murmur, but only by a hair.

I think the one down spot on Reckoning is "Camera," which is a song that an older, stronger singing Stipe would've nailed, but he kinda struggles with on Reckoning.

That said, even that song has a brilliant lyric (inspired by a tragic story)

[Zantera]

Reveal isn't perhaps totally consistent but for me "All the Way to Reno" and "Imitation of Life" are 2 of their best hits.

[Mladen]

I do like Reveal quite a bit. Whereas the three albums that preceeded it tried to shoot high conceptually aiming for a certain style and sound, the band just got down to short pop rock songs on Reveal, no filler, no pretentiousness. It's really a pleasant listen in my opinion. Then again, opinions like that sometimes come up when someone checks out a band's music decades down the line and with a different perspective.

[KevShmev]

It's sooooo close...I give my nod to Murmur, but only by a hair.

Murmur sits comfortatably at number 2 on my list of favorite R.E.M. albums, behind Automatic for the People (which is my number 1 by a pretty wide distance), but well ahead of my 3rd favorite, which is probably New Adventures... most days, but there are days where I might say Out of Time or Lifes Rich Pageant is number 3. 

[soupytwist]

Up remains my least favorite album.  'Walk Unafraid' is fantastic - but that's the only song on that album I love, even 'Around the Sun' has 'Leaving New York' and 'Electron Blue'.

I think if I had to order them it would stand as...

Worst to best...

Up.
Around the Sun.
Fables.
Green.
Reckoning.
Monster.
Collapse Into Now.
Reveal.
Murmur.
Accelerate.
Pageant.
Out of Time.
New Adventures.
Automatic.
Document.

I think that'd be pretty close - I'd need to do a re-listen but I can't imagine it'd change to dramatically.

[Stadler]

Reveal isn't perhaps totally consistent but for me "All the Way to Reno" and "Imitation of Life" are 2 of their best hits.

I just think it's a beautiful album, and it may be - MAY be - because I don't particularly care for the post-Berry material all that much. 

[WilliamMunny]

Up remains my least favorite album.  'Walk Unafraid' is fantastic - but that's the only song on that album I love, even 'Around the Sun' has 'Leaving New York' and 'Electron Blue'.

I think if I had to order them it would stand as...

Worst to best...

Up.
Around the Sun.
Fables.
Green.
Reckoning.
Monster.
Collapse Into Now.
Reveal.
Murmur.
Accelerate.
Pageant.
Out of Time.
New Adventures.
Automatic.
Document.

I think that'd be pretty close - I'd need to do a re-listen but I can't imagine it'd change to dramatically.

What I love, like truly love, about a band like R.E.M. is that (similar to DT) there is little in the way of uniformity when it comes to fans and their catalog.

Sure, Murmur and Automatic will often find their way to the top of people's lists, but then I see something like this where Murmur is middle of the pack and Green and Reckoning are near the bottom.

Also similar to DT, my personal rankings jump around all the time. Other than Automatic, I think my top-5 could be completely different on any given day. I sincerely love most of their albums from cover to cover, and even Around the Sun has 8 or 9 tracks that, to my ears, are top-tier.

The only thing missing from my R.E.M. fandom is the promise of something more. But, as I get older, more and more bands are falling into the 'finished' bucket, so it's to be expected.

That all said, after the events of this past weekend, and despite my better judgement, if the boys opted for something 'new,' whatever that may be, I'd probably jump out of my skin with excitement.

[Zantera]

I don't know why Fables gets such a bad rep. It's definitely in my top3.

[WilliamMunny]

I don't know why Fables gets such a bad rep. It's definitely in my top3.

I LOVE how weird it is, and it is certainly the red-headed step-child of the IRS albums.

I think the band has been very dismissive of the album over the years, undoubtedly due to their unhappiness during the recording (they worked on it in England and were homesick), and that certainly didn't help the general perception.

I also think the album was more eclectic/less-focused in terms of approach. That all said, "Feeling Gravity's Pull" is a freaking monster of an opener, and "Life and How to Live It" is an underappreciated gem in my opinion.

[KevShmev]

I read that Stipe is on record as thinking Can't Get There from Here was their worst song ever.  I kinda see what hemeans, as the music is good, but the vocal melody just kind of meanders and is a bit tuneless.  I like Fables from what I remember, but it is admittedly one I don't revisit as a whole much.  I will have to make a note to revisit that one here soon.  Driver 8 and Wendell Gee are definitely great songs I seek out on occasion.

[Mladen]

Last time I ranked the albums, it looked something like this:

1. Out of time
2. Green
3. Document
4. Automatic for the people
5. Reveal
6. Murmur
7. Lifes rich pageant
8. Reckoning
9. Monster
10. Accelerate
11. Fables of the reconstruction
12. Up
13. New adventures in Hi-Fi
14. Around the sun
15. Collapse into now

I might switch Reckoning and Monster nowadays, though.