The R.E.M. debate!

[jough]

R.E.M., "At My Most Beautiful" (confirming me as the only person who still likes Up)

Au contraire.  I LOVED UP when it first came out.  I had just gotten out of college and it was in heavy rotation with the last Soul Coughing and Morrissey's "My Early Burglary Years" - oh, and Beck's "Mutations."  The fall of '98 was a good season for new music.

However, I couldn't STAND "Reveal" - I was even moved to write a review of it on my web site (which was later published in the short-lived U.S. version of NME):

http://www.jough.com/music/000013/index.php

[V-Adore]

R.E.M., "At My Most Beautiful" (confirming me as the only person who still likes Up)

Au contraire.  I LOVED UP when it first came out.  I had just gotten out of college and it was in heavy rotation with the last Soul Coughing and Morrissey's "My Early Burglary Years" - oh, and Beck's "Mutations."  The fall of '98 was a good season for new music.

Well, I meant... I liked Up when it came out, when it was my first R.E.M. album, and I still like it pretty well now. It's not my absolute favorite (that goes to... uh... one of about five, depending which mood I'm in), but I still like it. I think I'm a philistine.

However, I couldn't STAND "Reveal"

This is because "Reveal" is not actually very good. I like about 3 tracks from it, but otherwise... well, once I get my hands on an MP3 of "Saturn Return," the CD's never getting played again.

Anyway... hmm. Now to ponder the 5 Indispensable Songs.

[jough]

I think "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" is R.E.M.'s best - with "Life's Rich Pageant" "Monster," and "Automatic for the People" following behind, in no particular order.

They used to be really great - truly a wonderful "make it a sacred ritual on the day to listen to a new one" and now they're a joke.

That "Final Straw" song that they did about the war in Iraq was just pitiful.  They used to be kinda political, but the politics always came *after* their having written a good song.  Now they just repeat the title in the lyrics with no melody and call it a song.  Sad.  Sad.

It would have been better for me if they all died in a plane crash right after having released "Hi-Fi" - at least then they could have gone out on a high note.

Who would have thought that it was the *drummer* that held that band together?

[V-Adore]

I have high hopes for the next album, but not for any rational reason, just because I really, really want them to stop sucking.

And... yeah, "Life's Rich Pageant" and "Hi-Fi" are right at the top of my list, with "Automatic For the People" and "Document" occasionally jockeying for position depending on my mood. "Fables of the Reconstruction" shows up on the mental favorites list reasonably often, too.

[Limmo]

I think Up is R.E.M.'s best album, once you get past the fact that the only recognizable element of their old sound is Michael's voice.   After a few spins, the electronic textures part to reveal their strongest batch of songs ever.  ( Except for "Hope," which reminds me of Suicide covering a Leonard Cohen tune.)  

When I first listened to it, I didn't know what to make of it.  So I did what I usually do in that situation: put it on infinite repeat at a reasonable volume in one room and go about my day in another.  If I find myself distracted by songs from the other room, that's a good sign.  Up took a few spins, but eventually became a favorite.

Reveal has two or three good songs on it, particularly "I've Been High," but talk about overdoing it with the electronic glop.  Sheesh.

Other favorites are Reckoning ( first R.E.M. album I ever bought, after seeing them on MTV's IRS's The Cutting Edge - wow I'm dating myself here ), Murmur and Automatic For the People.  Though I pretty much like everything they did up until Monster.

[V-Adore]

I think Up is R.E.M.'s best album, once you get past the fact that the only recognizable element of their old sound is Michael's voice.   After a few spins, the electronic textures part to reveal their strongest batch of songs ever.  ( Except for "Hope," which reminds me of Suicide covering a Leonard Cohen tune.)

I will confess to really liking "Hope," but I think it works better entirely removed from any R.E.M. context; it's got some fun, trippy lyrical stylings going on, and if you can roll with the xTREME!! electronic gobbledegook, it's weirdly enjoyable.

Up, IMHO, is anywhere from half to two-thirds veryverygood songs, with the other songs extremely forgettable; the genius, of course, is that any given listener will have the songs sorted entirely differently. It's much like "Reveal" in that sense -- I think everyone agrees that "Reveal" has about three good songs, but nobody can agree on which songs they are.

(Incidentally, says the small part of my mind trying to think on-topic, is this worthy of a split thread at this point?)

[jough]

You people are funny.  "Hope" is the best track on Up.

And "Daysleeper" is just picture-perfect old-school R.E.M.  "The Apologist" is great new angry R.E.M.  "At My Most Beautiful" is pretty R.E.M.  Actually, everything but the first track pretty much moves me.

I wrote a review of it, too, but only for the local paper.  I don't know if it's online anywhere.

[slink]

I did the responsible thing here...

[V-Adore]

I relistened to Up tonight. Verdict: "You're In the Air," "Why Not Smile," and "Walk Unafraid" do very little for me -- they're technically proficient but just don't thrill me -- but everything else on the album is godlike, even "Airportman," as totally odd as it is.

This is all.

[AugustWest]

My first experience with REM was in 1983.  I was wearing an onion on my belt, as was the style back then....

Anyhow, it was my senior trip.  I was in the back of a van for 17 hours on the way to Sarasota with my buddy and 6 other guys.  He controlled the tape player.  Over and over and over again he played "Radio Free Europe."  It's a good, perhaps even great song.  But even the best music can wear after too many repeat playings.  

When we got there, me and the other 6 of us pounded him one for his lack of DJ'ing variety skills.

P.S.  My buddy grew up to be the drummer for the Black Crowes.  Last month his brother told me he's writing a screenplay now.  Heh.