Today’s playlist focuses on
R.E.M. the band that has, in my opinion, released more classic albums than any
other. For this exercise it might have
been simpler to list their albums that I didn’t really consider for
inclusion. (For the record the answer is
a mere two – 2004’s incredibly dull Around The Sun and their final album, Collapse
Into Now.) Ignoring the albums, I’ve already played this year – their superlative
second album Reckoning and the grossly underrated,
one-day-it-will-be-regraded-as-a-classic Accelerate – I found time today to
play five albums. EVEN THEN, I couldn’t
fit in albums highly regarded by fans and critics alike in the guise of Fables
Of The Reconstruction, Green or Out Of Time.
Nor could I find time for Up, an album that must rank amongst the
bravest ever released by a major act and which gets better with repeated listening. But I did find time to play the following:
(# 637) R.E.M. – Murmur (1983)
The first time I heard of R.E.M.
was when this, their debut album, was voted Rolling Stone’s album of the year. I immediately hunted it out at the University's
music library and was entranced by its sound, at least until the slightly more
conventional sounding Reckoning came along.
And I have no idea why this persists, even today, 30 years later. After all, the songs make no sense; the
lyrics are indecipherable and none of the members came close to being regarded
as masters of their instruments. Even the
album title and cover gives little away. Everything
though is summed up by the brilliant propulsive opener Radio Free Europe from the faint
strange noises at its start, slightly sped up beat, glistening guitars and
crazed singalong chorus. Moral Kiosk,
Catapult, Sitting Still, 9-9 and West Of The Fields rocked in more of less the
same manner and the remaining tracks, led by the enigmatic Pilgrimage and
Laughing were bewilderingly entertaining.
Among such company, Talk About The Passion, with just about the only
clearly enunciated vocals on the album appeared to make profound sense. In retrospect, what you got was an uncanny
calling card that was to summarise a stunning career before it had even begun.
(# 638) R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
By the time this album had been
released, R.E.M. had reached exalted status in my record collection priorities
meaning their albums were automatically purchased on the day of issue. The last thing I expected after the mainly acoustic,
downbeat but incredibly satisfying Fables Of The Reconstruction was this beast,
containing powerhouse rock, with a direct and clear production sound courtesy of
John Mellencamp’s producer Don Gehman. This
was the first time the lyrics on a R.E.M. album could be heard clearly on every
track presumably due to Michael Stipe’s delivery of a suite of songs with a
distinct moral compass. Begin The Begin
and These Days provided the startling one two opening punch with lyrics clearly
commentating on how Stipe viewed Regan’s America, Fall On Me the gorgeous ballad, Cuyahoga the socially
aware tune and Hyena the throwback to Murmur.
The strange Underneath The Bunker concluded what was a flawless first
vinyl side. The remaining tracks offered
greater diversity from the acoustic The Flowers Of Guatemala, the folk rock I
Believe, the much harder Just A Touch
and the simply strange Swan Swan H.
Fortunately, a cover of Superman, voiced by Mike Mills, was on hand to end
things on a truly unrepresentative note.
(# 639) R.E.M. – Document (1987)
Lyrically this was Lifes Rich
Pageant Part Two, however, Gehman’s production was ditched in favour of an edgier,
much more nuanced sound. This perfectly
complemented, often ambitious material such as Finest Worksong with its horns ,the
typewriter strokes in Exhuming McCarthy and the use of something resembling
electronic rhythms in Lightnin’ Hopkins.
The One I Love has been misinterpreted by generations as a companion
piece to Pageants’ Fall On Me (Honestly,
how can anyone misinterpret, This one
goes out to the one I love/This one goes out to the one I left behind/A simple
crutch to occupy my time ?) and the
otherwise entertaining It’s the End Of The World As We Know It was to be blatantly
solemnised by far less talented songwriters who failed to see its humour. A cover of Wire’s Strange added a bit of
raunch and with Fireplace indicated the band was absorbing English post punk
sounds. King Of Birds and Oddfellows
Local 151 again ended the album on an odd note but subtly positioned the band
and acclimatised their audience to the subsequent offerings on Green and Out Of
Time.
(# 640) R.E.M. – Automatic For The People (1992)
The electric guitars were largely put
away for this album in favour of an, at times, lush acoustic sound which
brilliantly suited the material. The opening
cut Drive is full of mystery and intrigue almost as though the band were trying
to educate us as to how Murmur would have sounded if they had recorded it at
this moment in time. The remainder of
the album mixed up sly pop tunes such as Try Not To Breathe, The Sidewinder
Sleeps Tonight and Monte Got A Raw Deal, the mega ballads Everybody Hurts, Man
On The Moon and Nightswimming, sweet
material such as Sweetness Follows and Find The River and a couple of
instrumentals. Somehow, they sequenced
the album into such a seamless whole that even the one track with the loud
electric guitars, Ignoreland, does not sound out of place.
(# 641) R.E.M. – New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)
This album, their last featuring
the original quartet, was recorded on the run in a variety of locations whilst
on tour. Amazingly, it sounds like
Murmur in reverse, a sort of unintended retrospective look back over their career. The superb opener How The
West Was Won And Were It Got Us and closer Electrolite would have slipped in
brilliantly into the Automatic For The People running order. The Wake Up Bomb would have slotted into Lifes
Rich Pageant , Undertow on Document, Departure on Monster, Zither on Out Of
Time and so on. If there is a complaint
with this album it is that it goes on for a bit too long. But being the artists they were, the band
never made this mistake again.
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