Life After R.E.M.: Discussion Thread

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I've never actually gone through R.E.M.'s discography completely so I've got some weird holes in my knowledge of them. I haven't heard Document, Green, Monster or Reveal. My favorite is probably either Fables of the Reconstruction or Lifes Rich Pageant. The first four or five songs on both albums are absolutely perfect. New Adventures in Hi-fi comes close though. I also think Automatic is overrated as hell. It's so boring. Give me Out of Time over it any day of the week. I think I like Murmur but I had the same experience with it as Vlad I think, nothing stayed with me.

As for songs, Country Feedback and E-Bow the Letter are my two favorites. It's no coïncidence they're a bit similar. I also really love Blue. Wish they'd made more songs like that. The live version of E-Bow with Thom Yorke doing the Patti Smith vocals is amazing.

Not just a weird hole, but a gaping one. :wink: What was cool about REM was that they always changed things up. Especially from Green to Out of Time. Automatic was still kind of riding the experimental wave that Out of Time was on. Then they returned to rocking it out with Monster. Reveal was riding the same wave as Up, but with more of a Summer feel to it.

When I first got into REM in the 80's, it was because my friend played their tapes constantly in his car. Really loud no less. No conversation allowed. Just blasting of tunes. He did this with U2, INXS and the Cure also. His "conversion" therapy worked. :wink:
 
Random observation: Everyone on the previous page has had the same avatar for years.

I've had this one since we first were able to use avatars, so no need to change. But during an album/tour cycle when I spend far more time than normal in "the other place", I encounter the same avatar on gareth brown another frequent poster and also on some jackass who said NIN were a "low talent band".
But I had it first, they need to change. :wink:
 
Do you know how many pages that Blur thread was going on for before I realized you weren't the one who started it?
 
I've had the Bono in pajamas avatar for a while, but I used to change it up every six months or so. I had the disco ball, a couple of wacky ones of Adam and even a pic of myself. That one is still in my profile. Took that one with a shitty webcam that I used to have.
 
I never realised until reading an old interview (recently) that Stipe is the one speaking in 'Belong'.

Frankly, I thought Peter Buck might have been doing the talking. Dunno why.
 
I don't actually mind Ignoreland, and as for being oddly out of place (it is), it's in good company with The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite.
 
Sidewinder still sounds like it has similar instrumentation to the rest of the songs and like it was recorded at the same sessions. It also has stings arranged by John Paul Jones like a few other tracks. It's fun and bouncy, but organic.
 
There's some really weird EQ on Stipe's vocal in Ignoreland that makes it fucking impossible for me to like - I don't know if it's the singing through the megaphone schtick people had in 1992, or it's just processed or filtered in some weird way.

He's singing through an amp.
 
Sweetness Follows, Find The River, and Star Me Kitten are the best songs on Automatic.
Ignoreland and Everybody Hurts are the worst.
Overall, Automatic is overrated. Every album that comes before it is way better.


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Star Me Kitten one of the best songs on Automatic? Green is a way better album?

We have threads for opinions like these...
 
There are no songs on Automatic that I actively dislike.

If I never hear Everybody Hurts or Man on the Moon again, it will be too soon. It's not that I hate them, I've just heard them so many times where I'm past that thing where, you know when you hear a song you would probably not intentionally go listen to but if you hear it somewhere randomly (radio, for example) it's all of a sudden something you're glad to hear. Like any time I hear Rock the Casbah I'm all "fuck yeah, The Clash!" but I'm pretty sure I haven't actually chosen to listen to that song in the last 10+ years. The big hits from Automatic aren't even in that category anymore, but I can't call them shitty songs or anything.
 
In the context of the album, I like them. Everybody Hurts is a great fit in particular. If I hear Everybody Hurts on the radio though, I always skip it. I'm seldom in the mood for that shit.

Man on the Moon I will always like. It's like Pride or Streets at this point. Yeah, it's been beaten to death but I like it so much and have such profound nostalgic attachment to it that I'll always listen to it. Then again, I wasn't cognizant of anything in 1992 so I can't blame anyone for being tired of the song.
 
Man On the Moon is the best song on there for me. The last three songs are all great. I don't have any recollection of the songs before that. I remember it being quite a slog.
 
Sweetness Follows

Yes.

Find The River

Ooh, yes!

and Star Me Kitten

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Star Me Kitten is a nice mood piece, it's not like saying Monty Got A Raw deal is one of the album's best. And you get major points for listing Sweetness Follows, which is my favorite after Find The River, never gets discussed enough.

My custom Automatic playlist (which omits Ignoreland, obvs) begins with New Orleans Instrumental segueing right into Sweetness Follows.
 
Monty Got A Raw Deal is quite forgettable and not good enough to be underrated. It's kinda just there.


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