R.E.M. have broken up

[corianderstem]

Right?


COOO-WOLLLLLLLLLLL!

 

[lazarus]

Never my proud, Cori. Never my proud.

Spoiler

 

[LemonMelon]

At My Most Beautiful and Hope have fast joined Daysleeper and Suspicion to make Up a favorite of mine.

It's still too long and rambly though.

 

[lazarus]

No love for Why Not Smile? I wrote an ode to it back when the break-up story hit but no one seemed to care.

 

[corianderstem]

I agree with LeMel that it feels too long; I would have cut a couple of tracks. They all seem to blend together towards the end.

Falls to Climb and Diminished, I think, although Parakeet is teetering on the edge. You're In the Air does nothing for me either, although it's in the middle and therefore never sits on my hypothetical chopping block.

I adore Daysleeper.

 

[iron yuppie]

I for one really like Accelerate - taut, concise, and muscular, which, in my mind, were characteristics sorely lacking in almost all of their output from the WB years. I can't say that I have ever listened to Around the Sun, Reveal, or Up all the way through, though each of those albums have a few songs that I enjoy. Daysleeper and Imitation of Life are both gorgeous.

 

[lazarus]

You don't want to be Pounce Pony, Cori?



Also, let's not talk about You're In The Air. Stipe's vocal is one of his most fragile and impassioned, and I find it very powerful.

 

[corianderstem]

I really don't care for the melody of the chorus; it annoys me to the point where it distracts from anything else that might be good about it.

 

[CrashedCarDriver]

Out of Time will always be my favorite I think, if only for the closing four-song stretch. The rest of it is so full of, yes, organic shimmering varied beautiful moments. Even the more dated stuff has such a particular charm to it the whole thing just lifts me up.

What? belong, endgame, texarkana, country feedback, and me in honey?

The thing is, unlike the Eagles: this band was never going to play retro shows for middle aged fans. They were a bit too 'cool' for all that

 

[u2popmofo]

Yeah, Falls To Climb is one of my fav. REM tracks.

 

[U2inUtah]

I love all of the R.E.M. discussion lately.

So what is your favorite track off Lifes Rich Pageant?

I always think mine is 'Begin The Begin', but then its followed by 'These Days' and I decide I like it even better.

'These Days' is probably one of my top 3 favorite R.E.M. songs.

 

[corianderstem]

The opening four tracks of that album are all stellar.

Begin the Begin gets the edge from me, then probably ...
Fall On Me
Cuyahoga
These Days

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

So what is your favorite track off Lifes Rich Pageant?

Definitely Begin The Begin.

 

[LemonMelon]

Cuyahoga all the way. Social commentary that's direct without being obnoxious (Stipe lost his touch starting with The Wrong Child), married with one of the band's best singalong choruses. It's a very emotional song, but breezy and fun as well.

 

[lazarus]

The Flowers of Guatemala is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, but I'd put Begin The Begin and I Believe above it.

That's how good this album is.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

"I Believe" is my absolute favorite from that album. It's just brimming over with a self confident vocal from Michael and is great for driving around late at night having epiphanies about the past/future.

 

[djerdap]

The first four songs are all absolutely amazing. I'm leaning towards These Days these days (I swear to God, this was unintentional). The Flowers of Guatemala is a beautiful song as well. Too many to pick from!

 

[IWasBored]

What? belong, endgame, texarkana, country feedback, and me in honey?

The thing is, unlike the Eagles: this band was never going to play retro shows for middle aged fans. They were a bit too 'cool' for all that

i'll take the break-up over rem turning into the eagles any day.

 

[Popmartijn]

At this moment I'd say Fall On Me as my favourite from Lifes Rich Pageant. But yeah, those three or four opening songs are all stellar. So it could just as easily be Begin The Begin or one of the others.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying I may like Out of Time the most of their 90s albums. I had occasion to listen to it on a recent trip and while the car chewed the tape (yes, tape) and while I probably won't be replacing it, it was great fun while it lasted. That one album could contain Texarkana, Country Feedback and Shiny Happy People (that isn't meant to imply the latter is much chop, but the diversity of mood is what I'm getting at)...

Automatic For the People does less for me with every passing year.

Monster is quite interesting, and Let Me In is an amazing song.

Hi-Fi is a mess but the highs are very high.

After UP they just lost me completely.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Eh, I should say 'after Reveal they lost me completely'... UP wasn't the problem, just the last (in my view) fairly good album.

 

[LemonMelon]

Reveal is so fucking boring.

I actually haven't heard Around The Sun, it's the only one I have left. I may or may not ever bother.

 

[lazarus]

I guess you should hear it once. But it ranges from boring to miscalculated to downright embarrassing (the attempt to replicate Radio Song by bringing in Q-Tip).

 

[LemonMelon]

Ugh, I'm listening to it. Well, I'm trying to listen to it beyond the sea of reverb and soporific keyboards. Did they go three straight albums without a pure rocker?

Thank God for Accelerate, even if it's far from perfect.

 

[intedomine]

Aftermath and Leaving (Was Never My Proud) are good enough, but the album is let down by how lethargic the whole thing sounds, especially Stipe's vocals. Wanderlust, High Speed Train, Ascent of Man, Worst Joke Ever, I Wanted To Be Wrong, Final Straw (worst REM song for me) and Boy In the Well.

They just sound so very bored with the whole thing. I don't mind if they wanna communicate a certain exasperation with being a liberal in Bush's America, but you can only sound so bored for so long before you bore the listener.

 

[LemonMelon]

Listening to High Speed Train was probably the dullest, most dispiriting experience of my REM fandom. Literally nothing happened for 5 minutes. Also, the Final Straw is every bit as pretentious and obtuse as Until The Day Is Done.

I haven't heard Live At The Olympia because I rarely bother with live doubles, but holy wow that setlist is incredible. FOUR Chronic Town songs? IRS R.E.M. is so wonderful, and it's great that they got back to that before their run concluded. At least they wrapped shit up better than fellow 80s darlings Talking Heads.

 

[lazarus]

Also, the Final Straw is every bit as pretentious and obtuse as Until The Day Is Done.

Yeah. I'm a pretty hardcore liberal, but R.E.M.'s anti-Republican/Bush songs are all godawful. And as much as I hate Ignoreland, at least it isn't boring as either of those pieces of shit you mentioned.

 

[AndrewCowley]

I adore Around The Sun. Have always thought that album has a lot of deliberate passion in Michael's vocal delivery. And I think Up is quirky & cool. For mine, Reveal, Accelerate and, to a lesser degree, Collapse Into Now are the more boring ones.

 

[Aygo]

I adore Around The Sun. Have always thought that album has a lot of deliberate passion in Michael's vocal delivery. And I think Up is quirky & cool. For mine, Reveal, Accelerate and, to a lesser degree, Collapse Into Now are the more boring ones.

I'm with you. I never got why Around The Sun is so downgraded.
For me Accelerate, Collapse Into Now and Reveal are weaker than Around The Sun.

 

[intedomine]

Reveal spawned a few tracks I find especially memorable, namely All The Way To Reno, The Lifting, Imitation of Life and Beachball, and there is something still pleasant about Summer Turns To High and Saturn Return. Like Around The Sun, I rarely listen to it as a whole album. Reveal is very sufficient background music, and relaxingly summery.