Anyone else a BIG fan of REM's early stuff?

[u2popmofo]

I sure do love their first 2 albums. That's about all I really listen to of REM's these days. I do like their more recent stuff, I just prefer the sound they had in the early days.

Great stuff.

 

[Popmartijn]

I only have 1 REM album at the moment: Document. It's a great album (and the last one they made before they got signed to a major).

C ya!

Marty (who needs to buy more REM albums)

 

[Salome]

I am a pretty big fan of their early stuff
I feel they hit their creative peak during Green, Out of Time, Automatic ... though


still an amazing band
with the best singer / lyricist ever IMO

 

[Kieran McConville]

I tend to agree that Out of Time and Automatic for the People at least were a creative peak for REM. I still think they're good, but like a lot of bands that have been around for many years, they seem to have declined to 1 or 2 outstanding songs per album, which is better than nothing I suppose.

UP is miles better than Reveal. Monster is better than its detractors think but not as good as REM themselves thought. New Adventures in Hi Fi has Ebow the Letter and Leave and Electrolite, which kind of counts in its favour in a big way. Of course it also has Binky the Doormat, but I'll ignore that.

Fall on Me is my favourite early(ish) REM song.

 

[martha]

Radio Free Europe

I haven't listened to the early stuff in a while, because I only have it on vinyl, and my stereo speakers have been busted for ages.


[/pointless post]

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I need to break out my old REM stuff.

My favorite album of theirs has to be Automatic For The People.

 

[IWasBored]

murmer and life's rich pageant are my favourite rem albums

 

[u2popmofo]

UP is miles better than Reveal.

I thought I was the only person on Earth who thought that!

I loved Up, hated Reveal. Reveal had about 4 good songs, the rest sound a lot alike to me. Hard for me to listen to.

At one point in time, REM was my second favorite group, not even close now.



My fav. REM albums : Murmer & Reckoning

 

[IWasBored]

i like up better than reveal cos i can't listen to reveal frequently, or even all at once. i don't hate it, i just can't listen to the whole thing at once.

up isn't my favourite though...i like it, i think i just prefer their older stuff in general

 

[u2popmofo]

i like up better than reveal cos i can't listen to reveal frequently, or even all at once. i don't hate it, i just can't listen to the whole thing at once.

Very true, I dont necessarily hate it either. I still own it, so I obviously dont really hate it. I guess I was just EXCESSIVELY disappointed in it, so it has a sore spot in my heart, hehe.

For some reason I was really impressed with Up for a year or so. I also really liked New Adventures in Hi Fi.

We had wrist bands to go to the Monster Tour when I was in High School, when we got there to buy tickets, for some odd reason we decided we didnt want to wait in line and that we didnt want to go. I remember my friend and I both being completely ticked off the next day because we didnt get tickets. I dont know what we were thinking. We did the same thing with Depeche Mode, decided last minute we didnt want to buy the tickets, then after not buying them we were like, why didnt we buy them???? Oh, the folly of youth.

 

[IWasBored]

when i was only listening to the beatles, i heard "it's the end of the world as we know it and i feel fine" and i remember thinking it was awesome...and then i found out it was rem and had this huge problem for a while trying to decide whether i could like rem even though michael stipe said that the beatles "didn't mean a fucking thing" to him...

what album is that on anyway? something i don't have, at that rate...

 

[u2popmofo]

It's on Document.

Document is actually a REALLY consistant album. I can listen to the whole thing over and over and over.

I got an REM bootleg cd from the Document period in Japan. I didnt have Document at the time and didnt know a lot of the songs on the bootleg. When I finally got Document I was suprised how many of the songs from that concert I'd liked were on that album.

 

[IWasBored]

if i'm not mistaken they've got document on vinyl at the radio station

i can listen to it there, until i get some money and can buy all sorts of cds i want to get...this is a rapidly growing list, mind you..

 

[u2popmofo]

[Bi can listen to it there, until i get some money and can buy all sorts of cds i want to get...this is a rapidly growing list, mind you.. [/B]

My list of what cd I'll buy next changes like every freaking day.

I'm listening to that REM bootleg cd now.

 

[IWasBored]

i listened to pop song 89 and electrolite a few minutes ago...then i remembered that i left the cd player on pause...

LONESOME DAY-YYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[u2popmofo]

She's got pretty persuasion

 

[Kieran McConville]

Well no REM album since Automatic for the People has REALLY blown me away, but every album since then - including Reveal - has at least a few outstanding songs. I think they were really onto something when they did UP. It's got a certain organic vibe to it and some very very good lyrics (eg. Sad Professor).

Some of the stuff on Reveal is very bland. I have a hard time with it. However 'I've been high' is good.

 

[u2popmofo]

Well no REM album since Automatic for the People has REALLY blown me away, but every album since then - including Reveal - has at least a few outstanding songs. I think they were really onto something when they did UP. It's got a certain organic vibe to it and some very very good lyrics (eg. Sad Professor).

Some of the stuff on Reveal is very bland. I have a hard time with it. However 'I've been high' is good.

I pretty much completely agree. I have about 4, possibly 5 songs off of Reveal that I really like. The rest I have a very hard time listening to.

I was extremely impressed with Up when it came out. I just really like the feelilng and lyrics of that album.

I think we're really in the minority with our opinions on Up though, Kieran McConville.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Quite. Well all things in retrospect. I think ten years from now UP will get better press. It's not Out of Time but it's decent. Plus one of the songs even namechecks Brisbane! lol.

 

[u2popmofo]

Plus one of the songs even namechecks Brisbane! lol.

That's funny, a song on New Adventures in Hi Fi namechecks Salt Lake City.

 

[pax]

Life's Rich Pageant is one of my favorite albums by anyone, ever. "I Believe," "These Days," "Superman," "Swan Swan Hummingbird"...just one really creative, beautiful song after another. I just put "The Flowers of Guatemala" at the end of a mix CD for a friend of mine.

 

[Angela Harlem]

See: K. Although I dont think Reveal was that bad. Not near outstanding, but ok. Ok can be good enough sometimes.

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Wow. I'm surprised a lot of you were disappointed with Reveal. Of course, I haven't heard Up, so I don't have that particular point of comparison, but I thought Reveal was a lovely album and that all of the songs were really strong. Just my humble opinion.

And I really need to listen to more early REM.

 

[Squid]

Yeah - tons of great songs early in R.E.M.'s career...

These Days
So. Central Rain
Fall on Me
Radio Free Europe
Perfect Circle X 5000000

 

[martha]

I didn't like Reveal all that much either. I listen to it maybe once every few months.

 

[meegannie]

Murmer

 

[u2popmofo]

My prefered Reveal Tracklisting:

All the Way to Reno
She Just Wants to Be
Disappear
Imitation of Life
I'll Take the Rain

Most of the other songs tend to annoy me/bore me/make me wonder about REM's future
I think I need to give this album another listen though, been a long time.

edit: ok, I'm listening to Reveal right now, I remember 2 of the biggest reasons why it annoys me:
1- All of the songs seem about 1 to 2 minutes longer than they should have been
2- All most every song is the same tempo/style. What heppened to the variety you used to get with REM?

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Yeah. I suppose there could be a bit more sonic variety on the album. But I still find it hard to believe that a song like The Chorus and the Ring or the Lifting could make anyone wonder about REM's future. But to each his own, I guess.

 

[u2popmofo]

Yeah. I suppose there could be a bit more sonic variety on the album. But I still find it hard to believe that a song like The Chorus and the Ring or the Lifting could make anyone wonder about REM's future. But to each his own, I guess.

The Lifting is the kinda song that I like one day, and hate the next. I liked it when I listened to it today. I was ok with I've Been High too, which I normally cant stomach.

I've never liked Chorus and the Ring.

 

[Salome]

Reveal is a decent album in REM's catalogue
I love Up
"Walk Unafraid", "Sad Professor", "Daysleeper", "Falls to Climb"
such great lyrics

ever since New Adventures I get this feeling that Stipe's genius just outshines the rest of the band a bit too much
Up is one of my top 3 fav REM albums though