calm, calm... Belong...

[Alisaura]

How amazing is that song??

At the recommendation of several Interferencers a while ago (a million blessings upon all your houses!), I bought REM's Green and Out Of Time albums recently... Green in particular is brilliant, and Belong blew me away, it's awesome! The Wrong Child had pretty much the same effect on the other CD, those are definately the stand-out tracks (give that I've heard Stand and Losing my Religion and Orange Crush about a million times before).

Agree? Disagree? think I'm nuts?

Just thought I'd let you all know, and say thanks

 

[Squid]

Now you've done it. You've given me an excuse to comment on two of my favorite albums of all time. Without further ado:


Green


(First R.E.M. CD I bought, and still tied with Automatic for favorite.)

Pop Song 89: Fun. Funny video. Funny lyrics.

Get Up: Did you know that (I think) Bill Berry had a dream that they should fill the middle section of this song with 12 music boxes playing at once? Well, that's what that weird sound is. Good song, too.

You Are the Everything: Mandolin Mayhem. Pretty good.

Stand: Stupidest lyrics ever. I mean, EVER. In the history of music. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy it, though

World Leader Pretend: The big one. Best on the album, and one of the best R.E.M's ever done (in my opinion, of course). Great lyrics.

The Wrong Child: Good to listen to if you're in the right mood. Otherwise, that weird double-voice thing just bugs me to no end.

Orange Crush: Second favorite on the album. Stipe maintains that it is only a homage to the soft drink, but rumors abound that it's about the use of agent orange. Doesn't matter to me, I love it no matter what.

Turn You Inside Out: Meh.

Hairshirt: Meh.

I Remember California: An unknown gem. Excellent and haunting.

Eleventh (untitled) song: All right! I like this one very much. Did you know that Peter Buck (the guitarist) plays drums on this?

All in all, Green is one of my favorite albums ever and definitely deserves a place in anyone's collection, even if you only buy it to own a piece of history - R.E.M.'s first printed lyrics (albeit for only one song). Ok, maybe that isn't exactly history, but I had to wrap this up somehow

Too tired. Out of Time ramblings to follow - later.

 

[She Is Raging]

Good call.... Wow it's been ages since I listened to that CD. I might just have to go do that now!


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God has got his phone off the hook, babe...Would he even pick up if he could?

 

[Angela Harlem]

Hard to believe its about Orange soft drink when there's the clear sound of helicopters in the start of it eh?

I could write about REM all day. So I wont.

Brilliant albums Al.

 

[Alisaura]

And of course there's the fact that my brain is CONVINCED that Belong is on Green... *oops*
Say on Angela! I am on the edge of becoming a fairly enthusiastic REM fan, teach me!

I love that untitled 11th song on Green too... although the double voice on Wrong Child doesn't shit me, and I quite like Turn You Inside Out... but I can see myself getting sick of it if I listen to it too much. So I don't.

Must have another listen to Get Up...

 

[Pate20]

Taliking about R.E.M.: Don't you think, too, that "Automatic" is a bit overrated? I like "New Adventures" most because of the changing moods. Sometimes rocking, sometimes folky, sometimes very smooth. But the tracks fit together! Electrolite is brilliant.

 

[Squid]

Well, I personally don't think Automatic is overrated, but New Adventures is definitely a great album - Electrolite is brilliant indeed. But Automatic - how can you say no to an album that has Nightswimming?

 

[Gina Marie]

I suggest that you also buy 'Reveal'. I can't stop listening to that one.

I LOVE REM

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If you are really good friends with The Edge, you can just call him The~ Adam

The right side of my brain is kinda redundant~ Larry

 

[Monkey79]

Being from Atlanta, I saw REM at the very end of their Green tour. They played a benefit show at the Fox theater (approx 4,500) -- and the 1st half of the show they came out and played the entire album track by track. For the encore, they threw in some of the classics. What a show!

 

[Matthew_Page2000]

Ahhh, enthusiastic REM fans. It's a little like time traveling back to the 80's or early nineties when everthing REM touched turned to gold and everyone loved them.
After you've had some time to digest Out of Time and Green I would move on to Automatic for the People. Also Eponymous is a great introduction to early REM.

Still praying that Bill Berry will change his mind and return to REM.

MAP

 

[Not George Lucas]

Automatic has always been my favorite, but I think Green is a pretty close second. Out of Time is up there, but I just really can't stand Radio Song. It annoys me. (Half a World Away, however, is a great song.)

 

[Alisaura]

I barely knew who REM was in the 80s...

I already have Automatic, that was the first REM album I got, and I love it. Green and Out of Time are just a bit newer to me, is all. I don't think it's overrated, but I probably wasn't exposed to all the hype when it came out.

Nightswimming and Sweetness Follows are just brilliant.
So, what's next? Reveal? New Adventures? I've seen a really old "Best of" which I never heard of any of them (except for 'it's the end of the world as we know it')...
Monkey79, that concert must have been awesome... I'm jealous!!
So what did happen with Bill Berry? He was the drummer, right?
If it wasn't for Belong, I'd probably forget to listen to Out of Time, but most of the other tracks are great too... Radio Song doesn't bother me *very* much, but yeah, Half a World Away is heaps better.

Incidentally, I loved the clip for Everybody Hurts when that came out...
If there's any Australians here, did you see Tony Martin on the Late Show take the piss out of Stand? How funny was that!

 

[Squid]

Alisaura:

I would recommend picking up Murmur, if you don't have it. It has a lot of great songs, including the best R.E.M. song ever, Perfect Circle (your opinion may vary). Another excellent choice would be Lifes Rich Pageant, or Document.

As for Bill Berry, the drummer, he retired after New Adventures to become a farmer, and there is little chance of him re-joining R.E.M., sad to say. He contributed to many of R.E.M.'s greates songs, including Perfect Circle (the best R.E.M. song ever).

 

[Lilly]

Nightswimming...beautiful. There's no other word for it.