R.E.M. have broken up

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Yeah, Stipe playing "Password" with the Muppets was one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. If I hadn't taped the show, I would have thought I was dreaming and it didn't really happen.

But it was pretty funny.
 
I'm not sure how it fell through the cracks this long, but I realized a little while ago not only that I didn't own Fables of Reconstruction, but I'd never heard it. Bought it this weekend. Sorta weird to feel like I have a "new" old REM album in 2012 (I wrote that as 2011 initially).
 
Did you get the 25th Anniversary remastered version?

Probably the weakest of the IRS albums as a whole. Nevertheless, the first four tracks rank as one of R.E.M.'s best album openings. (perhaps 2nd only to Lifes Rich Pageant).
 
Nah, just found a cheap copy of the original master (I think it was $7 or $8).
 
Did you get the 25th Anniversary remastered version?

Probably the weakest of the IRS albums as a whole. Nevertheless, the first four tracks rank as one of R.E.M.'s best album openings. (perhaps 2nd only to Lifes Rich Pageant).

Right on both counts.

The second half doesn't stand out very much.
 
Did you get the 25th Anniversary remastered version?

Probably the weakest of the IRS albums as a whole. Nevertheless, the first four tracks rank as one of R.E.M.'s best album openings. (perhaps 2nd only to Lifes Rich Pageant).

I think you meant to say that it's their best album.

(No, I know I'm probably forever alone in thinking that.)
 
I have nothing to add to this page, but I'll post anyway: Fables has a tremendous start but falls apart around track 8 or so. It's never bad though, just forgettable.
 
Yeah that's the problem. I've said it before but I can not for the life of me remember how the last three songs on that album go. You could play the beginning of all of them and I would have no idea which was which.

I'm not a big fan of Reckoning's side two either, but at least I know how the songs go. I think Fables probably has more standout tracks, but those first five on Reckoning may tip the balance, it's hard for me to say. They're my two least favorite pre-Reveal albums, that's for sure.
 
Wendell Gee blows chunks, but Auctioneer is a great little track. I think it's one of the album's highlights, though obviously well behind the opening four tracks.

Occasionally I start to think that either Murmur or Reckoning may be superior albums to Fables just because they are more consistent and don't end with a steaming turd. But then I listen to Feeling Gravity's Pull or Driver 8 or whatever and remember why I love Fables so much.
 
Don't know why their good-bye best of compilation doesn't include a song like Drive.

Listened to Hallelujah last night, a strange tune, but haunting and beautiful, love it.
 
After a bit of time with the album, I agree that the second half of Fables sorta snoozes by. I do like the first 4, and Can't Get There From Here a decent amount though.
 
can't get there from here is fun. then that means there is something i do like on there. i didn't think there was anything.
 
You love early REM and don't enjoy Driver 8? The hell?

One of their best from the IRS albums.


unfortunately, that love for that song would be past tense. i almost never listen to the radio, but every time i do if i hear an rem song it's either driver 8, the one i love, or ... in that particular order of popularity. in recent years, that is. go back to whenever the great beyond came out, and it would be that and man on the moon, but the two rock stations here that play rem have this massive love affair with driver 8 that did nothing but kill my own love for that song.

i should really just listen to the album again, since i haven't done that in quite a few years, and shut up about how much i don't like it until i have an opinion based on some current listening.
 
The three R.E.M. songs I hear on the radio the most are:

1. The One I Love (easily the most)
2. WTF Kenneth?
3. Losing My Religion
 
Is there anyone who likes Old Man Kensey? It' probably my favourite on the album.
 
Wish I heard What's The Frequency Kenneth on the radio more often than I do.

I just hear the Document singles and Losing My Religion on a constant loop.
 
oh yeah, they play losing my religion from time to time as well. probably more often than it's the end... actually. it's just that every time i turn on the radio, if i listen to two particular stations for any length of time (say, switching between them for an hour, two tops), i WILL hear driver 8 at some point. sure, it's a good song and i'm so glad they i get that over everybody hurts or man on the moon. i just don't understand when you've got such a long-running band with so many good singles--including many more recent and much more popular ones, why that particular song?

i'd put that mystery in the same category as why do they also play "two princes" on the same sort of regular basis.



i would love to hear WTFK in its place. pretty sure i'll never get sick of that song.
 
I don't think I'd heard Driver 8 in my life until buying Fables a few weeks back.
 
LemonMelon said:
Wish I heard What's The Frequency Kenneth on the radio more often than I do.

Great song. I loved it when I first heard it back in 94 (?) and I love it now. Monster as a whole is underappreciated, I think.
 
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