R.E.M. have broken up

[corianderstem]

Bono's got the crazy eyes in that one. It freaks me out a bit.

 

[u2popmofo]

I had never seen that, and now will try my best to forget that I've seen it.

 

[bono_212]

It's one of my favorites.

 

[iron yuppie]

Shut up, Be Mine is transcendent. Is there something wrong with riding a wave of elation for longer than the pop song 4-minute standard?

You probably would have complained about the outro of Hey Jude back in 1968.

Your definition of "transcendent" must be pretty damn liberal. I'm all for longer songs - hell, one of my all-time favorite tracks is a 32-minute vamp from Miles Davis - but I do not feel that Be Mine justifies its length. And I also hope that you are not comparing Be Mine to Hey Jude in a serious context.

 

[corianderstem]

I'm not a big fan of Be Mine. It's nice, but .... transcendent? That seems a bit extreme.

 

[lazarus]

I find the guitar work soars.

It's my favorite song on the album next to Undertow.

Also, I'm in good company:

Radiohead - be mine - YouTube

 

[corianderstem]

Undertow .... now you're talkin'.

 

[iron yuppie]

Continuing my foray through the later albums, I listened to Around the Sun all the way through tonight for the first time in perhaps five years...and now I remember why I had shelved it for so long. I think that they could have condensed it into a single with Leaving New York on the a-side and Electron Blue on the b-side and not have sacrificed much in the process.

That said, having Around the Sun as context makes Accelerate sound that much more impressive.

 

[IWasBored]

I had never seen that, and now will try my best to forget that I've seen it.

this. i'm going back to not watching stuff like that.



i'm a big fan of be mine. i can see the creepy, possessive vibe that lyrically stipe mentioned in interviews and such, and for some reason it sits really well with me when matched up with the guitar (transcendent may not be my choice in adjective simply because i'd really never call anything transcendent) which i love. it's simple, yet completely absorbing and actually while thinking to try to come up with a way to describe it that is my own and not laz's, i'm pretty sure i actually just agree with him on this one. not much a ran of radiohead's attempt to replicate it, though.

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

Sorry, but I have to completely agree . . . with Crashed. The Cure have been dead to me for years and years now. Such a shame; they were once really good.

Please don't say that, Bloodflowers is a masterpiece and "The Cure" isn't bad. Just the last one is mehhh I agree.....

Some say Cure died in 82 already, some say 85, some 92..... I say they haven't yet. They still play more than 3 hours live with 45 different songs from 13 different albums. Some other bands could get inspired by The Cure about that....

 

[CrashedCarDriver]

Please don't say that, Bloodflowers is a masterpiece and "The Cure" isn't bad. Just the last one is mehhh I agree.....

Some say Cure died in 82 already, some say 85, some 92..... I say they haven't yet. They still play more than 3 hours live with 45 different songs from 13 different albums. Some other bands could get inspired by The Cure about that....

They werent going to do another 17 seconds, faith and pornography

 

[iron yuppie]

Just finished my Warner Bros. years marathon, and now I have three main thoughts:

1. Country Feedback is a bloody masterpiece
2. Accelerate is one of my favorite albums from them - perhaps my favorite from that era
3. Collapse into Now is a remarkably consistent record

Overall, I think that they went out on a very high note. Even Blue strikes me as oddly reminiscent of their entire career.

 

[bono_212]

They werent going to do another 17 seconds, faith and pornography

Nope, did a few better albums instead.

 

[FitzChivalry]

Also, I'm in good company:

Radiohead - be mine - YouTube

That was like a porn that ends when underwear are still on.

 

[lazarus]

The actual performance:


REM & Thom Yorke - Be Mine - June 1998 - YouTube

 

[lazarus]

(not a very good recording)

 

[hikerdeb]

If Collapse Into Now had truly been the end, R.E.M. would have finished on a high note. But no, they had to go and release a final single, "We All Go Back To Where We Belong," which is so awful that it diminished my opinion of the band. I had to go back and listen to Collapse Into Now to get the sour taste out of my mouth.

I've been listening to the early R.E.M. albums in chronological order, and so much of that material still sounds brilliant and cutting-edge. Songs like "Harborcoat" and "I Believe" have a unique vibe that no other band has managed to harness, then or now. The members of R.E.M. were still developing their musical skills and Stipe wasn't much of a singer yet, but there was so much passion and energy!

 

[nielsgov]

How can one single diminish your opinion of a band? They've only got a gazillion other songs.

 

[djerdap]

How can one single diminish your opinion of a band?

They call it Internet hyperbole.

 

[purpleoscar]

Just discovered this gem:

R.E.M. - Wendell Gee (Live, The Cutting Edge, 1984) - YouTube

 

[lazarus]

Hey it's one of those final four songs on Fables that I can never remember no matter how many times I hear the album, because they're so fucking boring.

If you mixed up the order and played them for me I would literally not be able to attach a title to any of them, unless I heard the title in the chorus or something. I can't hum any of them.

 

[purpleoscar]

It is a boring album but that song stood out (probably because of what it's compared to).

 

[lazarus]

Well I didn't mean to imply the whole album was bad. The first 7 songs or whatever are all great.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, that albums hits a wall near the end. REM albums do tend to be a little weaker in the second half, but that one falls way off.

 

[lazarus]

Not a big fan of Reckoning's second half, to be honest, which is why I'm always aghast when some people name it their favorite, or actually claim it's better than Murmur.

 

[purpleoscar]

Not a big fan of Reckoning's second half, to be honest, which is why I'm always aghast when some people name it their favorite, or actually claim it's better than Murmur.

I definitely like it better than Murmur. I only dislike the last song. The rest is good.

 

[corianderstem]

Of the last handful of songs on Fables, I do really love Good Advices, because the lyrics are lovely.

"I'd like it here if I could leave and see you from a long way away."

 

[LemonMelon]

Not a big fan of Reckoning's second half, to be honest, which is why I'm always aghast when some people name it their favorite, or actually claim it's better than Murmur.

The first half is perfect, but yeah, the second half wanes a bit as far as songwriting goes. Murmur sustains that throughout and I adore the production. I don't know who gets primary production credit for those early albums, but they sound amazing in a very non-traditional way. The early albums are not pristine in the Steely Dan sense, but they are very unique and beautiful. That musty, hazy quality on the early albums suits Murmur best because the tone of the music (as well as the album cover) matches it, but you can hear it up through Lifes Rich Pageant.

 

[intedomine]

R.E.M never really released an album that was perfect, track by track. As solid as some of the albums are, there is usually a stinker (or 3) that will undermine the enduring quality of the entire thing.

 

[lazarus]

Lifes Rich Pageant doesn't have a bad track on it IMO. Hyena is probably my least favorite but it doesn't bother me at all, and Just A Touch doesn't have a lot of depth but it's fun.

But yeah, whereas Shuttlecock has like 6 albums where I actively like every song, R.E.M.'s aren't quite as perfect.