R.E.M. Survivor - Lifes Rich Pageant - Round 1

[LemonMelon]

Last round, Maps And Legends was eliminated and Feeling Gravitys Pull, Driver 8, and Life And How To Live It went through to the final draw.

Votes:

Maps And Legends - 8
Feeling Gravitys Pull - 4
Driver 8 - 1

Final Draw:

Gardening At Night
Radio Free Europe
Pilgrimage
Perfect Circle
Sitting Still
Harborcoat
So. Central Rain
Pretty Persuasion
Feeling Gravitys Pull
Driver 8
Life And How To Live It

Lifes Rich Pageant came in second on the favorite R.E.M. albums poll, so four of its songs will proceed to the final draw.

 

[lazarus]

Just a Touch does nothing for me.

 

[corianderstem]

Just a Touch, and this is one of the few easy votes for this album. I love LRP.

 

[lazarus]

Who voted for Swan Swan H?!

Seriously, see a doctor. You need help.

 

[Salome]

Just a Touch
except for I Believe I don't like the second half of this album all that much

 

[phanan]

Who voted for Swan Swan H?!

Seriously, see a doctor. You need help.

This.

Just A Touch for me as well.

 

[lazarus]

Mercy rule, mercy rule!

 

[LemonMelon]

Mercy rule, mercy rule!

Soon enough.

I need to listen to this record again, and I may help out the cause here. I don't remember Just A Touch at all.

 

[phanan]

That should tell you something.

 

[lazarus]

A generic rocker with no hook, and no point.

It's not an embarrassment like Ignoreland, but it's disposable.

 

[djerdap]

Superman. Such a throwaway, cheesy song and since it is a closer, it kinda ruins the final impression of the album. Otherwise it would have been a perfect album. Easily R.E.M.'s best.

 

[intedomine]

Superman, pretty awful. It's not even their own song, it's a cover. As a rule, all covers should be eliminated before originals in my book. That's what devastated me about Beatles Survivor, people voted off some brilliant early Beatles tunes and we had all these covers poisoning the authenticity of the comp...just my two cents.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

I actually agree somewhat with that sentiment. A part of me does think that any covers should be eliminated first. But, whatever. At least it's a really fun cover. And Mike Mills taking center stage is always a good thing.

The four that I want to see go through are Begin the Begin, Fall On Me, Swan Swan H, and Cuyahoga.

 

[Salome]

Begin the Begin
These Days
Fall on Me
I Believe

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Shit, I forgot to vote. I'll go with Just A Touch.

Next up: either Underneath the Bunker or What If We Give It Away. And, as I said earlier, I wouldn't really mind if Superman got the boot, just because it isn't an R.E.M. song.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, Superman probably shouldn't be included. I like it, but I always stop listening to the album after Swan Swan H is over.

My choices to move on:

Begin the Begin
I Believe
The Flowers of Guatemala
These Days

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

You don't want Fall On Me to advance? C'mon. It's an undeniable classic.

I guess the Laz version of the song would be called FAIL On Me.

 

[hardyharhar]

This is the only REM album I ever owned

Don't even remember the second half, but the first 3 songs are worth the price of admission. I love These Days.

But I'm not voting cuz I don't remember the other songs very well. Maybe after a few rounds.

 

[LemonMelon]

Wait, why does Underneath The Bunker only have one vote? It's shit.

 

[lazarus]

Why does Flowers of Guatemala have ANY votes? One of the most beautiful ballads in their entire catalogue.

 

[lazarus]

You don't want Fall On Me to advance? C'mon. It's an undeniable classic.

I guess the Laz version of the song would be called FAIL On Me.

I just think it's the least of the three slow songs on this album, and probably my least favorite single.

 

[LemonMelon]

My top four:

Begin The Begin
These Days
Cuyahoga
What If We Give It Away?

Superman is great, but certainly not worthy of making it to the final draw.

 

[MMP]

My top four:

Begin The Begin

This.

 

[LemonMelon]

Fall On Me is fine, but it doesn't make much of an impression. Cuyahoga on the other hand...one of my favorite REM songs. Sad to see that one isn't getting much support on people's top 4 lists.

 

[lazarus]

If Cuyahoga beats out These Days I could live with that.

 

[U2inUtah]

Even though it doesnt matter this late in the voting, Underneath the Bunker is the weakest track IMO, and is getting my vote.

I always liked Just A Touch, although it still probably ranks 8th or 9th for me

 

[phanan]

My top four would probably be:

Begin The Begin
Fall On Me
Cuyahoga
I Believe

In regards to covers, I tend to disagree with the other posts. This isn't a songwriting survivor; it's performance-based. Some of the greatest songs that artists have done were written by others. If this was a Jimi Hendrix survivor, would you think that All Along The Watchtower should be the first to go?

I enjoy Superman, and would like to see it stick around for a few rounds, because it's a good song with a good performance from the band, plain and simple.

 

[intedomine]

Oh I love it.....

"I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract"

 

[Axver]

Wait, people actually like Swan Swan H?

The four I'd like to see proceed are Fall On Me, Cuyahoga, Flowers Of Guatemala ... and probably Begin The Begin fourth.

 

[corianderstem]

Underneath the Bunker is like We Walk for me. Yeah, it's fluff compared to REM, but I like to see them having some fun in their more dour 80s years before they started going for obvious pop hits.

Laz is correct regarding Flowers of Guatemala. It's beautiful and shouldn't be voted out yet.