Changes & Choices... The "maybe" thread

[djerdap]

The Best REM stuff is clearly their first 4 albums..

Damn straight.

 

[rjhbonovox]

7 words to you: Out of Time Automatic for the People

I have always reckoned that the best REM album is "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" which no one bought, a bit like U2's Pop album. Just goes to show that the majority of the record buying public have shit taste!

 

[djerdap]

Hi-Fi is a great album. In my opinion, Out of Time is very weak(although it does have Country Feedback - Radio Song is probably the worst song ever) and Automatic For the People is hugely overrated.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

I agree Out Of Time is somewhat weak. It is interesting to me U2_Guy that you lambast the modern U2 as too commercial yet you laud OOT, which after Green seems to be REM's most commercial, over-polished workd. (lot of filler in there too)


As for post-Green REM, I think Hi-Fi and Automatic can stand with their first 4 albums, but overall their earlier period was definitely better.

 

[U2_Guy]

I'm not a REM fan, just a casual listener. I like Losing my Religion, Country Feedback, Texarkana from OOT and AFTP is a classic album. But i don't care about REM. I see REM as i see INXS or Tears for Fears... Good bands to play when you are having a little party, nothing more than that. That's why i like them being commercial.

I see bands like U2, The Smiths, New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Joy Division, Radiohead as serious bands. So from them i expect less commercial songs.

 

[Lancemc]

You shouldn't use R.E.M. as an example then if you are only a casual listener. That being said, you only have a grasp on their radio friendly songs, and not their lesser-known gems.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Ah ok that makes more sense then...I think you would really appreciate them if you heard their earlier albums...REM easily have one of the 5 best album collections ever IMO..Murmurs, Reckoning, Fables, Lifes Rich Pageant are unique.

 

[Dalton]

I still love HTDAAB, Guy, and I am far from a new listener. The only point on the album that I am tempted to push skip is CFYT.

The opening few notes of Miracle Drug are always one of the best moments of my day. I have to discipline not to repeat the album over and over again....

 

[GibsonGirl]

I hate that lyric "oh you look so beautiful tonight" also. Was it a tribute to Chris De Burgh? Who knows?

I like Chris de Burgh.

 

[namkcuR]

I agree with U2_Guy. I don't feel the same passion, I don't hear the same fire, that I did in everything U2 did from 1979-1999. But if you love HTDAAB, that's fine.

 

[Lancemc]

U2 is a different band in the 80's. They were also a different band in the 90's. They are a different band now. All are great, and all have their strengths. Those who don't prefer the newer U2 are going to say the "lost" something they used to have. I just think they changed. No big deal.

 

[rjhbonovox]

U2 is a different band in the 80's. They were also a different band in the 90's. They are a different band now. All are great, and all have their strengths. Those who don't prefer the newer U2 are going to say the "lost" something they used to have. I just think they changed. No big deal.

They are definetly a different band now, kinda of like a mature Busted.......... heheheeh

 

[Lancemc]

 

[AtomicBono]

HTDAAB is consistently good with a few moments of shear brilliance scattered throughout. All I know is that when I listen on headphones as the last notes of the album fade away, I feel like I have been taken somewhere. The magic is there.

Amen to that!

U2 still has the magic, for me anyway... Sometimes is one of their best ballads and Original of the Species is full of such JOY! Yahweh just hits the home run (though I think the alternative version hits harder). However I think the best indication of U2 still having it is Mercy...that song is easily one of the top ten they've ever made in my opinion. Wow. Just, wow. If Mercy is any indication of the direction of the next album, then the brilliance of Bomb was just a warm-up.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Any of this bickering ever make a difference?


I say this because some of your exagerations are getting annoying. None of the tracks are "unbearable" like some of you have been so close to describing them.

 

[roy]

I'm not a REM fan, just a casual listener. I like Losing my Religion, Country Feedback, Texarkana from OOT and AFTP is a classic album. But i don't care about REM. I see REM as i see INXS or Tears for Fears... Good bands to play when you are having a little party, nothing more than that. That's why i like them being commercial.

I see bands like U2, The Smiths, New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Joy Division, Radiohead as serious bands. So from them i expect less commercial songs.

I'm sorry but since 1983 New Order have been anything but a serious band.

 

[U2_Guy]

I'm sorry but since 1983 New Order have been anything but a serious band.

Oh really? What a coincidence, since 83 they invested more and more in electronic sounds and electronic dance music and less and less in the "Joy Division" sound. And Low Life (1985) is a pretty dense and "serious" record.

I guess you don't think electronic music is "serious". Well, i do. Electronic music changed our culture. Kraftwerk is an influence as big as The Beatles.