How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us: An REM Thread

[Blaine Ryan]

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys that Q-Tip guest spot.

[verb_to_trust]

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys that Q-Tip guest spot.

It's better than KRS1 that's for sure

[PHATJ]

I’ve never listened through Up or Around the Sun.

[epilogue]

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys that Q-Tip guest spot.

I have no beef with it at all. But if the song ended right before, I don't think it would change much. Cool tag but not essential.

[AndySlash]

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys that Q-Tip guest spot.

no, i do as well. it's one of a select few 'highlights' of an otherwise forgettable, garbage record. cool that other folks are finding things to love, but for me it's barely listenable. it's an album from a band that had completely lost their way during its recording.

[verb_to_trust]

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys that Q-Tip guest spot.

no, i do as well. it's one of a select few 'highlights' of an otherwise forgettable, garbage record. cool that other folks are finding things to love, but for me it's barely listenable. it's an album from a band that had completely lost their way during its recording.

I find it painfully boring

[Anders]

Around The Sun is a really good record.

[Blaine Ryan]

It's kind of in the same boat as Reveal for me. Some really good songs, some that I think are half-baked, and a few out and out duds.

But I think I prefer the overall mood and presentation of ATS. Reveal kind of feels like a failed experiment; ATS feels more like classic R.E.M., just not done to their usual standard.

[Blaine Ryan]

In any case, I think it's pretty amazing that, even on what is almost universally recognized as their worst record, they still have songs as good as "Leaving New York" and "Boy in the Well."

This band was something else.

[Anders]

I really can't agree that it's their worst record. You are probably correct that it is regarded that way (RYM rating f.ex.). I'm not a big fan of either of the two albums that followed. I think Up and Around The Sun are at a similar level.

[Anders]

Listening to Life's Rich Pageant now. One of the best R.E.M. albums without a doubt.

[stip]

Around the Sun is SUCH a pleasant surprise. I really loved this record. It's melancholy and melodic and moody. It's exactly the shade of REM I like. There's a three song run toward the end falters a bit for me but they stick the landing with the title track. Leaving New York through Boy In A Well is damn near perfect, though (except for perhaps that Q-Tip tag on The Outsiders; I don't hate it, but I totally agree that it's not really necessary).

This is going to be in frequent rotation for a while. I can tell. It's a fantastic winter walking around NYC record.

I agree with every word of this, J. I was expecting a disaster when I first listened to this record and it's really pretty excellent.

Around the Sun is one of the best REM records to sing along with. It's a solid enough record (it's REM, they've never had a bad album), with the exception of that ending run of songs that lead into Around the Sun. And there is poppy desolation to it that works well in winter (but it can also come across as clinical if you're not in the mood). But very few of those songs are among my favorites, and at the time it felt like a band running out of steam (much easier to contextualize the specific sound of that record once accelerate followed)

The album it reminds me the most of is Up, and that is the side of REM I like the least. I prefer either the lushness of Reveal (the perfect summer record) or the raw energy of something like Accelerate.

[stip]

I've loved REM since Automatic and still listen to them frequently, however I never listened to Around the Sun or Collapse into Now. I'll have to give them both a try.

What is everyone's feelings on Up? Personally I hated it when it came out and rejected it out right. About 6 months later I gave it another chance and fell hard for it. It feels like genius REM, even today. Hope gets me every time.

Up is a great record.

Up is hit or miss for me. It's definitely towards the bottom half of the catalog. It's just very uneven to me. There are songs on Up that are among their absolute best (Hope, Daysleeper, Lotus) and others that I just could not possibly care about (a rarity for REM) like You're in the Air, Diminished, Airportman, The Apologist. I feel like this is a record where Stipe struggles vocally a bit - some moments in some songs just fall a bit flat, and there aren't that many moments where he hits truly beautiful or powerful notes. If anyone lets this album down a bit its him


I've told this story before, but At My Most Beautiful was the song I danced to with my wife at our wedding. And we took a few dancing lessons prior (I am a terrible dancer and my wife is a really good dance so I wanted to practice) and so we'd be 'rehearsing' the song and be in this really nice romantic space and then the minor key dirgeness of the Apologist would kick me out of that space every time. I already didn't like the song, but that certainly didn't help

[stip]

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who actually enjoys that Q-Tip guest spot.

There is a studio version of Outsiders that appeared in the itunes special they did for Around the Sun that has Stipe doing the rap

[stip]

It's kind of in the same boat as Reveal for me. Some really good songs, some that I think are half-baked, and a few out and out duds.

I think that describes pretty much every post Hi-Fi album except for Accelerate,which is fantastic from start to finish and the only one of these albums that doesn't feel overly long sometimes.

The best stuff from this period can hang with their best stuff anywhere, but it is uneven. I get why REM called it quits. Collapse into Now is a truly derivative album, where many songs feel like actual callbacks to early songs, not just stylistically familiar. But having said that, when you are still able to produce albums with songs like Uberlin, Oh My Heart, Mine Smell Like Honey, Blue, and especially It Happened Today I'm fine for you to keep going.

[stip]

I really can't agree that it's their worst record. You are probably correct that it is regarded that way (RYM rating f.ex.). I'm not a big fan of either of the two albums that followed. I think Up and Around The Sun are at a similar level.

well one of those has to be the worst, right?

And Pagent is probably my number 3, after Automatic and Hi-Fi. Definitely my favorite of the IRS records.

[epilogue]

Man, I love The Apologist. And Diminished might be my favorite track on Up.

[stip]

just listen to accelerate and think back to how good it felt when the rest of the country finally caught up ti how much of a monster bush wss

[Anders]

I really can't agree that it's their worst record. You are probably correct that it is regarded that way (RYM rating f.ex.). I'm not a big fan of either of the two albums that followed. I think Up and Around The Sun are at a similar level.

well one of those has to be the worst, right?

And Pagent is probably my number 3, after Automatic and Hi-Fi. Definitely my favorite of the IRS records.

Something like this, albums in order:

5: Automatic, Hi-Fi
4.5: Pagent, Out Of Time, Document, Monster,
4.0: Murmur, Green, Reveal, Reckoning
3.5 Around The Sun, Fables, Up
3.0 Accelerate
2.0 Collapse

[Jorge]

I'm listening to the Chronic Town episode and 10 minutes in I don't know that this podcast is for me