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

[stip]

I love ''You're in the Air''--there's an orchestral arrangement coming out of the chorus that's just beautiful, I look forward to it every time I listen to ''Up.''

And I love ''The Great Beyond'' too but I think it was written after ''Up'' was already released, a year later for that Andy Kaufman movie.

For my money there are no weak REM records, not even ''Around the Sun.'' Though I am sure I went into that at length in the LAL thread a few years ago.

that song just feels really sterile to me. In theory it's the kind of song of theirs I should love.

Even around the sun is decent. I don't know that I love it, but if that's the worst thing in your catalog you're in pretty good shape.

[PryTo]

I'd definitely include Up on the list of their best albums. Airportman perfectly captures the feeling of traveling nonstop for hours and hours. The next time you're on a trip that takes 20+hours with multiple airport and/or train connections, give it a spin. No better song captures that numbed out feeling. I hear it and I'm right back there instantly. Lotus is the only track I don't like.

I love Adventures in Hi Fi, but there are some real clunkers on there, methinks. The good songs rank up there with the best of 'em, but It was really the first album that foreshadowed that all of this would someday come to an end, the first chink in the armor.

I'll never forget how amazing Automatic For the People was when it was first released. It was just insane how good it was, and it followed on the heels of an incredible run. Indeed, for consistently great albums (and live shows for that matter), I don't think anyone can touch R.E.M.

[stip]

have you ever heard the version of Lotus from Bridge School? It's so good. Basically every live version is also superior to the album track

[stip]

Live Lotus is quite possibly my favorite thing to come from the Up sessions

[stip]

we don't talk about collapse into now nearly enough

[PryTo]

Thanks for posting the vids -- will check them out tonight. I liked Collapse Into Now quite a bit. I don't think Ed had much to do with it, but this song is as good as anything R.E.M. has ever done.



I very much appreciate that PJ chose this one when the announcement came that R.E.M. was breaking up. A very well-chosen tribute and far from obvious.

[stip]

yeah, it happened today is one of my favorites. Uberlin is also really excellent.

[VinylGuy]

I love collapse but its an album full of painful memories to me.

[Lament]

Rank the IRS albums:

Fables
Document
LRP
Reckoning
Murmur

[Norah]

Thanks for posting the vids -- will check them out tonight. I liked Collapse Into Now quite a bit. I don't think Ed had much to do with it, but this song is as good as anything R.E.M. has ever done.



I very much appreciate that PJ chose this one when the announcement came that R.E.M. was breaking up. A very well-chosen tribute and far from obvious.

I would say it was a very obvious choice considering the first video you posted.

[PryTo]

I would say it was a very obvious choice considering the first video you posted.

Nah, the obvious choice would be to go with one of the band's big hits, a song that everyone would know and sing along to and wave their lighters (phones?) in the air. For example, Coldplay played "Everybody Hurts" in tribute. No surprises there.



Ed sang backup on It Happened Today, but it's a pretty obscure song. Given the mooks who make up most of PJ's fanbase, I doubt many of them knew the song. They don't even know PJ's semi obscurities, let alone a latter-day R.E.M. tune.

Stip - Uberlin is tops! I love Oh My Heart and Walk It Back. That Alligator song on the other hand? Getdafuckouttahere!

[PryTo]

Rank the IRS albums:

Fables Document LRP
Reckoning
Murmur

[PryTo]

This performance was the first time I heard this song (not in person; it was on Napster waaay back in the day). It's still my favorite version of this song -- way better than the studio take. An example of how solid these guys were, even in the later years.

[Jorge]

after all hes doan today
he has earned heeus wings

it happunnnd today

[AndySlash]

i listened to collapse into now the other night and it really is a great record. and 'it happened today' has become a favorite r.e.m. song of mine. i'd put it on a 'best of' list, no doubt.

[Kevin Davis]

Really loving all the love for ''Fables'' over these last couple pages.

[Kaius]

I've been working my way through the catalogue, starting with Murmur and moving chronologically, and though more time and listens may change my perception, I am intially convinced these guys got better with each album up to Automatic for the People. Though Fables of the Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant may be better than Document.

I don't think it's that linear. Reckoning is easily the best of the IRS years and that's record number 2.

Ok. I kind of missed the mark here. You're right, it's not exactly linear, but almost. Murmur is a decent debut, but not great. Reckoning is definitely a good second effort. Much more focused and better executed, but it still carries it's clunkers. Fables of the Reconstruction is fantastic. I really enjoy* this album, and I can see myself coming back to it time and again in the years ahead. Life's Rich Pageant is easily the worst album of the IRS years. I don't know what happened here, but I like less than half of the songs, and I'm not crazy about any of them. Document is really, really good. There's not a bad song to be found, and it carries an inner versatility that the other albums lack.

Document / Fables
Reckoning
Murmur
Life's RIch Pageant

[stip]

Oh man, Pageant is my favorite. It's quite possibly my third favorite REM album overall. Begin the Begin, These Days, Fall on Me, I Believe, What if We Give it Away, Swan Swan H, Superman...

[Rangi Guy]

Aside from feeling a little disappointed with some of the banter having been removed. That RSD unplugged set is stellar

[Kaius]

Oh man, Pageant is my favorite. It's quite possibly my third favorite REM album overall. Begin the Begin, These Days, Fall on Me, I Believe, What if We Give it Away, Swan Swan H, Superman...

What if We Give it Away is the diamond in the rough for me. Superman and Begin the Begin are really good, but other than that it's all very meh.