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

Norah · Post by **Norah** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:34 am

Radio Free Europe is fantastic.

Kaius · Post by **Kaius** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:45 am

chud, I was wrong in my assessment of the IRS albums. It's crazy what another week or so of listening will do.

Kaius · Post by **Kaius** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:52 am

Now, I'm pretty sure it is:
Document
Murmur/Reckoning
Fables

Pageant

That's not linear at all.

Norah · Post by **Norah** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:52 am

Document is easily my least favorite of the IRS years.

Kaius · Post by **Kaius** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:55 am

cutuphalfdead wrote:Radio Free Europe is fantastic.

Actually, it could easily be in that second group. It's a really bouncy, catchy song.

Kaius · Post by **Kaius** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:57 am

cutuphalfdead wrote:Document is easily my least favorite of the IRS years.

To be fair they're all good. I'm just ranking for the sake of ranking. It's certainly unnecessary

Post by **Jorge** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:58 am

Kaius wrote:
cutuphalfdead wrote:Radio Free Europe is fantastic.
Actually, it could easily be in that second group. It's a really bouncy, catchy song.

Fun song to play on the bass

Post by **epilogue** » Sat May 03, 2014 1:21 am

cutuphalfdead wrote:Document is easily my least favorite ~~of the IRS years~~ by a really great, popular band.

Post by **stip** » Sat May 03, 2014 1:28 am

Document is inconsistent, but I think it's best moments are probably the best moments of the IRS years. Finest worksong, end of the world, one I love, King if birds, heron house, occupation. I'm not sure any of the other albums are gonna match that

Norah · Post by **Norah** » Sat May 03, 2014 1:30 am

stip wrote:Document is inconsistent, but I think it's best moments are probably the best moments of the IRS years. Finest worksong, end of the world, one I love, King if birds, heron house, occupation. I'm not sure any of the other albums are gonna match that

Self · Post by **Self** » Sat May 03, 2014 1:50 am

stip wrote:Oh man, Pageant is my favorite. It's quite possibly my third favorite...

I think I get it now.

Kaius · Post by **Kaius** » Sat May 03, 2014 1:50 am

Automatic is a fucking beast!

Post by **stip** » Sat May 03, 2014 2:31 am

Self wrote:
stip wrote:Oh man, Pageant is my favorite. It's quite possibly my third favorite...
I think I get it now.

favorite of the IRS years.

PryTo · Post by **PryTo** » Sat May 03, 2014 4:20 am

Everything about Tourfilm rules but the Pageant songs are especially good.

Not from Pageant, but one of the more iconic moments of Tourfilm. Fun fact, Stipe hired the same guy who made David Byrne's white suit in Stop Making Sense.

Post by **stip** » Sat May 03, 2014 10:30 am

Kaius wrote:Automatic is a fucking beast!

It's my second favorite album of all time, and I would make a pretty serious argument that it us the greatest of all time, period.

Lament · Post by **Lament** » Sat May 03, 2014 10:52 am

stip wrote:
Kaius wrote:Automatic is a fucking beast!
It's my second favorite album of all time, and I would make a pretty serious argument that it us the greatest of all time, period.

Automatic for the People is just absolutely fucking stunning.

Post by **stip** » Sat May 03, 2014 11:39 am

From top to bottom. When your weakest moments are monty got a raw deal and ignoreland you did something right

PryTo · Post by **PryTo** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:37 pm

I'd certainly call it the band's masterpiece. I remember how good it was when it came out. The band had a pretty much perfect track record, but Automatic took it to a new level. Most bands don't make a record this good. Two of my favorite Automatic B-sides, one original, one cover.

And a nice, in-depth look:
http://www.stereogum.com/1171412/automa ... p-stories/

Post by **stip** » Sat May 03, 2014 12:47 pm

I love arms of love. I was never a big fan of it's a free world. For a band as talented as they are, REM doesn't have a ton of undiscovered gems waiting in their vaults, it seems.

PryTo · Post by **PryTo** » Sat May 03, 2014 1:08 pm

They are overly enamored with instrumentals, almost none of them are any good. But I do think you could compile maybe one decent albums out of their b sides, but given how much extra material is out there, that isn't much. There is also a dozen or so original songs that pre-date Murmer and Chronic Town. There are live boots of them out there. Some good tunes there for sure; wonder why they were all tossed, never to resurface.

Red Mosquito

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