Red Mosquito

I may be in the minority here, but I absolutely adore Murmur and Chronic Town

The pod paints a picture that those early songs are meant to be and best consumed live. So what you're saying makes sense to me, KD. I'll give it a spin soon.

Rangi Guy wrote:I may be in the minority here, but I absolutely adore Murmur and Chronic Town

I don't think you're in the minority.

durdencommatyler wrote:The pod paints a picture that those early songs are meant to be and best consumed live. So what you're saying makes sense to me, KD. I'll give it a spin soon.

I've got an REM bootleg from the Dead Letter Office era that sounds absolutely awful.

I'm with Rangi. I love Chronic Town.

washing machine wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:The pod paints a picture that those early songs are meant to be and best consumed live. So what you're saying makes sense to me, KD. I'll give it a spin soon.

I've got an REM bootleg from the Dead Letter Office era that sounds absolutely awful.

Are you sure not just listening to Murmur?

I wouldn't think a contemporaneous live performance would do the trick -- too similar in vibe. But "Olympia" is in a whole different aesthetic range.

This is my probably my favorite performance on the set:

Kevin Davis wrote:I wouldn't think a contemporaneous live performance would do the trick -- too similar in vibe. But "Olympia" is in a whole different aesthetic range.

This is my probably my favorite performance on the set:

Wow. This is revelatory.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:I wouldn't think a contemporaneous live performance would do the trick -- too similar in vibe. But "Olympia" is in a whole different aesthetic range.

This is my probably my favorite performance on the set:

Wow. This is revelatory.

Now THAT is fucking interesting.

Knowing LV's fondness for "Accelerate" I'd think that set would be right up his alley. They basically take that approach -- lean, aerodynamic, but highly musical -- and apply it to material from their whole catalog (with special favor paid to the IRS-era stuff).

Unfortunately, I can't find an acceptable version on SoulSeek. It's either FLAC or really shitty MP3s. Bummer.

Stand by for a 320kbps mp3 rip

Grabbed it, thanksssssss

Wow, Joey's r.e.m. takes are trash

durdencommatyler wrote:

LoathedVermin72 wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:I wouldn't think a contemporaneous live performance would do the trick -- too similar in vibe. But "Olympia" is in a whole different aesthetic range.

This is my probably my favorite performance on the set:

Wow. This is revelatory.

Now THAT is fucking interesting.

Love that.

verb_to_trust wrote:Wow, Joey's r.e.m. takes are trash

I'm nothing if not unsurprising.

Alright, so after listening to the first few records (and episodes of this podcast) I think I'd say...

1. Lifes Rich Pageant (by a fair margin; this is the first great REM album)
2. Reckoning
3. Fables (the highs here are higher than Reckoning, but Reckoning is more consistent)
4. Murmur (this is not a good album)

Did we ever do an LAL for the REM catalog? I would like to do that. Where the fuck is Stip?

Life's Rich Pageant is my favorite album of theirs. I think Aukerman liked it the best too.

I love the early records, though I'd say overall they're more inconsistent than what came next. I tend to chalk that up to sheer amount of material they were putting together.

verb_to_trust wrote:Life's Rich Pageant is my favorite album of theirs. I think Aukerman liked it the best too.

It's really great. I can't slot it #1 but it's top 3 to 5 for sure.