Album of the day (#3621): Green by R.E.M. - Music

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

PossiblyMichigan wrote:

Never really got into any REM beyond their jangle pop era so I've never really gotten into this one. I'd agree with Skinny, this is the transitional record as opposed to Document which feels to me as the record Stipe realized ohhhh people want more of So. Central Rain

And I'd agree with CA Dreamin' as Finest Worksong, One I Love, and The End of the World... are clear grabs at "traditional rock" they never did before.

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

CA Dreamin wrote:

Skinny wrote:

Interesting. I tend to think of Document as basically being a continuation of their earlier work with slightly catchier hooks and slightly higher production values, but in no real way removed in terms of actual songwriting or style, whereas Green found them transitioning to a sound that was punchier and more deliberately straightforward, trying on power pop riffs on the one hand whilst enhancing their sonic palette on the other with their take on mandolin-driven soft rock balladry.

I totally see your point. I find Document's catchier hooks, higher production value, and mixed up instrumentation as signaling the band venturing into mainstream territory. But I agree they largely stayed true to their songwriting roots. And I think the success of The One I Love and It's the End of the World clearly got through to them, as they made Green much more mainstream-friendly. Mileage varies with this change in direction. Nevertheless, I still feel Document is where it began, albeit subtly.

Personally I like poppy R.E.M. and I used to have Green as my #2 R.E.M. album but I think Reckoning has that claim now.

What's your #1?

I can't really pick one... But for me (song for song), it goes:
Green R.E.M. 1988 100
Automatic For The People R.E.M. 1992 96.2
Accelerate R.E.M. 2008 95.4
Eponymous R.E.M. 1988 92.5
Monster R.E.M. 1994 91.6
Murmur R.E.M. 1983 90.8
Out Of Time R.E.M. 1991 90
Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 - 2011 R.E.M. 2011 90
Collapse Into Now R.E.M. 2011 89.5
New Adventures In Hi-Fi R.E.M. 1996 87.5
Up R.E.M. 1998 87.5
Around The Sun R.E.M. 2004 87.3
Fables Of The Reconstruction R.E.M. 1985 86.8
Document R.E.M. 1987 86.8
Chronic Town R.E.M. 1982 85
Live R.E.M. 2007 85
Live At The Olympia R.E.M. 2009 85
Unplugged 1991 / 2001: The Complete Sessions R.E.M. 2014 85
Reckoning R.E.M. 1984 84
Lifes Rich Pageant R.E.M. 1986 83.3
Dead Letter Office R.E.M. 1987 79
Reveal R.E.M. 2001 79

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

RoundTheBend wrote:

CA Dreamin wrote:

Personally I like poppy R.E.M. and I used to have Green as my #2 R.E.M. album but I think Reckoning has that claim now.

What's your #1?

Murmur, for sure. I checked my overall list after making this comment and saw I have Green on there near the bottom. I think Murmur's spot in my Top 40 is safe for now. But for whatever reason, I thought I pulled Green recently. Maybe next time I update. And I can't say I'd agree with your R.E.M. album ranking but that's all good. It's hard to put albums in order for a band so prolific and consistently good.
_________________
on such a winter's day

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

CA Dreamin wrote:

RoundTheBend wrote:

CA Dreamin wrote:

Personally I like poppy R.E.M. and I used to have Green as my #2 R.E.M. album but I think Reckoning has that claim now.

What's your #1?

Murmur, for sure. I checked my overall list after making this comment and saw I have Green on there near the bottom. I think Murmur's spot in my Top 40 is safe for now. But for whatever reason, I thought I pulled Green recently. Maybe next time I update. And I can't say I'd agree with your R.E.M. album ranking but that's all good. It's hard to put albums in order for a band so prolific and consistently good.

For sure, I mean the only legit studio album I don't find to be good to great is Reveal.

Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif

Going strictly by studio albums I'm familiar with here, although Eponymous would rank very highly.

1. Murmur
2. Lifes Rich Pageant
3. Reckoning
4. Fables of the Reconstruction

5. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
6. Automatic for the People
7. Document

8. Reveal
9. Around the Sun
10. Up

11. Out of Time
12. Green
13. Monster

To be clear, I like all of these albums, which is pretty crazy given how liable I am to hate stuff. Apparently R.E.M. also released two albums post-Around the Sun, whose names sound vaguely familiar, but whose contents escape me entirely, although they did come out during the height of my hedonistic days when tracking R.E.M.'s graceful slide into middle age wasn't really a priority for me. What my list says to me, now that I'm looking at it, is that Automatic for the People was actually something of an outlier, an album containing actual songs produced in ways that played to the band's expanding strengths during what I consider to be a relatively fallow period, creatively, for an otherwise excellent group. Whilst it's probably very clichéd to consider their I.R.S. years (particularly pre-Document) to be their quote unquote golden era, they were just astonishingly great during that period, and the expansion(s) of their sound - whilst likely necessary in order to maintain both their own interest and that of the much maligned "record-buying public" - simply led to increasingly inconsistent releases that charmed and often thrilled, but also occasionally sagged and disappointed. I tend to think that R.E.M. were already grown up and wise beyond their years when they started, to the point that the further growing up they very publicly went through was reductive (though definitely and thankfully not redundant, given that they still managed to provide glittering moments on a remarkably regular basis). The more I think about them, the more respect I have for them, as a group who were able to create worthwhile art for as long as they did without dropping any actual turds along the way. Not even my beloved Flaming Lips could manage that, although neither they nor R.E.M. can hold a candle to Yo La Tengo's consistency, which puts all other similarly aged, indie-adjacent bands to shame.

Anyway, I think the tangent pile-up I just skidded straight into is probably a sign that I should end this post here.
_________________
2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

Yann

Gender: Male
Location: France

I especially love the two mandolin songs. Did they use mandolin before?

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Skinny wrote:

Going strictly by studio albums I'm familiar with here, although Eponymous would rank very highly.

1. Murmur
2. Lifes Rich Pageant
3. Reckoning
4. Fables of the Reconstruction

5. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
6. Automatic for the People
7. Document

8. Reveal
9. Around the Sun
10. Up

11. Out of Time
12. Green
13. Monster

To be clear, I like all of these albums, which is pretty crazy given how liable I am to hate stuff. Apparently R.E.M. also released two albums post-Around the Sun, whose names sound vaguely familiar, but whose contents escape me entirely, although they did come out during the height of my hedonistic days when tracking R.E.M.'s graceful slide into middle age wasn't really a priority for me. What my list says to me, now that I'm looking at it, is that Automatic for the People was actually something of an outlier, an album containing actual songs produced in ways that played to the band's expanding strengths during what I consider to be a relatively fallow period, creatively, for an otherwise excellent group. Whilst it's probably very clichéd to consider their I.R.S. years (particularly pre-Document) to be their quote unquote golden era, they were just astonishingly great during that period, and the expansion(s) of their sound - whilst likely necessary in order to maintain both their own interest and that of the much maligned "record-buying public" - simply led to increasingly inconsistent releases that charmed and often thrilled, but also occasionally sagged and disappointed. I tend to think that R.E.M. were already grown up and wise beyond their years when they started, to the point that the further growing up they very publicly went through was reductive (though definitely and thankfully not redundant, given that they still managed to provide glittering moments on a remarkably regular basis). The more I think about them, the more respect I have for them, as a group who were able to create worthwhile art for as long as they did without dropping any actual turds along the way. Not even my beloved Flaming Lips could manage that, although neither they nor R.E.M. can hold a candle to Yo La Tengo's consistency, which puts all other similarly aged, indie-adjacent bands to shame.

Anyway, I think the tangent pile-up I just skidded straight into is probably a sign that I should end this post here.

Eponymous is indeed fantastic and captures a lot (but not all) of what I love about their early years... it was actually my first R.E.M. album, now that I think about it, even if I had already listened to my siblings' Out of Time and Automatic for the People from cover to cover, as well as countless singles like Stand (which irony I love). Do you know where the fuck you stand or are you a lemming? ... well at least that's how I hear the song. Likely 90% of the population thinks it's a blank pop song, which I'm ok with because I misinterpret a lot of music.

Oh right I was quoting skinny... hehe. Yeah I.R.S. years... somehow I love this period and somehow it simultaneously escapes me as significant... I think it's the depth of emotion I get from it (not that it can't have it), but one reason I feel like Green explodes for me is the depth of emotion is quite significant. Either from a passion for political statements, or passion against child abuse, or personal suffering. The obscure/inability to convey love. The passion for living an examined life... I mean there's just so much on Green, it's no wonder Kurt Cobain had it listed as his favorite too.

Damn, I can't stay on point... anyway, I'm shocked and not shocked by your last 3, especially with Around the Sun (although this does have quite a few gems) and Reveal (I find this album really difficult to enjoy on any level... if R.E.M. had a shit record they had to release because they were contracted to as opposed to poured their heart and soul into it... I think Reveal is hands down that album, for me at least). But hey it gave them their only #1 hit in Japan.

I can ramble about these guys all day. Favorite band basically since memory can serve.