1. Automatic for the People
2. Murmur
3. Out of Time
4. Lifes Rich Pageant
5. Document
6. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
7. Green
8. Fables of the Reconstruction
9. Reckoning
10. Up
11. Monster
12. Collapse Into Now
13. Accelerate
14. Reveal
15. Around the Sun
1. Sitting Still
2. Losing My Religion
3. Radio Free Europe
4. So. Central Rain
5. Nightswimming
6. ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF)
7. Try Not to Breathe
8. Shiny Happy People
9. Man on the Moon
10. Fall on Me
R.E.M., along with the Smiths, are indie critic's darlings I've never been able to enjoy outside of a couple handfuls of songs, and never really enjoyed a full album
I agree (other than the Smiths part).I understand that their early output is influential to alternative rock but when I look at other early 80s alt/indie band they seem rather plain in comparison.(The Fall,Violent Femmes,Mission of Burma,The Feelies)
1. Murmur
2. Automatic for the People
3.Fables of the Reconstruction
4. Lifes Rich Pageant
-------------------------------------------
5. Out of Time
6. Green
7. Reckoning
8. Document
9. Monster
10. New Adventures in Hi-Fi _________________ "And can’t you see you’re in on it?
You were born though you need not
And is that not some cause
For worship, being born among these trees?"
Probably the most divisive discog we've tackled so far on Let's Rank I think. To overly simplify, it seems that there are two camps on REM - those that love their pop stuff as best exemplified by Automatic for the People & Green and those that love their post-punk, rough & raw jangle-guitar driven early albums such as Murmur & Reckoning. I'm firmly in the post-punk camp so much so that I"m turning off Automatic For The People in the middle of the cringe-inducing "Everybody Hurts." I'm bummed because I really wanted to use this Let's Rank to finally at long last get into that album, but I just can't despite it being considered a masterpiece by many. I think good pop music is far harder to execute and sustain over the course of an album than rock. Good pop music basically has to be flawless which perhaps makes singles rather than albums the more preferable vehicle for many if not most pop bands.
As KKS pointed out, their releases post-Reckoning are remarkably inconsistent & full of filler, especially on the second sides. Plus, I don't think they've aged as well as some of their college rock and american underground peers as newbands mentioned.
Here’s my ranking expanded to include everything I've heard…
Essential
Chronic Town
Murmur
Reckoning
Solid Additions
Fables of The Reconstruction
Dead Letter Office
Document
Meh
Life’s Rich Pageant
Accelerate (At least it rocks)
Will likely never listen to again
Green
Automatic For The People
Out of Time
Up
I've always struggled a bit with R.E.M. and in preparing for the rankings, I think I've finally figured out why -- I don't like Michael Stipe's lyrics. There are some especially cringe-worthy moments on Murmur where I get the feeling like he's trying way too hard to sound deep. Anyway, I still love the jangle and they write some great melodies on occasion (singles band lol), so if you find my rankings puzzling, it's because I'm so internally conflicted about their music.
Reckoning
Out of Time
Chronic Town
Fables of the Reconstruction
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Life's Rich Pageant
Document
Murmur
Green
Automatic for the People
Automatic For The People
Murmur
New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Monster
Chronic Town
Document
Reckoning
Lifes Rich Pageant
Green
Fables Of The Reconstruction
Out Of Time
Accelerate
Up
Reveal
Collapse Into Now
Around The Sun
R.E.M. were a massively important band for me growing up. Along with Talking Heads, Violent Femmes and New Order, they're pretty much what I was raised on. Both my parents were huge fans, and they were playing R.E.M. as far back as I can remember. I vividly remember getting my first ipod at age 10 or so, and it my parents pre-loading it with every R.E.M. album(Along with other things). Automatic For The People has always been my favorite, it was only later that I started appreciating albums like Reckoning and Life's Rich Pageant. But it's all great up until Up.
It's hard to think of my favorite R.E.M. songs, but here's my top 5
1. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
2. Man On The Moon
3. Nightswimming
4. Wolves, Lower
5. Radio Free Europe
I don't like Michael Stipe's lyrics. There are some especially cringe-worthy moments on Murmur where I get the feeling like he's trying way too hard to sound deep.
For the R.E.M.'s first few releases Michael Stipe has admitted that his method of lyricism was to just sing the words which he felt sounded good, which was part of the reason he mumbled, because he didn't feel confident in what he was actually saying. He often made fun of his earlier lyrics when performing them in more recent shows. He does a great bit where he reads what the internet thinks he says in 'West of Fields', since he himself has no idea what he's actually singing. Here's a snippet of it:
For the R.E.M.'s first few releases Michael Stipe has admitted that his method of lyricism was to just sing the words which he felt sounded good, which was part of the reason he mumbled, because he didn't feel confident in what he was actually saying. He often made fun of his earlier lyrics when performing them in more recent shows.
Yeah, that sounds about right. Now you'll have to excuse me, I have to make a stop at the moral kiosk (what I'm calling the toilet now).
You do realize stylistically, Out of Time and Green have a lot in common with Document right? Why does Document get a "I like this" when they don't?
It's not the style that bothers me, it's the execution. There's just a lot of songs on "Green" and even more on "Out of Time" that I just flat out don't like. It's very rare that I feel the need to skip a song when I'm listening to an album, but I found myself itching to do just that with both Green and Out of Time.
For instance on Green, I really like "Pop Song 89", but flat out hate "Stand" despite the fact that stylistically it's pretty similar territory.
I think Skinny once noted that there's often a fine line that demarcates what works and what doesn't work for a given band in a given style. This line is going to be at a different point for different listeners. With Green they crossed that line for me and then with Out of Time they pretty much left the building.
I know that's not a very satisfying answer, and I will listen to Out of Time tomorrow to try to ascertain exactly what annoys me about the different songs. But, it's not from lack of exposure to either Green or Out of Time. I was a fairly big REM fan in high school and bought both those releases when they dropped.
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