Murmur (studio album)
by R.E.M.

I moved down to London from Birmingham in 1982 and was fortunate enough to fall in with a great bunch of people, some of whom are still friends over 40 years later.

Amongst those folks was a guy called Terry who is a couple of years older than the rest of us and who, even back then, had an awesome record collection. At the time of the release of this album he was living in a bed sit in Notting Hill. This was before the eponymous film came out and made the place trendy and priced out the locals but don’t get me started on that.

Anyway, Terry’s flat was literally a bed, a record player, speakers and his record collection.

At the time Notting Hill had more record shops than you could shake a stick at, top of the list then, as it still is today, was Rough Trade West. Always a great place to visit, chat, meet people and buy the occasional album.

Terry was a frequent visitor and one afternoon we ended up at his flat and he said that he’d been recommended an album by a new US band. He put it on and wow, it was like nothing we had ever heard,

Incoherent vocals and a sound that grabbed you from the first listen. Little did we know that they would go on to become the biggest band in the world. They were our secret back then. Changed my music listening habits from that point on.

This album brought various artists into my world like, The Wipers, Dream Syndicate, Bob Mould (Sugar, Husker Du), Rain Parade and many others

From SomethingSpecial 07/01/2025 12:08 | #309824

R.E.M. started out with a bang, on an album that is one of the greatest to come out of the 1980s, and introduced the world to Stipe's commanding, earthly vocals. And like Pixies, R.E.M. would go on to influence just about every band that would follow suit.

On songs like the adrenaline-rushing opener Radio Free Europe, Talk About the Passion, Moral Kiosk, and Perfect Circle, Stipe and his bandmates demand the listener's attention, on songs that are simultaneously powerful anthems and warm hugs there to comfort you.

From HoldenM 03/24/2025 14:48 | #308175

Even when I've been an R.E.M. skeptic, Murmur has always been the album of theirs I enjoyed without reservation. Having mainlined much of their discography in the last day, it's nice to come back to their debut and affirm my love for it. More than anything, the songwriting that I occasionally bristled at has settled in, to the point that even the weaker tracks are at least enjoyable. Still, this is an impeccably made album more than 40 years later. Gorgeous and, yes, fully formed.

From Cargusbralem 01/29/2025 17:26 | #307308

Solid album and a promising debut. The whole album is enjoyable but it could do with a little more variety in its sound. The highlights here are the Mills' basslines and Stipe's voice.

Have you ever listened to a song/album (or seen a movie, or whatever) that most people think is great, and maybe you even like it, but not as much as others do. And you can see why people like it, but it just doesn't resonate with you in quite the same way. That's how I feel about this album. I definitely like it - but I don't love it. It's good, but I'm not sure it's great? Or maybe it is great, and it just needs to grow on me.

A thoroughly enjoyable R.E.M. album that might get slightly overrated but there is still a lot to love about the music on here. They have some absolute classics on this release such as Radio Free Europe, Talk About The Passion and Sitting Still which demonstrate so much potential and are so enjoyable to listen to. The best of the tracks on here is Perfect Circle and it is possibly the greatest, or is at least my favourite, R.E.M. song of all time. It is just so rewarding and satisfying to listen to this song and I always find myself replaying it straight after finishing this album. The rest of the songs I haven't mentioned so far are pretty decent with a couple going a little beyond that which makes this a consistent and cohesive listen. However, this record only has a handful outstanding tracks and it is missing a few to be considered amongst the greatest albums of all time. Also, the style, while it is unique, does get repetitive and boring by the time you reach track 9 and this can make it feel like a drag to finish this record at times. Overall, a very good R.E.M record that has its moments where it shines but it isn't an elite level album despite how enjoyable it is to listen to.

Generally good album that shaped indie/alt rock as we know it today, but it suffers a little bit of similar sound of every track. I love Radio Free Europe and Talk About The Passion, Moral Kiosk, Perfect Circle is probably best sequence of songs on this album.

I find it quite baffling this is rated the #1 album of 1983. I enjoy R.E.M. but this isn’t even close to their best album and the fact that it’s placed over Synchronicity is insane.

From Jboy56 01/26/2022 12:06 | #280107

This album pisses me off, I should be great but is not. The overall sameness of the tracks makes this a dull listen.
Definite highlights are missing. Very listenable, generally most of the songs fade to big nowhere

I don't rate this as highly as their 90s work. The album is pleasant but most of the tracks are very forgettable. Perfect Circle is excellent and is easily in my top 5 REM songs, Sitting Still is also nice, but the rest are nothing special.