Rank the REM Albums [Archive] - Orioles Hangout Community

beaner

10-23-2007, 09:12 PM

1) Automatic for the People
2) Document
3) Green
4) Out of Time
5) Murmur

(obviously these are only the ones I've heard -- I know there's a ton more I need to buy off of iTunes).

BEST THREAD EVER!

1-Life's Rich Pageant (Best song: Begin The Begin)
2-Reckoning (Don't Go back to Rockville)
3-Murmur- (Shaking Through)
4-Fables of the Reconstruction- (Life and How To Live It)
5-Automatic For The People- (Sweetness Follows)
6-Monster- (Bang and Blame)
7-Dead Letter Office-(Gardening at Night)
8-Document-(Finest Worksong)
9-Out Of Time- (Country Feedback)
10-Green- (You are the Everything)
11-New Adevntures In Hi Fi- (Leave)
12-Up (Daysleeper)
13-Reveal (Imitation of Life)
14-Around the Sun- (The Boy in the Well)

My favorite band ever has certainly seen better days, but at their peak to me there was no one better. Call them College Radio, Alternative, Pop, whatever. Just make sure you stop by and listen next time you're at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Pedro Cerrano

10-23-2007, 09:16 PM

BEST THREAD EVER!

1-Life's Rich Pageant (Best song: Begin The Begin)
2-Reckoning (Don't Go back to Rockville)
3-Murmur- (Shaking Through)
4-Fables of the Reconstruction- (Life and How To Live It)
5-Automatic For The People- (Sweetness Follows)
6-Monster- (Bang and Blame)
7-Dead Letter Office-(Gardening at Night)
8-Document-(Finest Worksong)
9-Out Of Time- (Country Feedback)
10-Green- (You are the Everything)
11-New Adevntures In Hi Fi- (Leave)
12-Up (Daysleeper)
13-Reveal (Imitation of Life)
14-Around the Sun- (The Boy in the Well)

My favorite band ever has certainly seen better days, but at their peak to me there was no one better. Call them College Radio, Alternative, Pop, whatever. Just make sure you stop by and listen next time you're at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Wow, so I take it you really love their earlier stuff more than their commercial peak with AFTP and Out of Time. Interesting. The rawer sound has its moments, but I feel like their best song-writing was the Document-AFTP era.

beaner

10-23-2007, 09:26 PM

Wow, so I take it you really love their earlier stuff more than their commercial peak with AFTP and Out of Time. Interesting. The rawer sound has its moments, but I feel like their best song-writing was the Document-AFTP era.

Honestly, I love it all, top to bottom. I was a fan of REM from the beginning, 1983 in fact. I was the only 12 year old who knew all the words to "Radio Free Europe". Saying that, I think Michael "matured" as a songwriter as he got older. Also, he became much easier to understand, which i think helped their popularity. There were some weak moments (Stand, Shiny Happy People), but for the most part, not a bad song in the bunch.

bobmc

10-23-2007, 10:02 PM

BEST THREAD EVER!

1-Life's Rich Pageant (Best song: Begin The Begin)
2-Reckoning (Don't Go back to Rockville)
3-Murmur- (Shaking Through)
4-Fables of the Reconstruction- (Life and How To Live It)
5-Automatic For The People- (Sweetness Follows)
6-Monster- (Bang and Blame)
7-Dead Letter Office-(Gardening at Night)
8-Document-(Finest Worksong)
9-Out Of Time- (Country Feedback)
10-Green- (You are the Everything)
11-New Adevntures In Hi Fi- (Leave)
12-Up (Daysleeper)
13-Reveal (Imitation of Life)
14-Around the Sun- (The Boy in the Well)

My favorite band ever has certainly seen better days, but at their peak to me there was no one better. Call them College Radio, Alternative, Pop, whatever. Just make sure you stop by and listen next time you're at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

What - no love for "End of the World As We Know It" or "Losing my Religion"? :confused: Bald guys sing better! :cool:

beaner

10-23-2007, 10:12 PM

What - no love for "End of the World As We Know It" or "Losing my Religion"? :confused: Bald guys sing better! :cool:

I have lots of love for both of those songs,no doubt. In fact, Losing my Religion took them to places that no original fan could have ever expected. Grammys? REM is winning Grammys. Crazy. "End of the World" has become an American classic, and it's still played on many different genres of radio stations 20 years later..

frankpembleton

10-23-2007, 10:48 PM

'Radio Free Europe' is one great song...

I'm not a mega-REM fan but I always like what I hear. I really need to get a few of their earlier albums. The only early album I have is 'Murmur'.

beaner

10-23-2007, 10:51 PM

'Radio Free Europe' is one great song...

I'm not a mega-REM fan but I always like what I hear. I really need to get a few of their earlier albums. The only early album I have is 'Murmur'.

All of the early stuff is tremendous. I strongly recommend Reckoning, Fables, and Life's Rich Pageant. Check them out.

Pedro Cerrano

10-23-2007, 10:51 PM

frankpembleton

10-23-2007, 10:53 PM

Honestly, I love it all, top to bottom. I was a fan of REM from the beginning, 1983 in fact. I was the only 12 year old who knew all the words to "Radio Free Europe". Saying that, I think Michael "matured" as a songwriter as he got older. Also, he became much easier to understand, which i think helped their popularity. There were some weak moments (Stand, Shiny Happy People), but for the most part, not a bad song in the bunch.

'Shiny Happy People' is one of the most annoying songs I have ever heard.

'Stand', however was the theme song to a classic forgotten sitcom. Can anyone remember the show (without googling)?

beaner

10-23-2007, 10:53 PM

Get Document and Green -- STAT.

Get them in order...Reckoning, Fables,LRP, Document, then Green..

beaner

10-23-2007, 10:54 PM

'Shiny Happy People' is one of the most annoying songs I have ever heard.

'Stand', however was the theme song to a classic forgotten sitcom. Can anyone remember the show (without googling)?

Get A life with Chris Elliott...Silly but great show...

Shiny Happy People is awful, I can't defend that one.

frankpembleton

10-23-2007, 10:56 PM

All of the early stuff is tremendous. I strongly recommend Reckoning, Fables, and Life's Rich Pageant. Check them out.

Will do. It's odd that I haven't listened to them much. They are a band I would consider "in my wheelhouse" as I love jangle-pop type bands (Byrds, Smiths, Wedding Present, Orange Juice, etc.)

frankpembleton

10-23-2007, 10:57 PM

Get Document and Green -- STAT.

Actually, I forgot that i have Green as well. Good album, though I like Murmur better. I'll check out Document. Thanks.

beaner

10-23-2007, 10:59 PM

Will do. It's odd that I haven't listened to them much. They are a band I would consider "in my wheelhouse" as I love jangle-pop type bands (Byrds, Smiths, Wedding Present, Orange Juice, etc.)

Oh man, the Smiths are another one...i could listen to REM and the Smiths for days..

beaner

10-23-2007, 11:00 PM

Actually, I forgot that i have Green as well. Good album, though I like Murmur better. I'll check out Document. Thanks.

If you like Green, then you'll LOVE the earlier ones...

frankpembleton

10-23-2007, 11:01 PM

Get A life with Chris Elliott...Silly but great show...

Shiny Happy People is awful, I can't defend that one.

Nice! Unbelievably silly - but with a great premise. I have found a few episodes floating around on the internet. The show has not aged very well, but there are some funny parts. The idea of the show just made me laugh, along with intro.

There is just something about Chris Elliot that always cracked me up, yet he has essentially been in nothing I would consider "good."

"These pipes.....are CLEAN!"

beaner

10-23-2007, 11:06 PM

Nice! Unbelievably silly - but with a great premise. I have found a few episodes floating around on the internet. The show has not aged very well, but there are some funny parts. The idea of the show just made me laugh, along with intro.

There is just something about Chris Elliot that always cracked me up, yet he has essentially been in nothing I would consider "good."

"These pipes.....are CLEAN!"

I don't remember much about it, but I did love the intro, and the fact that he "died" a lot. Can't remember many specifics though.

frankpembleton

10-23-2007, 11:08 PM

I don't remember much about it, but I did love the intro, and the fact that he "died" a lot. Can't remember many specifics though.

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-7pgeD__qU

beaner

10-23-2007, 11:11 PM

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-7pgeD__qU

Still funny..Thanks

Dan-O®

10-23-2007, 11:58 PM

1. Murmur
2. Life's Rich Pageant
3. Fables of the Reconstruction
4. Automatic for the People

5. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
6. Reckoning
7. Green
8. Document

9. Out of Time
10. Monster
11. Up
12. Reveal
13. Around the Sun

I consider these in "tiers." Top 4 are classic albums with virtually no filler. Next 4 are solid albums that are a little bit more hit and miss for me. Last 5 are sketchier. None are flat-out BAD, but when I want to listen to REM I'm not likely to grab any of those last 5 as my first choice.

And major props to the guy who mentioned The Smiths, The Wedding Present, and Orange Juice.

Try out The Chills, Felt, The Go-Betweens, Moose, Cinerama, and Aztec Camera for more jangle merchants of the non-American persuasion (would say British but The Chills are New Zealanders and Go-Betweens are Aussies).

Lucky Jim

10-25-2007, 08:38 PM

beaner

10-25-2007, 08:47 PM

1. Reckoning.
2. Murmur.
3. Life's Rich Pageant.
4. Document.
5. Fables.
6. I don't need any other albums...(though will admit there are single/couple songs off of some that I enjoy.)

R.E.M. is like U2 - they essentially died for me in 1989.

Automatic ('92), and Monster ('94) are still both really good...ALthough I do agree that the first 5 are tons better.

Lucky Jim

10-25-2007, 11:23 PM

Automatic ('92), and Monster ('94) are still both really good...ALthough I do agree that the first 5 are tons better.

I agree that they're good albums. And I actually really like the song "Crush with Eyeliner". Parts of AFTP are beautiful, as well.

But that initial run. My. Those songs.

beaner

10-25-2007, 11:25 PM

I agree that they're good albums. And I actually really like the song "Crush with Eyeliner". Parts of AFTP are beautiful, as well.

But that initial run. My. Those songs.

Agreed. Nothing better than those early songs.

sakata_catching

10-26-2007, 08:46 AM

I pretty much rank them chronologically ...

Murmur
Reckoning
Fables
Life's Rich Pageant
---------------------
everything after

Strangely, my favorite post-first-4 REM record is the b-sides/outtakes comp Dead Letter Office, with its inspired covers of Pylon, Aerosmith, VU and Roger Miller along with other oddities such as Stipe mumbling the menu of a local BBQ joint to the backing track of Seven Chinese Brothers. It's the last time, to my ears, that the band actually sounded like they were enjoying themselves.

DREKTUNES

10-26-2007, 09:09 AM

1 - Document - Is Strange a Gang of Four cover? Too sleep deprived to look it up. Love that record.
2 - Eponymous - Though I normally don't say comps, this is the one that got me into them, has all the songs I like. Cassette, that I got from the first record store I eventually worked for, by winning some contest. Which just makes it that much better.
3 - Hindu Love Gods - Covers record with them backing up Warren Zevon. The cover of Raspberry Berrett sounds exactly like you'd think it would.

Otherwise? Always liked Life's Rich, never got a copy of Mumur, now feel as though I must get Dead Letter Office, as I am a sucker for b-side comps (del amitri's one is amazing, btw, and JUSTIN CURRIE HAS A SOLO RECORD OUT AND IT WILL BE MINE).

sakata_catching

10-26-2007, 09:14 AM

1 - Document - Is Strange a Gang of Four cover? Too sleep deprived to look it up. Love that record.

Nope. Wire.

Mad Mark

10-26-2007, 12:03 PM

The first time I saw R.E.M. live, they opened for Gang of Four at the Bayou in DC...summer 1981. We went from "who are these guys?" to "who are these guys?" in the course of about a song and a half.
(This was also the show where I got sent flying one way and my right shoe got sent flying the exact opposite way in the mosh pit...but that's a GoF story, not an R.E.M. story!)
Didn't miss a single DC show from then until '86. Met (and shared a six pack with) Peter Buck at the Ontario Theater...loved those guys...
But they should have stuck to the original plan, and broken up on New Years Eve 2000! It amazes me how much they fell off after Bill Berry left. I haven't been able to get through an entire CD since New Adventures in Hi Fi...and that's a long time ago, now.

DREKTUNES

10-26-2007, 01:39 PM

Nope. Wire.

Thanks. I knew it was one of those bands I was supposed to listen to :)

Speaking of which, I miss Elastica. Those BBC Sessions.....

sakata_catching

10-26-2007, 01:47 PM

Speaking of which, I miss Elastica. Those BBC Sessions.....

Just buy a copy of Pink Flag and use your imagination.:D

Sideburns

10-27-2007, 03:46 AM

1. Life's Rich Pageant
2. Out of Time
3. Automatic For the People
4. Reckoning
5. Chronic Town (just an EP, but I really like just the 5 songs compared to the whole Dead Letter Office that they put it on)
6. Murmur
7. Monster
8. Document
9. Green

Fables fits in there somewhere, I never really got into it though.

frankpembleton

10-27-2007, 07:07 AM

Just buy a copy of Pink Flag and use your imagination.:D

I actually like Elastica better than Wire - is that horrible?

I enjoy pretty much anything Damon Albarn writes...

Lucky Jim

10-27-2007, 01:59 PM

I actually like Elastica better than Wire - is that horrible?

I enjoy pretty much anything Damon Albarn writes...

Agreed re: Elastica. Crucially underrated album. I miss Justine Frischmann.

sakata_catching

10-27-2007, 06:12 PM

I actually like Elastica better than Wire - is that horrible?

There are worse things you can do. But I hold Pink Flag in very high esteem — one of the great all-time albums.

DREKTUNES

10-29-2007, 10:39 AM

Agreed re: Elastica. Crucially underrated album. I miss Justine Frischmann.

Yeah. So how much of that stuff was Albarn ultimately shown to have written? Dunno if he ever managed anything that poppy and sexy in Blur. I do really like Gorillaz as well. Maybe I just like his side projects.

DrungoHazewood

10-29-2007, 02:38 PM

Gotta agree with most of the rankings here - early is better than later on, Lifes Rich Pageant is definitely #1. I go long periods of time between listening to REM, but LRP is something I always come back to. Love the banjo. Love Superman.

Haven't really been interested in much of anything they've done after New Adventures in Hifi.

One album I haven't really seen mentioned is the non-canonical REM: In the Attic. I always like the instrumental "Last Date" (although I guess that was on Document, too).

frankpembleton

10-29-2007, 02:49 PM

Yeah. So how much of that stuff was Albarn ultimately shown to have written? Dunno if he ever managed anything that poppy and sexy in Blur. I do really like Gorillaz as well. Maybe I just like his side projects.

I was actually kind of joking about that. Damon was dating Justine at the time and (being his usual arrogant self) would often drop subtle hints that he was at least partly responsible for some of the songwriting in Elastica. He doesn't have any actual writing credits for Elastica.

Damon can be a pompous ass, but he is also one of the most musically creative people alive today. Blur, in my opinion, is the best band of the 90's because of his songwriting ability and Coxon's legendary guitar work. Within Blur he shifted direction with each album, yet maintained the Brit pop aesthetic perfectly. Outside of Blur his work with Gorillaz and TGTBTQ has been so different, yet so good. Even his somewhat indulgent Mali Music stuff was good. Damon is top notch, I just wish him and Graham would make up for good and get back to being the best pop music partnership since Marr and the Mozfather.