R.E.M. Band • Page 10

this one might be better for the unpopular opinion's thread, but having spent some time with it, it would be tight if people gave Up the time of day more often? album rules. a little long, but there's really no bad songs, it just demands a lot of your attention. maybe it's flawed to praise an album for purposely sculpting a place around someone who isn't there, but the sort of hypnotic, digital adjacent minimalism of that record feels really impressively done almost because of bill berry's absence on it -- like a lot of these songs, especially on the back half of the record have a really impressive groove for a band who just lost one of the most recognizable markers of their sound (the last three song run is super sick imo, "diminished," "parakeet," "falls to climb" are great. though the last one doesn't really groove, it's just really cool the way it unfurls really slowly and deliberately, but it's p much a different song by the end w everything added, so no part was really the same the whole time, even though there are choruses and the like).

 

I love Shiny Happy People

 

and I encourage you not to let dummies like me make you feel like you shouldn't! it's just not for me. I never skip it though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Haha, I bought into this Genius meaning for quite a while:

 

omg that second screenshot is hilarious. but oh man if that's what the song is about I feel like the music video would've been a perfect time to clarify that, cause I def don't see it in the lyrics. the video just reinforces the image of it not being about much but at least they look cute being all happy

 

Up is fantastic and I'm glad you mentioned "Diminished" because it's one of the most underrated R.E.M. songs of all time. the whole character of the song is some of Stipe's best writing, and "is the jury wavering? do they know I sing?" is just absolutely haunting

that and "Daysleeper" back-to-back is some powerful shit, some of his finest character work

 

definitely, "diminished" is some of their most inspired songwriting in any of their eras but it has no life outside that record, it's bizarre. and yeah, I find the lyrics on most of the record to be some great writing but he really digs in deep on that one, the Patti Smith worship he'd been cultivating for a while really comes to fruition there.

"daysleeper" is great, I should've include it in that run but "diminished" is just one of my favs on it so I started w that one lol

 

I don't think I've ever loved a full album by them outside of Murmur. That's an absolute classic.

 

Automatic for the People???

 

It's good, really good. But I don't love it like I love Murmur

 

I would honestly argue with anyone that it's one of the best albums of all time, haha. But if you just prefer the early R.E.M. sound fair enough - never heard anything quite like those first few releases

 

Yeah everything on Murmur just sounds so fresh every time I listen to it.

 

I've been super into their '90s stuff lately. I'd agree that "Radio Song" is one of their weakest moments, though. The rap is just...really hard to take.

 

finest worksong is their uhh finest song

 

to follow on what I was saying earlier, I'd have to nominate "New Test Leper" as his best piece of lyric-writing. took me about 10 years to realise what that song was about, and I haven't really stopped thinking about it since - unbelievable stuff. what do you reckon @EmmanuelSCastle ?

 

Reckoning > Murmur imo

 

how do you feel about reckoning? murmur was initially my favorite, but I think reckoning probably takes that spot now and I feel like it's a p logical straight line between those two (though murmur is still probably "moodier" and more oblique in general, which is a cool vibe)

yeah, sick song. I was thinking a couple of days ago that there are some textures and moments that remind me of "how soon is now?" that made me like it even more

hmmm I think it's def on par w some of his best stuff, but so much of Automatic for the People has contenders for his best lyrics. like, E Bow The Letter, Bittersweet Me, Electrolite are all among my favorite stuff lyrics on that record, nevermind their discog which just has so many candidates. it's just hard though cause he's soooo good at so many different lyrical modes, whether or not he comes out and says what he's trying to say. and it's the hit, but "Losing My Religion" is also like ridiculously giving in the number of interpretations I've had through the years (I've settled recently as seeing it as a sort of coming out song, somewhere in the same lineage as "Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn'tve)" by the buzzcocks). idk there are so many options haha

 

wow this is now the buzzcocks thread

 

yeah "Electrolite" is stunningly good too (and Stipe didn't even want it on the album! absolute madman!) but I think "Leper" tops it. he is essentially good at every lyrical mode he tries, but I think his character writing is some of the best I've heard from any lyricist, and NTL might be his peak - I mean the way it takes the inherently ridiculous setting of a talk show and makes it one of the saddest character studies in the whole discography is just incredible itself

 

Yeah man I can't explain it. It's a great album and I acknowledge that but listening to Murmur feels so much different. I think the vibe is why I love it so much. As I said it all sounds fresh no matter how many times I listen to it.

 

oh wow didn't know he didn't want "Electrolite" on there that's legitimately nuts, glad the rest of the band overruled him. do you know what his reasoning was?

that's true, I'll give you that. Automatic in general is overflowing w moments of empathy that make me a little teary eyed. this is not necessarily his best set of lyrics, but I think as far as moments of empathy go, "Everybody Hurts" might be one of my favorites bc it could so easily be kind of cheesy or cloying or even condescending, and admittedly songs on the more "positive" side of things don't really do much for me, but the delivery really sells it -- mournful, resigned but not defeated, still a little hopeful, etc. songs that try to get in the headspace of teenage feelings are usually winners for me, but I think the distance he maintains w not necessarily having an answer makes it more "real". idk man! Michael Stipe is p cool haha

 

oh I feel ya, murmur and reckoning are constantly duking it out in my preferences. and despite the comparison, murmur is p singular, I don't think it's smth they could ever do again even if they were interested in making a murmur 2 right after

 

"Everybody Hurts" could have been so corny in the wrong hands, but it's such an important message for a song, and worth playing it very straightforward (especially by R.E.M. standards) for that reason

apparently there's an interview with Stipe saying Buck and Mills coaxed him into putting "Electrolite" on the album... that being said I can't find it now so I could be erroneously quoting false sources here lol. very shoddy research on my part

 

I'll take yr word for it tho, they've changed their minds on their own songs enough times where I believe it haha. shouts out Peter Buck and Mike Mills for impeccable taste tho, a world w/o electrolite sounds worse

 

i respect this opinion, they’re very close, but for me it’s murmur all the way. ghosts lurk in the gloom of that record