| This morning, I went down to my cd shelf to get my album-for-the-day. I decided in the shower that I wanted to listen to "Fables of the Reconstruction" (or "Reconstruction of the Fables if you bought the cassette, I think) by R.E.M. It's what I consider the sleeper album by the band.
For me there are two different R.E.M.s, or maybe three. There's the "real" R.E.M. who put out Chronic Town, Reckoning, and Murmur, then there is the transition R.E.M. who put out Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant, some of the songs on Document and some of the songs on Green, and even a couple of the songs on Out of Time. (You could even argue that they were responsible for Night Swimming and that Andy Kaufman song) Then there is the new R.E.M. who I don't consider to be R.E.M. at all really, just a band that has some good songs.
Anyway, I always considered "Fables" to be the sleeper R.E.M. album, it was a step away from the airy free-form earlier albums, it was a bit more tightly wrapped and packaged. It's first three notes, the crazy guitar riff to "Feeling Gravity's Pull" are a warning that this is something different.
My brother tells the story of one of his trips going to see R.E.M. way back. He was outside the venue while they were doing the sound check and he heard those three screaming dissonant guitar notes and thiought, "what is this all about?" Little did he know how familiar that riff would become to him and all of us fans.
This morning, though, I accidentally grabbed "Life's Rich Pageant" off of the shelf instead of "Fables". That's ok. I like this album, too.
So, this is what I realized. "Life's Rich Pageant" is the sleeper album now. When it came out, my friends and I listened to it non-stop. My old band The Shrugs attempted to cover just about every song on there. But since then I have let it slide. I listened to it so many times back in the day, that it didn't seem like I needed to listen to it again.
But, I've decided to bring this album back into my life and give it some of the love that it deserves. This was the last R.E.M. album where it felt like the band was still my friends. It's the last personal sounding effort. The last one with earnest good feeling humor.
I don't know what happened on "Document", their next release, but in comparison to its predecessors it sounds like it came out of a machine rather than a group of friends on the front porch.
"Life's Rich Pageant" is awesome. It's not as a consistent sounding album as their others, each song seems like its own thing rather than all the songs blending together, like they were famous for. When I say that, I mean like they were famous for in my head only.
But man, there are some killer songs on this album.
Or even better, buy it here on Amazon: Life's Rich Pageant
For me there are two different R.E.M.s, or maybe three. There's the "real" R.E.M. who put out Chronic Town, Reckoning, and Murmur, then there is the transition R.E.M. who put out Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant, some of the songs on Document and some of the songs on Green, and even a couple of the songs on Out of Time. (You could even argue that they were responsible for Night Swimming and that Andy Kaufman song) Then there is the new R.E.M. who I don't consider to be R.E.M. at all really, just a band that has some good songs.
Anyway, I always considered "Fables" to be the sleeper R.E.M. album, it was a step away from the airy free-form earlier albums, it was a bit more tightly wrapped and packaged. It's first three notes, the crazy guitar riff to "Feeling Gravity's Pull" are a warning that this is something different.
My brother tells the story of one of his trips going to see R.E.M. way back. He was outside the venue while they were doing the sound check and he heard those three screaming dissonant guitar notes and thiought, "what is this all about?" Little did he know how familiar that riff would become to him and all of us fans.
This morning, though, I accidentally grabbed "Life's Rich Pageant" off of the shelf instead of "Fables". That's ok. I like this album, too.
So, this is what I realized. "Life's Rich Pageant" is the sleeper album now. When it came out, my friends and I listened to it non-stop. My old band The Shrugs attempted to cover just about every song on there. But since then I have let it slide. I listened to it so many times back in the day, that it didn't seem like I needed to listen to it again.But, I've decided to bring this album back into my life and give it some of the love that it deserves. This was the last R.E.M. album where it felt like the band was still my friends. It's the last personal sounding effort. The last one with earnest good feeling humor.
I don't know what happened on "Document", their next release, but in comparison to its predecessors it sounds like it came out of a machine rather than a group of friends on the front porch.
"Life's Rich Pageant" is awesome. It's not as a consistent sounding album as their others, each song seems like its own thing rather than all the songs blending together, like they were famous for. When I say that, I mean like they were famous for in my head only.
But man, there are some killer songs on this album.
1. Begin the Begin: R.E.M.s first release with a full rock-distorted chords? Is that right?So, yeah, "Life's Rich Pageant" it's not just something Peter Sellars mutters after falling in a fountain. Dig it.
2. These Days: What about this song? Who ever thinks of this song? Perfectly portrays the surprising energy of their live performances.
3. Fall On Me: Forget about it. This is the single from the album right? You gotta love the three different vocal parts on the chorus and the lyrics that are just obscured enough that people feel smart when the figure out what it is about.
4. Cuyahoga: Indie kids (college rock kids back then) of 1986, your bass playing career begins with this song. Have fun.
5. Hyena: Bounce around in the gentle nerdy mosh-pit and sing along with another of their most energetic releases.
6. Underneath the Bunker: Oh, I thought this was the coolest thing ever. Now I see why. This sounds like my friends Mike, Michael, Bill, and Peter messing around in the studio.
7. Flowers of Guatemala: Yes! Listen Wendell Gee it's the old R.E.M. back again with another beauty.
8. I Believe: What is that a banjo? This song should have been a bigger hit. I'd like to do a cover of it please. As Phil from the River would say, "Yeah! Solid stuff there from R.E.M."
9. What If We Give It Away?: This is the sleeper on the sleeper. Perfect, perfect song. Again, it harkens back to a simpler band with harder to package songs. Wispy and flowing. The band at its best. No, this is the one I want to cover.
10. Just a Touch: It's Hyena again, quick run back to the front of the stage. Ok...they could have left this off of the album.
11. Swan Swan H: Where did this song come from? A sea chantey? Wonderful, I think I'll play it a million times on my guitar yet never learn the lyrics.
12. Superman: A cover song of excellent choosing. One of the easiest songs to play ever. Everybody loves it.
Or even better, buy it here on Amazon: Life's Rich Pageant
1 comment:
swan swan hummingbird
hurrah we are all free now
what noisy cats are we
oh i'm going to have to dig that LP out and give it a spin.
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