REM: Warner Bros. Albums Reviewed [Rewritten Dec 8th 2005]
Comments welcomed. :) As many of you know my taste is different to that of the standard REM fan, so expect the unexpected. IRS reviews coming as soon as I complete my collection.
Green [1989, 91%]:
Used to be among my favourites; now, while I still like it, it certainly isn't. Stand remaisn excellent pop, You Are The Everything is indeed still enjoyable and World Leader Pretend is still beautiful, but weak entries such as Turn You Inside-Out and Wrong Child drag this album down.
Top 5 tracks: Stand, You Are The Everything, Get Up, Pop Song '89, World Leader Pretend
Out Of Time [1991, 100%]:
Easily REM's best album ever, this album is consistently brilliant from start to finish. Losing My Religion, REM's most famed song (or close to it) is present, as are personal favourites Texarkana and Me In Honey, the awesome Near Wild Heaven, the acclaimed Country Feedback, the gorgeous Low and Belong, and the happy-go-lucky Shiny Happy People. Every aspect of pop, rock and country is covered; no stone left unturned. Perfect.
Top 5 tracks: Near Wild Heaven, Losing My Religion, Texarkana, Me In Honey, Belong
Automatic For The People [1993, 95%]:
REM's most critically acclaimed effort by a long shot. And I ask: why? There are plenty of classics here, and while I did use to underrate this album, I still don't understand why this album is as acclaimed as it is with duds like Star Me Kitten and N.O. Instrumental #1. Thankfully, alongside these, the classics Man On The Moon, Nightswimming, Find the River and Everybody Hurts show up, as well as the great Monty Got A Raw Deal, Try Not To Breathe and Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, but the album isn't from flawless.
Top 5 tracks: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Man On The Moon, Nightswimming, Find the River, Monty Got A Raw Deal
Monster [1994, 93%]:
There's no denying this is one of REM's weakest, but when you're a band like REM, that's not so bad. The problem with this album is lack of consistency: alongside the genius "What's The Frequency Kenneth?", the gorgeous ballads "Strange Currencies" and "Tongue" and the powerful "Star 69" and "I Don't Sleep I Dream" are tracks among REM's worst. The last trio: "Let Me In", "Circus Envy", "You" are forgettable and lyrically barely competent, and the "I Took Your Name" preceding them is little better. Still a great album, but pales compared to "Up" and "Out of Time"
Top 5 tracks; What's The Frequency Kenneth?, Strange Currencies, I Don't Sleep I Dream, Tongue
New Adventures In Hi-Fi [1996, 98%]:
Wow.. I can't believe I used to consider this among REM's worst. This is one of REM's most consistent albums in their entire career, and contains the fantastic Leave, New Test Leper and Electrolite among its' highlights. Admittedly Zither and Undertow are rather bland, but the remainder of the 14 tracks are consistently great; How The West Was Won.. and So Fast So Numb being real growers. I'm not the biggest fan of the overrated E-bow The Letter, but I'll let it slide.
Top 5 tracks: Leave, How The West Was Won & Where It Got Us, So Fast So Numb, New Test Leper, Electrolite
Up [1998, 98%]:
This is REM at top of their game; this album showcases cutting-edge rock far better than Radiohead ever have! Not only do we get the obligatory classic hits "At My Most Beautiful", "Daysleeper" and "Lotus" but we get the genius "Airportman", the solemn "Sad Professor" and the rock/electronic meld "Walk Unafraid". This album isn't really about standouts though, it's about how all 14 tracks go together to create the perfect listening experience; for an hour and five minutes the album puts you through a journey of experimentation, poignant lyrics and backing music like never before. Certainly an acquired taste, but if you do acquire it, you'll never want to let go off it. Previously my all-time fave REM album, knocked off by "Out Of Time".
Top 5 tracks: At My Most Beautiful, Daysleeper, Walk Unafraid, Lotus, Sad Professor
Reveal [1991, 91%]:
A bizarre album that splits fan opinion. While I like the album, I'd agree it's among REM's worst thanks largely to a lack of consistency; while half the album is great, the other half is rather bland and boring. The album gets off to a great start with the gorgeous The Lifting and I've Been High, and later on the poppy anthem Imitation of Life, the grower Summer Turns To High, the Walk Unafraid-stylee She Just Wants To Be and the gorgeous I'll Take The Rain only add to the album's positives. Unfortunately, most of the remainder of the tracks - Beat A Drum, Beachball, Disappear, Saturn Return - are bland and blend into each other too much for comfort, whereas All The Way To Reno gets old quickly and Chorus and the Ring is mediocre at best. A few bland tracks keep this from being a great.
Top 5 tracks: Imitation Of Life, I'll Take The Rain, All The Way To Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star), She Just Wants To Be, The Lifting
Around The Sun [1991, 96%]:
Has there ever been a more underrated album than this? I doubt it. Critics hate REM for not doing another "Automatic", the insane hardcore fans hate REM for straying from their college-rock roots.. again. Well, screw the critics and insane hardcore fans - this is the best album of 2004 and one of REM's best ever. It feels like an album, each track subtly changing direction from and towards the overall ballady, gorgeous, slow feel. "Aftermath" is one of REM's greatest ever in my opinion, whereas other songs such as "Leaving New York", "Electron Blue", "Make It All Okay" and "High Speed Train" make you want to cry with joy at the perfect melodical structure. Duds are present here and there - I can't get to grips with the overly political "Final Straw" too well, and "The Worst Joke Ever" and "Boy In The Well" are a bit too bland for my liking - but the greats far outweigh them. Even Q-Tip's presence on "The Outsiders" adds to the mood, and "The Ascent Of Man"/"Around The Sun" makes for one of the greatest double-act-album closers REM have done. The old dogs have still got it in them yet!
Top 5 tracks: Aftermath, Electron Blue, Make It All Okay, High Speed Train, The Ascent Of Man
wow, great article here. dang i thought my "Rating The Tracks" was hard work but here you have supassed my effort! this is so cool. ok some points. well i am a huge fan of REM but i actually only own Automatic for the people but before you yell "sell out!!" the reason is because my brother owns all the others so if i want to listen i just borrow them. i think my favourite REM songs are mostly the jazzy lively ones. some that come to mind: Stand, Pop Song '89, Orange Crush, What's The Frequency Kenneth?, Star 69. those songs really grab me and are among my favourites. i think with REM they are very very good at making 2 levels of songs. one is the lively happy type of song mentioned above, the other is a sad, real, raw song with grace and style. examples of this: Crush With Eyeliner, At My Most Beautiful (I think one of my faves) and nightswimmer.
my feelings about Automatic differ slightly from yours. i agree that maybe its too popular (just got 11 / 10 0n 100 greatest albums on C4, watching right now!!) though i have to say i think it is outstanding. there are so many tracks that hit greatness. though i do see your point.
Also apart from the Best of album, did "Bad Day" ever appear on any of the others? because its an amazing track.
Hey,
Thanks for the comment! (As usual). I often prefer the livelier tracks too, but I comes down to what mood I'm in; recently I did two personal best-of REM CDs - one pop/rock and one slow/atmospheric, and admittedly I've listened to the pop/rock one more but again, I agree their ballads are extrememly powerful - Nightswimming is a classic, as is At My Most Beautiful and several tracks from their latest, Around the Sun, also fit the ballad bill. I saw those 100 greatest albums too, I'm glad it was so high as it was the only representative of REM in the list, but I can't say I feel it deserved that position by itself, maybe Out Of Time should have been there (in my opiion, anyway). It's a good album, some fantastic tracks, but I find too many tracks are weak, as I said in the article.. ah, well!
And for the record, "Bad Day" and "Animal" only appeared on the Best Of. I like both a lot, although many don't.
(I was pleased to see OK Computer and Joshua Tree take #1 and #2 in the top 100 albums, too!)
Great list! Very glad to see Out of Time as your #1 - that's my second-favorite REM album. I've come to realize: I think "Shiny Happy People" is an incredibly overrated and an incredibly underrated song. It's the kind of song that you can't take at face value.
But I was dismayed to see Automatic for the People in your 6th place, as that is my favorite REM album. I do really like the ode to Montgomery Clift, and though I do think "Star Me Kitten" is the worst song on the disc, I still think it's quite good. As for the instrumental track - well, there's one on Out of Time too, and "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" is both better and much shorter than "Endgame" (the former statement IMHO). I think it really says something that if someone called your top 5 tracks for Automatic their 5 favorite REM songs ever, I would find that perfectly normal, whereas if you did that with any of the other albums I would wonder if they had actually heard very much REM. So many classics on Automatic.
Oh, and you nailed my two favorite Green songs with "You Are the Everything" and "Orange Crush." I find "Stand" pretty annoying though.
Hey,
Yep, I agree about Shiny Happy People. In some ways it's a spot-on parody of bubblegum pop; in other ways it's a ridiculous over-positive lyrically poor tune. I tend to go with the former. :)
Automatic-wise.. well, I've come under alot of criticism for my dislike of a few songs on the album! Interesting point about Automatic, and I do agree - Man On The Moon, Nightswimming, Everybody Hurts are popular with casual fans and hardcore fans alike - but on the other hand, I find so many tracks are below par too; it's quite uneven in my eyes.
I prefer "Endgame" to "N.O. Instrumental #1" but admittedly the latter is shorter, which is a good thing really, and admittedly it doesn't drag the album down too much.
I tend to treat Stand in the same way I treat Shiny Happy People: take it with a pinch of salt, remember it's a song that doesn't take itself seriously, and enjoy! :)
Yeah, I try to think of "Stand" in the same way as "Shiny Happy People", but for some reason, it still doesn't work for me that way. Maybe it's because a catchy song about loving and shining (including lines that just declare, "Happy, happy") seems like a more appropriate parody of pop songs than a more absurd song about where to stand and what to think about.
Fair enough about the valleys of Automatic - we'll have to agree to disagree. I actually think it's a lot more consistent than, say, Green, but that's just me.
I could not disagree with you more on some of your rankings. I took particular exception with you new adventures in hi-fi. I personally think that hi-fi is by far REM's finest achievement. New Test Leper is in my opinion one of the greatest REM songs of all time. The album is absolutley amazing. With the exception of maybe one song the album is full of masterpieces. Bittersweet me is also one of my favorite REM songs of all time. I can't believe you ranked out of time number one. It is definatley one of the weaker albums. It does have its perks though. I personally really like belong off that CD. Anyway, I did agree with your take on around the sun. I really enjoyed the album.