wiggins wrote:
"spiritual guidance"

Yep. Both Britt and Brian gave spiritual advice/guidance for a few REM recs. They're credited as Jefferson Holt and Bertis Downs.

they have had their moments, but i doubt i'd like any of their records as a whole at this point.

at the time, i liked the first ep and first two albums a lot, with my interest diminishing from there. i got completely off the boat when _green_ came out. bad record. 'stand' is so fucking irritating.

so i would be in the 'no great albums' camp, probably, but i'd hafta go listen to the first couple to find out for sure. and that is not a total dismissal of their overall worth. and i haven't heard a whole alb since _monster_, if that.

Up - I never even bothered.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi - I never even bothered

Automatic for the People - Very good record

Out of Time - Rubbish

Green - Good, it had "Orange Crush" which I thought was about the soda as I
was very young when I first heard it.

Document - Very good record

Chronic Town EP - Not a bad start, not a very good one either

why is there no option for Slint? WTF is this?!?!

'New Adventures in Hi-Fi' - I never EVER expected to like this one as much as I do... so I'm going with that vote.

This poll question, "What was the last great R.E.M. album?" cannot be answered by a general audience more than the question, "When did you stop beating your wife?" The first because it presumes that R.E.M. have made at least one great album and the second because it presumes that I have stopped.

Such questions can only be answered by Bradley R. Weissenberger and R.E.M. fans.

He says it's been months, by the way. Shit let up during pregnancy.

steve wrote:This poll question, "What was the last great R.E.M. album?" cannot be answered by a general audience more than the question, "When did you stop beating your wife?"

General audience disagrees with you.

We all used to beat our wifes.




'New Adventures...' It's not only the last great REM record, it's also their best one, and one of my all time favorites. 'Up' was the last good REM record. 'Reveal' was so bad I didn't even bother with 'Around the Sun'. I rate 'New Adventures..' and 'Automatic..' higher than all the 80's REM albums. Much higher.

On that list, all things considered, Document. Realistically I'd say Reckoning was the last bullshit-free REM album.

Document is a strange one because it is half retarded and half ace, but the good stuff I couldn't really do without.

I think all of the albums up to 'New Adventures...' are okay. A handful of them are really good. I like 'Life's Rich Pageant' a lot, no idea why people think it is a weak album. Even 'Fables...' has some fine songs. 'Green' is quite terrible though.

Nine decent albums is more than most bands achieve.

tommydski wrote:Nine decent albums is more than most bands achieve.

'xactly. Never figured out why REM trigger such loathing amongst our community, although Stipe is clearly a bit of a clown.

Automatic for the People is where I draw the line, it reminds me of living in Portugal, fierce mischief, and the best time I ever had. Thus, I expect, I will always have a soft spot for it. The earlier albums: I'm now generally content to appreciate them from a distance.