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tmidgett wrote:gulp [zing of line thru water here]

I thought that 2000's "Reveal" was a great record. No one seems to know or care about this record, but I love it. I will go home and listen to "Reveal" today.

But yikes. Their latest record ("Around The Sun") is not great. In fact, it is an embarrassing record with the exception of perhaps two or three songs. Fortunately, those few songs are spectacular, particularly "I Wanted To Be Wrong" and "Make It All Okay".

But "Wanderlust" from "Around The Sun" is so ultragae that I am ashamed of the band for allowing it to be heard publicly. It is hands down the worst R.E.M. song that I have ever heard, and they've had some doozies. And there is a wealth of flat out boring crap on this record.

For the first time in my life, I vote CRAP on an R.E.M. record, which is a very unsettling feeling for me. It's actually kind of depressing.

Wait. I guess "Monster" is CRAP, too. But I can and will listen to that record of my own free will from time to time.

In an effort to make myself feel better, I'll post an updated list of my favorite R.E.M. records with my favorite song from each record:

Document ("Disturbance At The Heron House")
Reckoning ("Little America")
Automatic For The People ("Find The River")
Murmur ("Pilgrimage")
Reveal ("Beat A Drum")
Lifes Rich Pageant ("Fall On Me")
Chronic Town ("Wolves, Lower")
Out Of Time ("Country Feedback")
Up ("Parakeet")
New Adventures In Hi-Fi ("Electrolite")
Fables Of The Reconstruction ("Kahoutek")
Green ("You Are The Everything")
Monster ("You" or "Tongue")
Around The Sun ("I Wanted To Be Wrong")

That is some catalog.

Green.

Reckoning.

Yep, third one in, that's all!

After this....seriously questionable. After Document....utter CRAP!

i'd venture that every rem album is a mixed bag -- none are classics, and monster sucks. i liked "up", and stopped paying attention afterwards.

I heard that one of the songs off _Around the Sun_ features Q-Tip. WTF? I'd be curious to know how that turned out. The track w/ KRS-One was not their finest moment.

None of the above, i.e., none.

REM rivals The Who and The Pixies for the band most consistently overrated by folks with otherwise decent taste.

The only REM song I've ever vaguely enjoyed is "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"--not bad when blaring over the speakers at the gym, but it might be the testosterone talking.

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:REM rivals The Who and The Pixies for the band most consistently overrated by folks with otherwise decent taste.

R.E.M. has no rivals (including Ronald Reagan) when it comes to receiving overly dismissive criticism from 1980s punks.

Speaking of 1980s punks, check out this C.O.D. show! Wtf!

The train got derailed aftr Lifes Rich Pageant. I call this and all the previous albums "the mumble years". After this album I think Stipe felt his self importance and it had to be served. Everybody Hurts? Jesus Christ what a bunch of crap.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

Speaking of 1980s punks, check out this C.O.D. show! Wtf!

Who the heck was Strike Under?


REM, up to Green, Not Crap. Post Green is putrid. Agreement with Sir Geiginni in regards to Reckoning as peak: a slow decline to Green and then a sharp drop-off.