Laughing City
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Your feeling on R.E.M. is?
I like R.E.M.
64%
 64%  [ 32 ]
I haven't really heard any R.E.M. even though they've been around over 20 years - basically I live in a cave.
8%
 8%  [ 4 ]
I prefer older R.E.M. before they sold out and before Berry left.
26%
 26%  [ 13 ]
I'm a teeny bopper and I want my mommy (ga ga goo goo)!
2%
 2%  [ 1 ]
Total Votes : 50

Author Message
kulvir
Laughing Citizen


grain thrower wrote:
kulvir wrote:
REM is an all time favorite of mine but I haven't liked the post Bill Berry albums. There is nothing particularly wrong with them but they just lack the same spirit to me.

Same here. Everything through Hi-Fi was solid-to-classic, then they took a left turn into the ditch with Up and have yet to get the car back on the road. Will listen to Accelerate but not getting my hopes up. Who knew Bill was so intrinsic to their output??

REM's song writing has always been a true collaboration so I guess it's not too surprising Bill Berry leaving changed the sound. Mind you most great bands only keep their peak creativity for so long. They may keep making good songs but those songs can only sound so original.

Nowhere Man wrote:

My favorite R.E.M. songs are "Shiny Happy People", "Man on the Moon", "Daysleeper", "Fall On Me" but my top-favorite is "Driver 8."
I could get a couple of their "Best Of" cd's and be content with that.

Fall on Me is at the top of my list too. I tend to love the melancholy REM songs such as (Don't Go Back To)Rockville and Maps And Legends. Really I have too many favorites to list.

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Saellys
Vintage Newbie


Nowhere Man wrote:
I could get a couple of their "Best Of" cd's and be content with that.


In Time is actually a really great "best of" collection. The track order is fantastic and the commentary booklet by Peter Buck is a really interesting read. Unfortunately they included "Stand," "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," and "Orange Crush," but I just pretend those never existed and it makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.

As for R.E.M. being new wave, last night I was discussing post punk bands with a guy at a coffeehouse and somehow we both totally forgot about R.E.M. They were an important part of that era, though their sound can't quite be lumped in with Joy Division and the like.

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bigideas
Vintage Newbie


Ok, cool, so there's some people here familiar with their early work. I only know a handful of the songs pre-Automatic, but I want to check out their earlier albums. Here's the dilemma - I'm wondering which versions I should buy. I see IRS reissued their early albums with bonus tracks at one point, but then I see the Dead Letter Office compilation that has a lot of the non-album tracks. So should I try to buy those IRS extra track editions used or does DLO suffice?
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Pantheon4
Vintage Newbie


Saellys wrote:
Nowhere Man wrote:
I could get a couple of their "Best Of" cd's and be content with that.


In Time is actually a really great "best of" collection. The track order is fantastic and the commentary booklet by Peter Buck is a really interesting read. Unfortunately they included "Stand," "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," and "Orange Crush," but I just pretend those never existed and it makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.

As for R.E.M. being new wave, last night I was discussing post punk bands with a guy at a coffeehouse and somehow we both totally forgot about R.E.M. They were an important part of that era, though their sound can't quite be lumped in with Joy Division and the like.


Overall, I say that R.E.M is quite different from Joy Division. Although, there is that 'Low' song. Wink

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Sprocket
Vintage Newbie


My favourite band, with some remarkable albums, especially Fables of the Reconstruction. Stipe's lyricism was unparralled back when he wrote strange, enigmatic stories about the South. However, I really enjoy the sinister melancholia of Up and Monster is great when I want to get my sleaze on.

New Adventure In Hi-Fi has some of their best songs, but some of it is a bit limp.

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Saellys
Vintage Newbie


If you haven't seen the Takeaway Shows yet, drop everything and watch them now. "Sing For the Submarine" is sublime.
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StuartBuck
Sea Post King


One of the funniest things I've ever seen (it was supposed to be funny, in a mock-serious way) is a friend of mine in a talent show doing a dramatic recitation (melodramatic, really) of the lyrics to "Losing My Religion."

"That's ME in the corner," he would thunder in a James Earl Jones voice, while pointing frantically at the corner of the room, "that's ME in the spotlight, losing . . . my . . . religion" [trailing off here as if completely depressed].

I guess you had to be there.
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Sprocket
Vintage Newbie


Saellys wrote:
Nowhere Man wrote:
I could get a couple of their "Best Of" cd's and be content with that.


In Time is actually a really great "best of" collection. The track order is fantastic and the commentary booklet by Peter Buck is a really interesting read. Unfortunately they included "Stand," "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight," and "Orange Crush," but I just pretend those never existed and it makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.


Hannah, how can you dislike a track that contains the line: "Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me today I need something more substantial: A tin of beans, some black eyed peas, a nescafe and ice; a candy bar, a falling star, or a reading from Dr. Suess!"

I mean, seriously dude! Surprised

Stand is very silly, but I have to admit a certain fondness for it! Razz

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markr
Lost at Forum


i think the new cd is a return to form, their most solid in a long time , a record that unlike some of their recent releases i will listen to frequently, i think if this was 1996 there would be at least 4 tracks that would be just huge on the radio. im not sure whether that ship has sailed or if they will attract a younger curious audience . but this is very good release from a band that defined the college rock sound of the early 80s
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markr
Lost at Forum


thomas btw if you need a vinyl version of dead letter office .i have a copy ill be glad to send you
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bigideas
Vintage Newbie


markr wrote:
thomas btw if you need a vinyl version of dead letter office .i have a copy ill be glad to send you


i would never not take a free piece of vinyl... Laughing

i think i'll still have to get Dead Letter Office on CD because it has their original EP, Chronic Town, on it.

p.s. if you don't respond to my PM i won't know what to send you.

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bigideas
Vintage Newbie


if you hop to it you can catch REM on ACL right now.
some stations air it on Saturday, so you might catch it all then.

"hey, kids, rock n roll
nobody tells you where to go....baby."

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johnip
Vintage Newbie


what is ACL?
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bigideas
Vintage Newbie


johnip wrote:
what is ACL?


austin city limits
they air the show on PBS stations.
i get two and one airs ACL on Thurs and the other Sat, though it seems it hasn't been on in a while.

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soupey
Sea Post King


I guess everyone here will hate me when I say that I've only ever heard "It's the end of the world as we know it", and even that I didn't know it was an REM song until oh, last week? So it's option "I live in a cave" for me.
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