The Best Of All That’s Left: R.E.M. Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions (Mostly) Satisfies!

The Good: Wonderful mix, Good vocals, A few decent reinterpretations of R.E.M. (and a cover) songs.
The Bad: A few unimpressive renditions, Two versions of “Losing My Religion”
The Basics: Definitely geared towards the hordes of fans missing R.E.M., Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is more less enough to tide us over.


Not too long ago, I read an article by Jerry Seinfeld in which the comedian lamented the end of the television show Seinfeld and he empathized with viewers who were having trouble finding comedies to get into. Despite the obvious potential that he was publishing such an article to test the waters for a Seinfeld reunion or reboot, it got me thinking about how many shows and artists I truly miss. The more I listen to R.E.M. at nights while I work, the more I feel a bit cheated that the band did not have the same type of political activism or spirit during the Bush (II) Administration as it did during the Reagan Administration. Listening to songs from the I.R.S. years, it is clear R.E.M. started with a strong sense of political indignation about all sorts of (then) current events, largely at the national level. By the Bush Administration and Iraq War, they were more of a corporate entity than they were at their founding (and that’s fine). So, when the band disbanded a few years ago, fans who were more casual (I have four R.E.M. albums in my permanent collection, albeit two of those are multi-disc sets) R.E.M. fans were left wondering what the band left on the sidelines during their final years. Hope flared for me when it was announced that R.E.M. was opening the vaults and releasing a new album in 2014.

That album is Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions and it is a compilation album that is not going to light the world on fire. Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is not at all disappointing, but it is not the indispensible album fans of any ilk of R.E.M. have been waiting for. Instead, the best that can be said of the two-disc album which culls all of the songs R.E.M. recorded for MTV’s Unplugged television show that was popular back when MTV still was more focused on music than reality television programming, is that it gives all of us who came to R.E.M.’s music far too late to ever see them in concert (I was a fan for years . . . when their ticket prices were prohibitively expensive to my budget, as opposed to fans finding the band after their break-up) a chance to have an R.E.M. concert experience.

That experience is a good one, though it is not absolutely incredible or precious the way a cache of never before released new R.E.M. songs would have been. As part of the MTV Unplugged series, R.E.M. recorded two concerts in 1991 and 2001. Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is, as the title promises, the complete recording and it fleshes out the two television programs with eleven previously unreleased, unavailable recordings. With thirty-three tracks (32 songs, as “Losing My Religion” was recorded twice), the two-disc set has the volume one wants from a set of songs that are, for the most part, available elsewhere (it might not be the most exciting thing, but the portions are great!).

Because the album is clearly intended for fans, I find myself not wanting to follow a formulaic review; if you’ve never heard the music of R.E.M., Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is not the album to start with to suddenly give you an appreciation for the band’s depth, scope, and sound. Stripped back to minimal guitars, bass, and muted percussion, Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is a vocally-driven album that has the sound of being recorded at an intimate venue with minimal crowd sounds and a focus on the music and message of R.E.M.

What listeners are given is two concerts that actually blend well into one, making for a remarkably cohesive experience. Dedicated fans who have never managed to catch all of the words to “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” will have the pleasure of a slower version where R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe enunciates clearly each and every word. As a fan of the film Love Actually (reviewed here!), I was pretty psyched to actually hear R.E.M. cover the song “Love Is All Around” (which is the only non-R.E.M. song on the two-disc set).

The other real gem of the set is the first disc’s closing song. “World Leader Pretend” is one of R.E.M.’s songs that I had never truly heard before. With its lines “It's amazing what devices you can sympathize / Empathize / This is my mistake, let me make it good / I raised the wall / And I will be the one to knock it down” (“World Leader Pretend”), R.E.M. brilliantly blends the personal and the political to make a song that sounds fresh and gritty even decades later.

On the flip side, songs like “Find The River” and “Fall On Me” are virtually identical to their studio recordings. In fact, if nothing else, Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions reminds listeners just how much R.E.M.’s music was not dependent upon production values. R.E.M. grew up on a musical tradition where songwriters actually created music and tunes; Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions reminds listeners the power of the combination of clear vocals, decent musical tunes and poetic lyrics by stripping away the extraneous elements R.E.M. had on a few of their recordings. More often than not, though, listeners hear something that is entirely familiar to their ears on Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions. The clear vocals that are never produced to be sublimated to the instrumentals sound a lot like the early recordings of R.E.M., but on some of the tracks, that makes for difference enough to justify the existence of the album.

Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is a decent-enough set for those who love R.E.M. and want something more from the band and will settle for non-dramatic reinterpretations of their previously-released recordings.

The best tracks are “World Leader Pretend” (disc 1) and “Country Feedback” (disc 2) and the low points are “Swan Swan H” (disc 1) and “Imitation Of Life” (disc 2).

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Up
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 - 2003 (Single Disc)
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2003 (Deluxe)
Around The Sun
. . . And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years
Accelerate

7/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Mary Had A Little Amp, The Listener Chose No

The Good: Some decent tracks
The Bad: Some lame tracks, terrible execution of the stated concept
The Basics: Disorganized and esoteric, Mary Had A Little Amp fails to live up to its promise and offers instead a poorly executed musical experience.


I'm out. I began this month with the pledge to alternate my media reviews with non-media items and I'm out. I've no more electronics, no cars, no restaurants, no beauty products, no obscure household items left to review. Until I return from the trip I'm about to take, I'm all non-media'ed out! :( With that in mind, I sat down with a new disc that came across my desk called Mary Had A Little Amp. Every now and then as I explore a musical artist whose body of work I'm looking to review, I come across a weird citation for them. So, for example, when I hunted down the works of Liz Phair some months ago, I found her as the primary artist cited for Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits (reviewed here!). Similarly, as I looked around for the many works of Madonna, I found Mary Had A Little Amp.

The by-line for Mary Had A Little Amp is "Music's Biggest Stars, Childhood's Greatest Songs." Because of the subjective nature of a disc that features Moby, Roseanne Cash, and Graham Nash alongside Madonna, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson and R.E.M., I'll not dispute the first part. This is a pretty impressive collection of musical artists. Where the concept fails is with the second part. For all that it is or is not, Mary Had A Little Amp is hardly "childhood's greatest songs."

I write this because I was once a child and I loved listening to music. When I picked up this disc, the only songs I knew from childhood were "Pure Imagination" (many will remember Gene Wilder singing it in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"), "The Rainbow Connection" (from "The Muppet Movie"), and "When You Wish Upon A Star" (from "Pinnoccio," I believe). Outside that, only three of the tracks were songs I had heard as an adult. Graham Nash's classic "Teach Your Children," R.E.M.'s esoteric "We Walk" (which I had only heard for the first time earlier this year on their Best of the I.R.S. years album - reviewed here!), and "Little Star" a Madonna song from her Ray Of Light c.d. Out of fourteen songs, three were covers of songs I knew from childhood and three I encountered as an adult. This is hardly "childhood's greatest songs."

Indeed, there is a distinctly un-childlike take on several of the songs. Opening with Maroon 5's version of "Pure Imagination," the listener feels more menaced than enlightened. Maroon 5 uses reverb, creepy keyboards, and stark percussion to create a "big room" feel that has an undertone of sinister to the sound of the song. It's wonderfully dark in this presentation, but hardly wonderful for children.

Similarly, I can only believe that the musings on conformity that are struck out by the Blue Man Group and Dave Matthews on "Sing Along" are included because of the singsong rhymes presented in the song. After all, lyrically, it is an innocuous song as Matthews sings "If I pretend to be strong / Will you play along" ("Sing Along") over and over again. The thing is, he sings it with the voice of The Man, crushing individuality with conformity. This has a march quality to it that is draining, foreboding, again menacing.

That's not to say the entire album is not geared toward children. The Dixie Chicks do an upbeat sounding rendition of "The Rainbow Connection" that is wonderfully articulate and fresh. With the use of the pedal steel in the song, it takes on a distinctive flavor that is less stark than when it's been presented other times. And there's nothing wrong with Bonnie Raitt and Was (Not Was) performing "Baby Mine." It's a quiet, sad tribute to love or a child and from an adult perspective it's beautiful, though likely to go over the head of preschooler (this disc was produced to benefit preschool education).

I'll admit I winced hearing the Indigo Girls making animal noises on "Wild, Wild Party In The Loquat Tree" that were reminiscent of the B-52's "Rock Lobster." It's a fine folk tune, but again, not one I'd heard before nor would consider one of childhood's greatest songs.

And some of it is just plain pointless. Madonna's "Little Star" is a rock ballad that did not stand out on Ray Of Light and doesn't blow the roof off this disc either. "We Walk" is a weird R.E.M. tune, but also far too obscure to be considered much by children. And even my favorite track on the album, Moby's "Anchovie" a techno recreation like the many Moby has made in the past, doesn't inspire the listener to turn the disc over to a child.

Ultimately, this is a hit or miss collection of singles that vary greatly in sound and quality. We have the wonderful folk melody "Teach Your Children" which closes the album which has the utterly unmemorable "Gentle Breeze" (performed by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson). You have Madonna's pure pop following on the Dixie Chick's country-slanted classic. The best songs reinterpret classics (like Maroon 5's creepy "Pure Imagination"), the lesser songs seem to simply be songs culled from artists that have singsong lyrics.

Indeed, checking out the liner notes, most of these songs (judging by the copyright dates) are available elsewhere. I'm not knocking the concept of either famous artists presenting childhood songs or a benefit to raise money for preschool education. The problem here is this mix. It's completely inconsistent. It is mixing recognizable songs from childhood (like "When You Wish Upon A Star") with (apparently) whatever work an artist was willing to donate to the cause (like Madonna's "Little Star") with songs that don't really relate to children ("Sing Along").

A good mix that has a theme comes together, this one does not. While it may have various styles on it: from country to techno, pop to folk, rock and roll to classical, the arrangement has to flow, one song to another in a way that makes the album come together. This does not. Cover song abuts quirky original work, folk follows folk follows folk, it's not well assembled.

Because some of these tracks may not be available elsewhere, die hard fans might have to pick this up. As a service, this is what the disc contains:
"Pure Imagination" - Maroon 5
"We Walk" - R.E.M.
"The Rainbow Connection" - Dixie Chicks
"Little Star" - Madonna
"Sing Along" - Blue Man Group featuring Dave Matthews
"Baby Mine" - Bonnie Raitt & Was (Not Was)
"The 3 R's" - Jack Johnson (it's a recycling jingle!)
"Anchovie" - Moby
"Life Line" - Nancy and Ann Wilson with the Brian Wilson Band
"Gentle Breeze" - Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson
"Wild, Wild Party In The Loquat Tree" - Indigo Girls
"How To Be Strong" - Roseanne Cash
"When You Wish Upon A Star" - Joe Henry
"Teach Your Children" - Graham Nash

Unfortunately, this disc does not execute what it promises and even without its stated purpose, it does not hold together as a meaningful musical collection. The best track is "Anchovie," the weakest part song is "Gentle Breeze."

For other compilation albums, please visit my reviews of:
Millennium ‘80’s New Wave Party - Various Artists
An Inconvenient Truth Soundtrack
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?: The Music Of Pete Seeger - Various Artists

3/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Classic R.E.M. Returns For A Little Bit With Accelerate!

The Good: Decent lyrics, Good sound, Decent-enough vocals
The Bad: Mumbling again, SHORT!
The Basics: R.E.M. returns to its musical roots with an instrumentally and vocally simple album that rocks and has (largely) impressive lyrics.


Every time I write a review that seems to fly in the face of public opinion, I get a little edgy. I'm not part of the Hive Mind and I am rather proud of that. Even so, when every major reviewers says that R.E.M.'s latest album, Accelerate is their best album in years and one of their best ever, it sets the bar pretty high. The thing is, those reviewers are right, but I'll be equally right when I add the caveat "what there is of it."

Accelerate is indeed a return to classic R.E.M. form in a way that almost sounds like the group discovered a lost recording from the I.R.S. days, added a few little notes of production polish and put it on the market. This is the precise sound and feel of one of those early R.E.M. albums. Unfortunately for the trio that is now R.E.M., this opens the band up to the same problems they faced on any number of their earliest albums: mumbling through the lyrics, murky lyrics that require Cliff's Notes and references both specific and deeply progressive, almost revolutionary. And while most reviewers might just be happy with what crumbs R.E.M. gives them, I hold them to the same standard on Accelerate that I hold every other album and it's time someone says it: this album is a terrible use of the c.d. medium.

With eleven tracks clocking in at a pathetic 34:14, Accelerate makes poor use of the capacity of a compact disc and its brevity in no way improves the album's repeatability. R.E.M. is made up of three intensely creative, articulate and prolific men and if they can't use at least an hour's worth of the c.d. by this album (which has to be at least their tenth original work!) they ought to get out of the business or hold off releasing until they can fill an album.

That said, Accelerate is distinctly R.E.M. All of the songs are written by the band. As well, the three members of R.E.M. provide the vocals and appear to do all of the instrumentals for the tracks (the liner notes are great this time out for the lyrics, but not crediting the participants. It was, however, co-produced by R.E.M. as well, so it is hard to argue that this album is anything less than R.E.M.'s musical, creative and intellectual vision. And, largely, that is a great accomplishment.

First and foremost, R.E.M. is politically aware, active and awake. This band from Georgia has little qualm about singing directly about the problems with government ("Horse To Water," "Living Well Is The Best Revenge"), paranoia over government control ("Houston"), and the failures of warfare ("Until The Day Is Done"). But it's not all political rhetoric. R.E.M. mixes in universal teenage humiliation ("Supernatural Superserious") and loss ("Hollow Man"). And, if anything, Accelerate leaves the listener eager for more, begging for the album to keep going when it ends after "I'm Gonna DJ."

As with all of the best R.E.M. albums, indeed, all of the best albums with vocals, one of the great strengths of Accelerate is the lyrics. R.E.M. is able to be articulate and they make story-songs out of sweeping political events or political ideas. One might need a guide - especially in coming years - to decipher all of the meaning behind "Mr. Richards." But songs like "Horse To Water" try to make politics an engaging act for the listener with lines like "I could have kept my head down. / I could have kept my mouth shut. / I should have held my own, / You lead a horse to water and you / Watch him drown. / You're only as big as your battles. / Rattle my cage with your shadow / I'm a bantamweight with a / Mouthful of feathers . . ." Clearly R.E.M. has a pretty extensive vocabulary and sense of imagery that most bands either do not possess or do not use.

R.E.M.'s distrust of government makes for surprisingly interesting listening, too. With "Houston," R.E.M. presents a song for Texas that is murky and clever. Opening with the menace of the words "If the storm doesn't kill me, / The government will," "Houston" challenges the listener to stand anyway with the exhortation of ". . . some things they fall to the wayside / Their memories yet to be stilled / Belief has not failed me / And so I am put to the test." It is one thing to sing about the obstacles we face in a free society, it is another to use the medium to demand that the listener fight the challenges and stand regardless of the difficulties.

Unfortunately, even the lyrics on Accelerate are not without some moments that make the listener wonder what the heck the men of R.E.M. were thinking. For a band of such educated and involved individuals, one wonders where they pulled the inane mosh-beat lines of "Throw it in the fire / Throw it in the air / Kick it out on the dance floor / Like you just don't care. / Look at what I found! / Everybody look around / Everybody looking like they just don't care" ("Man-Sized Wreath"). It's like the group said, "we've got all of these smart songs, we need to put something - early on the album - that people can play at keggers." It almost undoes veiled mentions to George W. Bush and the folly of capitalism in "Until The Day Is Done."

But, it's not enough to sink Accelerate. This is a good album. In addition to the decent overall lyrics, the vocals are decent, though Michael Stipe stays safely within his range on all of the tracks. However, he is able to modulate his performance within his range with an actual sense of expression. He sings "Mr. Richards" with a demanding forcefulness that is one of the most consistent command-tense tone of any song I have ever heard. Conversely, "Man-Sized Wreath" is presented with a dance affect that is so poppy and energetic it is easy to get lost in the eager, upbeat fray of the sound of the vocals. In other words, Stipe presents the song in a way that is eager and energetic; he doesn't just sing the lyrics of excitement, he presents the song with that type of energy as well.

Instrumentally, R.E.M. sounds a bit more refined than the drum, guitar, and bass group that they actually are. The songs rock and flow and they generally work well. Accelerate is one of R.E.M.'s most upbeat albums. This album does not have a "Nightswimming" style song. Instead, it is largely all uptempo and intense in that type of energy, as opposed to moody intensity from some of the ballad-style songs.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, R.E.M. actually is a three-piece band and on Accelerate, they run into a bit of a problem as far as that goes. The problem is that various songs on this album sound like other songs that R.E.M. has already done. "Man-Sized Wreath" opens with virtually the same sound as "Disturbance At The Heron House." "Houston" sounds like any number of songs from the I.R.S. years. Other songs, like "I'm Gonna DJ," sound remarkably familiar as well. In other words, those who have heard a lot of R.E.M.'s music - regardless of their opinion on it! - will find much of this album to be familiar in its sound and feel and while some might feel like this is a coming home after some experimental years, I figure the band can do better than simply rewrite new songs on top of old music.

Still, it is not enough to bring this album down into territory where it is anywhere near a "not recommend." Accelerate has the merits of being a good, listenable album as well as a sufficiently smart and dense album as fans of R.E.M. would expect and, in fact, demand. But it's not the best or most original R.E.M. album ever. Thematically, R.E.M. may be recapturing its past glory with an activism that is attractive and meets the needs of the time, but musically, this is more a return to a familiar place than any sort of continued growth of the band.

The best track is "Houston," the low point is the fairly unmemorable "Sing For The Submarine."

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Up
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 - 2003 (Single Disc)
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2003 (Deluxe)
Around The Sun
. . . And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years

7/10

Check out how this album stacks up against others by visiting my Music Review Index Page where the reviews are organized from best to worst.

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Why This Version Of In Time Ought To Be Avoided . . .

The Good: Good songs, Decent lyrics, Generally good variety and music
The Bad: There is a vastly superior version of this album out there!
The Basics: In no way capturing all of the best of R.E.M. for this time period, there is a superior version that should be purchased instead of this one!


The more R.E.M. albums I listen to, the more surprised I am that I haven't taken the time to pan the single-disc version of In Time, The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2003 before now. After all, this is an album that deserves a resounding pan and the sound of smacking the band upside the head with said pan is . . . well, it's just mean, but in this case it might well be worth it. In Time is available in two fashions: the blaze one-disc version and a vastly superior two-disc version (reviewed here!).

The difference in the two albums is simple: more music on the two-disc set. Additionally, the choice of discs is actually between the safe and known - the one-disc version is virtually all of the recognizable radio-played tracks by R.E.M., save "Shiny Happy People" - and those who appreciate having all of the known songs and growing to appreciate the group more, which is what the two-disc version offers. The one-disc version of In Time, though, is not the ultimate collection. It is expressly not "R.E.M. - The Singles." Notable singles missing from this album include "Drive," "Shiny Happy People" and "Star 69."

That said, this is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. The one-disc version presents upbeat and offbeat songs I've heard for years, like "Man On The Moon" and "Losing My Religion" are mixed in with songs that continue to grow on me with each listen, like "The Great Beyond" and "Daysleeper." In fact, my familiarity with R.E.M. is largely from my listening to the radio and I was just blown away by hearing "Daysleeper." Sadly, mainstream radio stations were not well-known for playing any number of these songs.

With eighteen tracks clocking in well over an hour, the one-disc version of In Time is quite obviously the work of the band R.E.M. All of the tracks are written by the quartet-turned-trio and they play their own instruments and are often given co-production credits for these songs. This is their musical vision. And it's good. There are the recognizable songs like "Everybody Hurts" and "Stand" paired with new-to-many tracks like "E-Bow The Letter" and (shudder) "Animal."

Generally, one of R.E.M.'s true strengths is in their lyrics. "Daysleeper" is an excellent study of the range R.E.M. has. The strength of R.E.M. is in its poetic lyrics. "Daysleeper" is a song about a night worker who is tired all of the time and how that person sees the world. The poetry of "I cried the other night / I can't even say why / Fluorescent flat caffeine lights /It's furious balancing / I'm the screen, the blinding light / I'm the screen, I work at night / I see today with a newsprint fray / My night is colored headache grey / Don't wake me with so much. / The ocean machine is set to nine / I'll squeeze into heaven and valentine / My bed is pulling me, / Gravity" ("Daysleeper") is set to a sleepy, hazy melody that makes it instantly recognizable to anyone who has lived that way for a time. Moreover, how often are there tracks about something as simple as working through the night?!

And then there are songs that are just purely poetic that still make me scratch my head, like "E-Bow The Letter." After all, what does "Fields of poppies, little pearls / All the boys and all the / girls sweet-toothed / Each and every one a little scary / I said your name / I wore it like a badge of / teenage film stars / Hash bars, cherry mash / and tinfoil tiaras / Dreaming of Maria Callas / Whoever she is" ("E-Bow The Letter") actually mean?! Between that and "What's The Frequency Kenneth?" the listener has the potential of a lifetime of listening to try to decipher the meaning.

This is not to say that R.E.M. is simply about weird poetry without firm meaning. "Man On The Moon" is a tribute to Andy Kaufman and there are beautiful melancholy love songs like "Nightswimming" and "At my Most Beautiful." Indeed, how that latter track was never a huge hit for the band is a mystery to me. For those who have not been treated to it, it has beautiful lines like, "I read bad poetry / into your machine. / I save your messages / just to hear your voice. / You always listen carefully / to awkward rhymes. / You always say your name, / like I wouldn't know it's you, / at your most beautiful" ("At My Most Beautiful"). The group captures the simplicity and heartfelt quality of young relationships masterfully in that song and it truly is the perfect song to slow dance to. Damn our youth culture today for not gravitating to such a great song!

More than anything else, this best of album illustrates that R.E.M. is a pop-rock band that has maintained close ties to its alternative rock roots. R.E.M. is not afraid to sing about politics, artists and even simple absurdity ("Stand"). All the while they make it sound great and they make their topics relevant by infusing each of their songs with genuine emotion. "Daysleeper," for example, is sung with such longing and tired desperation that everyone can relate, not just those who have worked the night shift. Their classic "Everybody Hurts" perfectly characterizes the pain and sadness we have all experienced.

The only drawback is that the Best of album shows some of the limitations - musically - of a quartet, then trio, that uses primarily drums, guitar, piano and bass to make music. Vocally, the album mixes up quite well (mostly) the full range of Michael Stipe's musical ability, though it doesn't have any tracks where he goes as high as he does on some of the tracks on "Monster." Instead, songs like "Orange Crush" and "Losing My Religion" portray Stipe's mellow mid-range vocals.

The problem with Stipe's vocals has frequently been that he mumbles his way through the lyrics. Granted on songs like "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" the electric guitars overrun his vocals. Fine, but on songs like "E-Bow The Letter," "All The Right Friends" and "Electrolite," he just fails to enunciate well. It's a good gimmick; it encourages the listener to re-listen to the songs, even if they remain difficult to understand.

Musically, R.E.M. illustrates a seeming unending talent with the songs chosen for In Time. There are the electric, the experimental, the slow, the fast, the piano-driven, the electric guitar-driven, pretty much everything. Even on the one-disc version, there is enough to satisfy virtually anyone who loves pop-rock music.

The Best of R.E.M. is a perfect solution to the garbage that is currently on the airwaves. The lyrics are diverse, articulate and (generally) well presented. But there is a far better version of this album and those who want something new from R.E.M. are served best by picking the two-disc version up as opposed to this one. This is best for those who like what they have heard, but are fearful of more.

And, seriously, does the world truly need more of that type fan?

The best track is possibly "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" (it's a tough call, though!), the worst is easily "Animal."

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Up
Reveal
Around The Sun
. . . And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years

5/10

Check out how this album stacks up against the others I have reviewed by visiting my Music Review Index Page where the musical works are organized best to worst!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Wildly Irregular R.E.M. Makes For The Last Worth-buying Disc For A While:New Adventures In Hi-Fi.

The Good: Some decent lyrics, Some good music
The Bad: Vocally dull, Musically uninspired
The Basics: R.E.M. makes the musical equivalent of a bunt; enough to get the recommend, but nothing more with the jumbled New Adventures In Hi-Fi.


Have you ever listened to something that you are reviewing so many times that you lose the initial hatred or antipathy toward it and eventually find yourself accepting it? I'm there with R.E.M.'s album New Adventures In Hi-Fi, a disc I despised the first seven times I listened to it. Coming off the greatness of Monster and Automatic For The People, New Adventures In Hi-Fi seemed a lot like R.E.M. trying to be edgy and experimental for the purpose of being experimental and alternative as opposed to actually having something to say.

But, I kept listening to it. The opening track captivated me and I knew "E-Bow The Letter" and "Electrolite" from the compilation album In Time. As well, I was familiar with a very different version of "Leave" from the second disc on In Time and hearing how radically different the version on this disc is was a real treat. Then "So Fast, So Numb" began to resonate with me . . . so five of the tracks I flat-out liked. Yeah, R.E.M. wore me down with this one. From the first listen until now, New Adventures In Hi-Fi has always struck me as an average album. The band managed to get me from a pretty firm "not recommend" to a weak "recommend" over the course of seventeen listens. Yes, this is far too much for most listeners to expect and the truth is, had it not been for a recent north-south cross country trip I was on, I probably never would have given it so many chances. Lucky R.E.M.

And this album truly does fall on R.E.M.; some of the elitist fans consider it R.E.M.'s last true outing as it is the final album including the entire original quartet. In fact, were it not for his departure following this album, R.E.M. and U2 would have both been in the running for Most Stable Band. The quartet of R.E.M. wrote and co-produced all fourteen tracks on New Adventures In Hi-Fi, an album that clocks out at 65:34, making it a decent value by the numbers. As always, they play their own instruments, making this very much the musical vision of R.E.M.

The fundamental problem with New Adventures In Hi-Fi is that it is a horribly erratic album, often sounding like a collection of random singles as opposed to a cohesive album. This is not an unfounded argument, either; the tracks were recorded in various cities, with additional personnel from their tour. And I am all for musical diversity; albums like Timbre by Sophie B. Hawkins (reviewed here!) endure because no two tracks sound alike. The problem with New Adventures In Hi-Fi is that it does not come together qualitatively as an experimental album. Instead, it is a musical grab bag.

Songs range from the sublime ballad of "How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us" to straight out rock ("The Wake-up Bomb") to surreal musical experimentalism ("E-Bow The Letter"). There are Monster-like rock tracks ("Leave") and Automatic For The People-like light pop ("New Test Leper"), though no works emulating their earlier garage band-rock style. Ironically, this is a fairly produced album, especially for one recorded over so many studios and locations as this one was.

R.E.M. varies the lyrics between the beautifully poetic and the strange on New Adventures In Hi-Fi. Indeed, one of the few tracks that grabbed me that I did not know beforehand was "How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us." This opens the album with a subtle, melancholy vocal performance but the lines track from the gritty and real to the pointless non sequitor. Stipe sings, "The story is a sad one, told many times / The story of my life in trying times / Just add water, stir in lime / How the west was won and where it got us" ("How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us") and it does not actually go anywhere. The musical protagonist sings about their loneliness and disfranchisement only to surrender to an allusion to western expansion . . . which does not tie back.

And yes, because lyrics are so important to me, I'll be the one who asks: what the hell is "e-bow?!" When you "e-bow" a letter, what the hell are you doing?! The song, "E-Bow The Letter" is a beautiful musical poem featuring backing vocals by Patti Smith. The lines are a collection of emotions and ideas, wonderfully observing, "Smoke it, drink / Here comes the flood / Anything to thin the blood / These corrosives do their / magic slowly and sweet / Phone, eat it, drink / Just another chink / Cuts and dents, they catch the light / Aluminum, the weakest link . . .Aluminum, tastes like fear / Adrenaline, it pulls us near . . ." ("E-Bow The Letter") and the lyrics merge perfectly with the murky instrumentals. This is a smoky song that stands in purposeful defiance to anything other than imagery and raw emotion. It is a song of feeling and it is quite effectively experimental. Sadly, the rest of the album does not succeed in being so original.

Instead, we get songs like "Undertow." With lyrics like "Brother can you see those birds? / They don't look to heaven /They don't need religion, they can see . . . I'm drowning / Breathing ourselves / Me . . ." ("Undertow"), R.E.M. expresses a sense of loss and aimlessness that is better on the page than it is to the ear. Sure, the song sounds like drowning, but the problem is, it sounds like something we've already heard from R.E.M. It is not original or different enough from things we already know (and like) from R.E.M. to be worthwhile. Lyrically, they have tread the same lines before.

The only thing less inspired are the vocals. On the prior album, Monster, lead singer Michael Stipe challenged himself by testing the full range of his vocal range. He did falsettos, he went low . . . here he stays safe within his mid-range vocals. It is standard, it is pedestrian and it is the least we could expect from R.E.M. and Stipe. Instead of further exploring vocally, Stipe returns to mumbling through many of his best lyrics.

The notable exception to this is on "E-Bow The Letter." The strings are slow and produced, keeping an undertone of desperation throughout the song, but Stipe's vocals are strangely clear and well-enunciated making it one of the better tracks on the album. Outside that and the way he holds the notes on "So Fast, So Numb," New Adventures In Hi-Fi is vocally dull in that it does not in any way surprise the listener. This is the musical equivalent of an actor being typecast; they take the same roles as we've seen them in before.

And by this point, the mumbling is just annoying. Seriously. Listening to the album over twelve times, the only way I discovered that the second song has Stipe belting out "wake-up bomb" instead of "wake-up bong" was by reading the title!

What does work for the most part is the sound of the various songs. R.E.M. uses a more diverse range of instruments on this album, making it one of the better aspects of listening to this over and over again. The electric guitars on "Leave" could have come right off of Monster, but Peter's use of the mandolin on "How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us" is nothing like his use of the same instrument on "Out Of Time." There is a great use of organ, mellotron (honestly, I don't know what that is, but it sounds great!), moog synthesizer (again, no idea what makes it a "moog"), Farfisa, and violin over the course of the album.

R.E.M. mixes up the instrumentals and that lends a diversity of sound to the album, even if it does not help make the work sound cohesive track to track. Similarly, the changes in tempo from fast songs ("Leave") to slow ones ("E-Bow The Letter") makes it an aurally interesting album in that respect. Some of the songs, though, are just loud, like "Bittersweet Me." The album is fairly soft in the middle because the instrumentals are either overbearing (like on "Bittersweet Me") or utterly unmemorable. "Departure," for example, could be any classic rock song by the instrumentals. And vocally, it's just Stipe almost-speaking the lines.

New Adventures In Hi-Fi took me a while to warm up to and I am fairly sure I'm at critical mass for it; the album is not one of R.E.M.'s best or standout albums. It is far too much of a jumble and does not have as much to say as many of their other works. The thing is, it has some pretty solid songs that would have shined on other albums. It's worth the price of the album to be able to hear those, but given a henpecking option . . . I'd probably pick three or four tracks that weren't on In Time and buy those instead of the full album.

The best track might well be "E-Bow The Letter," but the worst is easily "Departure." VERY weak "recommend."

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
Up
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2000 (Deluxe)
Around The Sun
. . . And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years

5/10

Check out how this album stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Music Review Index Page where the reviews are organized best to worst!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Strangely, I Don't Hate Around The Sun Nearly As Much As (Virtually) Everyone Else!

The Good: Some decent vocals, One or two lyrics, Generally competent instrumentals
The Bad: Boring, monotonous instrumentals, Some terrible rhymes, Vocally monotonous
The Basics: R.E.M. more or less strikes out with Around The Sun, a mostly-bland outing filled with singles that aren't actually bad on their own.


Back when I was reviewing for another site and I reviewed R.E.M. albums, I found myself happily dogged by another reviewer who didn't seem so happy by my take on some of the albums. Near the end of my reviewing other R.E.M. albums, there came a comment that was basically like "I see the direction you're headed and this is the last time I complain about you dissing R.E.M." Basically, the reviewer was pre-emptively backing off my review of Around The Sun. Well, it took a few weeks for me to get it in, but now that I have . . .

. . . I very much do not hate this album nearly as much as virtually every other fan of R.E.M.'s music. Since it their first major "Best Of" album predates Around The Sun, one of my thoughts was "what songs from this could possibly end up on a 'Best Of' album?" That's a tough call because so many of the songs sound alike. For those looking for a rocking R.E.M. album, Around The Sun will leave you looking. This is a mellow pop album and because I have no particular beef with light rock/pop, Around The Sun holds up better with me than with some reviewers. That said, if there was ever an "indistinct" R.E.M. album, this might well be it. The vocals blend together as pretty mellow white noise and outside of three songs on the album, I suspect if one were to keep listening to this on a continuous loop it would soon all jumble into one long, pointless song.

With thirteen tracks, clocking in at 55:23, is - as much as fans and the band might like to deny it - very much an R.E.M. album. Like the rest of their catalogue, this album was written by all three members of the band and they play their own instruments. As well, R.E.M. takes a co-producing credit on the album, so despite their desire to distance themselves from the material, Around The Sun is their work, their vision of music, at least where they thought it was in 2004 when it debuted.

And it is, essentially, a mellow, boring album notable for three songs: "Leaving New York," "Make It All Okay" and "I Wanted To Be Wrong." What separates them from the rest of the album? The lyrics, mostly. Outside that, they are very much like every other track on the album: mellow, vocally monotonous and fine on its own, but terrible in the context of the album. Honestly, a number of the songs sounds very much like the R.E.M. so many people know and love. Even "Electron Blue," one of the worst-written R.E.M. songs by the lyrics (terribly predictable rhymes) sounds like an R.E.M. track and contains murky poetry sung with Michael Stipe's mumbling mid-range vocals. But the problem is, they all sound like that; they each sound like a mellow R.E.M. song we've heard before and the net effect of the album is flat-out boredom.

The album begins well enough, though, with "Leaving New York." This is a very straightforward R.E.M. pop ballad about one of the subjects they tackle remarkably well: abandonment. R.E.M. reminds the listener that they can still write when they present the thoughts "It's easier to leave / Than to be left behind / Leaving was never my proud. / Leaving new york, never easy. / I saw the light fading out / Now life is sweet / And what it brings / I try to take / But loneliness / It wears me out / It lies in wait" ("Leaving New York"). And unlike every other track on the album, this single actually has a catchy refrain and it works to open the album big and melodically, much the way "How The West Was Won And What It Taught Us" opened "New Adventures In Hi-Fi." The problem is, virtually every other song sounds like it.

There are, however, lines that are too good not to sit up an notice each time the song comes up. On "Across The Sun" that happens with "Make It All Okay," another song about being lost. On that track, each time Stipe sings "Well Jesus loves me fine. / And your words fall flat this time. / Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say, / 'We don't have a prayer between us'" ("Make It All Okay") I sit up and hear the words again. The song adequately makes the listener feel like they have been cut adrift. Conversely, it has the sense of persecution to it, which the whole idea that Jesus loves everyone, including the singer, contradicts beautifully. But the song is equally as indistinct as the rest of the album until that defiant lyric is shouted out.

And Around The Sun, despite being musically and vocally monotonous does seem to have more of a message than some of R.E.M.'s later works. Yes, it returns to the political with songs like "The Outsiders," "Final Straw," and "I Wanted To Be Wrong." On that last track, the band is unabashedly singing against the current political climate in the United States with lines like "The rodeo is staged, gold circle goat-ropers and clowns. / A rumble in the third act, tie 'em up and burn 'em down. / We're armed to the teeth, born a little breech; / Blue-plate special analysts, cells and SUV's / We can't approach the Allies 'cause they seem a little peeved / And speak a language we don't understand. / I told you I wanted to be wrong / But everyone is humming a song / That I don't understand" ("I Wanted To Be Wrong"). It is refreshing to hear R.E.M. defiant and connected and "I Wanted To Be Wrong" has the tenor of their early politically-charged music. In that regard it works beautifully.

But the rest of the album lurches through boring, indistinct, mumbled lyrics that are barely comprehensible. Sure, the titles to "The Worst Joke Ever" and “Around The Sun” (the single) pop out but the rest of those songs, it's difficult to decipher what is being sung and it's even harder to care.

It is harder to care for a simple reason: the instrumentals and vocals are largely boring and limited. Michael Stipe's vocals, for example, are almost shocking for their consistency. If there were a contest for consistency on an album, Stipe would be in the running for the vocals on Around The Sun. Each track keeps him in his musical niche without challenging his range at all.

Instrumentally, the band does not have anything to be proud of either. In addition to being boring, the songs sound far too much like one another. The instrumentally upbeat pieces - "Electron Blue" and "Wanderlust" sound virtually identical as far as their melodies go. But more than that, on this album - more than most R.E.M. albums - this one sounds like what it is: a guitar, bass and drums band. They never really stretch beyond that on this album.

Sadly, though, most of the songs are not bad on their own. Around The Sun could have been good if about half of the tracks were put on other albums and the rest of the time was filled with songs that sounded dramatically different. As it is, it's a lackluster musical outing. If anyone ever needs R.E.M. elevator music, though . . .

The only tracks worth listening to are "Leaving New York," ""Make It All Okay," and "I Wanted To Be Wrong;" the rest of the album might as well be one, long, indistinguishable track.

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
Up
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2000 (Deluxe)
. . . And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years

6/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Greatest Hits Going Backward - Early R.E.M. Educates, Not Necessarily Satisfies With . . . And I Feel Fine

The Good: Very articulate, political, good writing, Some real winning songs
The Bad: Sounds VERY much like a garage (college) band, Musically limited
The Basics: R.E.M.'s early musical works easily demonstrate a band with potential, though even with two-discs, it does not reach it.


I believe it is quite possible that there are two groups of R.E.M. fans: those who were there in the beginning while the quartet was rising from essentially a college garage band in Georgia and those who became enamored with the group after its first few mainstream hits. A few years back, R.E.M. put out a greatest hits album for the latter fans, comprising their tracks from 1988 up. I heartily recommended that disc (In Time). I openly admit, I fall into my latter classification of R.E.M. fans. It was "Losing My Religion" that brought the group to my attention. I think In Time remains one of the most-played albums in my collection.

Enter now, And I Feel Fine . . . the Best of the I.R.S. Years, R.E.M.'s new greatest hits album featuring songs from 1982 - 1987. The thumbnail sketch for fans of the latter works is remarkably easy: if you are a fan of their later works, the only tracks on this two-disc set that you've likely ever heard are: The One I Love" and "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." Two tracks. Odds are, the rest will be new to you.

If you were a fan of the I.R.S. stuff (I.R.S. refers to the label early R.E.M. works were released under), these songs are mostly all anthems of your youth and college days and I'm sure most of them (save some on the second disc, which is comprised of rarities and b-sides) are old news to you.

This two-disc set features forty-two songs and in that regard, it's well worth the money. R.E.M.'s early works are politically-involved, rock and roll from a distinctly young perspective. I hesitate to say a distinctly young male perspective, as many of the tracks are simply ambitious for activism (and I don't associate that with just young men).

In a way, that political activism is as timely now as it was when these tracks were originally written. On disc two, the Outtake version of "Bad Day" is both articulate and frightening for the way it acts as a harbinger of where we are now. While some look to "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" as prophetic ("birds and snakes, aeroplanes . . ."), it is the more directly cynical and frightening lines of "Bad Day" which seem to indicate the dire state we have found ourselves in ("Whitewash presidency . . .The papers wouldn't lie, I cry"). Remarkably, there is little in the politically active songs, which are generally progressive and desirous of the People sharing a voice in the government that is supposed to be theirs, that is dated. So while the liner notes (which are quite extensive) mention things like Iran-Contra and other political events that define a time and place, none of the songs carry that entirely.

Sadly, one of their most political songs, "Exhuming McCarthy," did not make it onto either disc. I could have lived without "Hyena" on disc two, but I'm sure there is someone out there for whom that it R.E.M.'s pinnacle. But this seems to be a good place to explore what is weak about And I Feel Fine . . .

Songs like "Hyena," which are presented on Disc two in live or demo versions are some of the weaker tracks R.E.M. has created. "Hyena" involves a lot of screeching (of the title) throughout the song and it sounds amateurish more than musical. It sounds like a garage band and not a terribly good one. While I applaud R.E.M. for giving fans both a "standard" disc and a bonus disc to increase our appreciation of the group (R.E.M. and U2 both do this with their "Best ofs" and I highly recommend the two-disc over the one disc for either), in this instance, they have created an album that has more weaknesses than strengths. On disc one, we have the standard version of "Life And How To Live It," which is fine. On disc two, there is a live version of the same song preceded by the story behind the song. I tend to judge such things harshly because relistening to c.d.s is very important to me. That type of track almost never holds up over multiple listens. Already, I find myself jumping through that track.

As well, the sound quality on it is not ideal. At the climax of the story, Michael Stipe (I presume) tells the name of the book (which is also the name of the song) and the volume cuts down, so it can take several listens before one actually gets the whole story he is telling.

And outside sound quality, musical quality is also an issue in several of these recordings. Some of the songs are simply standard pop-rock songs that sound like exactly what they are; underdeveloped songs from a young band. I am certainly not an advocate of overproduction, but songs like "Driver 8" and "Talk About The Passion" are essentially using the same instruments and the result are tracks that sound remarkably similar. I still have yet to figure out what "7 Chinese Bros." is really about. It is, therefore, a treat for those who indulge in the two-disc version to get such songs as "King of Birds" which does use more instruments and has a very distinctive sound to it.

That said, there are some impressive aspects to R.E.M. outside the quality of their writing even in their early years. "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" remains a song that baffles me as to how it is actually sung. Seriously, try singing along to it sometime, it's near impossible. Michael Stipe sings the words with beautiful speed and clarity, it truly is a wondrous feat.

Ultimately, this is a much more hesitant recommendation for me. The quality is just not what it is for In Time, which is a VERY accessible collection of songs. This simply isn't. It is a less sophisticated sounding group, despite the power of their lyrics. It's a toss up as to whether people who were not fans of those early songs will enjoy it. I find myself henpecking tracks, which is a rare thing for me on any c.d. The tracks that are on, are ON, the tracks that aren't, are very much off.

The best tracks are "Gardening At Night" (Disc 1) and "King of Birds" (Disc 2), the weakest tracks are "Driver 8" (Disc 1) and "Hyena (Demo)" (Disc 2).

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
Up
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2000 (Deluxe)

5.5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Indistinct R.E.M. Should Go Up, But Instead It Crashes... Hard.

The Good: Some decent lyrics, One or two musical moments
The Bad: Poor vocals, Nothing truly new, Flow from track to track is narcoleptic, Uninspired
The Basics: Up disappoints R.E.M. listeners who knows that the band can say something; on this they don't seem to try or know what to say.


For those who do not read many of my reviews, I have been on an R.E.M. kick lately and I am almost to the end of the collection I have gotten in to review. R.E.M. is a band that I have listened to on the radio and enjoyed when I've heard them. As well, I own their "Best Of" albums and a couple of their albums from the mid-1990s. The albums I have been reviewing the last few days by the group have the added benefit of having been listened to more than my average eight times before I write the review, as I drove from Upstate New York down to Florida last weekend and listened to albums there and back again to truly get a feel for them.

On the other end, I often find myself reviewing works that come from some artists who have done amazing things in the past that I deem "Indistinct." Bruce Springsteen, Seal, Bonnie Raitt, and several others have suffered reviews where the best word to describe their albums is "Indistinct." With Up, R.E.M. joins the ranks of artists with albums that leave almost no impression and disappoint the listener.

With fourteen tracks clocking in at 64:34, Up represents the second coming of R.E.M., following the departure of Berry. The remaining trio tries to keep it together and the listener attempts to have patience as R.E.M.'s Buck, Mills and Stipe get it together. On Up, they write all of the songs, save "Hope," which takes on an additional writer as well. The trio does all of the primary vocals and the main instrumentals as well as sharing a co-production credit. As well, Peter Buck is credited with engineering some of the album. In other words, good or bad, Up is the musical vision of the new R.E.M.

And yes, it is mostly bad.

It is bad when it is memorable or rises to a level of distinction worth noting the music on the disc.

Lyrically, R.E.M. tries to take some risks on Up and they deserve some credit for that. After all, how many pop-rock artists who have done so many amazing things as R.E.M. try to sing a song about medical malpractice and medical experimentation? Yet, on "Hope," they do just that. With lines like, "You want to trust the doctors / Their procedure is the best / But the last try was a failure / And the intern was a mess / And they did the same to Matthew / And he bled 'til Sunday night / They're saying don't be frightened / But you're weakened by the sight of it . . ." ("Hope"). R.E.M. deserves some credit for that. They do try something new.

Similarly, they do an amazing job with Up's "Nightswimming"-like ballad, "At My Most Beautiful." This is simply a love poem put to music and it is poetic and subtly beautiful. It is the superlative track on the album from the writing, the simple piano instrumental and the beauty of the lines, "At my most beautiful / I count your eyelashes, secretly. / With every one, whisper I love you. / I let you sleep. I know you're closed eye watching me, listening / I thought I saw a smile" ("At My Most Beautiful"). Sure, it is a simple and obvious love song, but it works. It does what it is supposed to and something R.E.M. avoided doing for years with all of their early political songs: it says something universally human and it says it clearly and directly. It illustrates that the band can be concerned with something as simple and pure as love.

Sadly, the only other track that is even memorable by the lyrics on Up is "Daysleeper," an ode to the night shift workers of the world. With quirky lines like, "I see today with a newsprint fray / My night is colored headache grey / Daysleeper / The bull and the bear are marking / Their territories / They're leading the blind with / Their international glories" ("Daysleeper") the band creates the hazy world of being a night worker. They capture the ambivalence of what the daywalkers go through quite well and they do it with a sense of style that is compelling.

Beyond that, Up is lyrically boring. There is a lot of repetition, like "I'm so sorry" in "The Apologist" and "sing along" in "Diminished." "Falls To Climb" has an honorable message about ending conflicts, but the predictable rhyme scheme throughout the song guts its punch. Instead, the singsong lyrics make it seem more silly and idealistic than powerful and punchy.

Vocally, Up is certainly not helped by the monolithic melancholy of Michael Stipe's singing. Stipe's vocals blend from one track to another creating an auditory mash that is almost impossible to listen to. There might be crescendos in the instrumentals, but Stipe's singing is bland and forthright, presenting the lyrics with minimal musical emotion, condemning the listener to one of the most boring vocal presentations ever put to a pop-rock album.

More than that, on some tracks, Stipe does not even try. He mumbles through "Why Not Smile" in virtually the same way he slouches through the presentation of "Sad Professor." And "Hope" is atonal, with Stipe speaking almost as much as he is singing the lyrics. That might be fine if it were not surrounded by songs where he is vocally dull.

But perhaps more than anything, it is the instumentals that crush Up. R.E.M. sounds diminished on this album; it sounds like the band is missing a percussion section (which, to be fair, they had lost when Berry departed). But all of the songs are generally slow and melancholy and musically dull, like the narcoleptic equivalent of "Intro To Pop Music." Actually, "Daysleeper" might be the ultimate metaphor for Up; it sounds like this album was churned out in the middle of the night by people who had not done much in the way of sleeping.

As a result, Up is almost universally slow and dominated by lighter guitars, organs and more subtle production elements. The thing is, this could work for an album (R.E.M. did it with Automatic For The People), but Up fails because the lessened instrumentals are not backed up with substantial vocals or lyrics. Instead, the album can be played over and over and over again time and again with little sense as to where it starts and stops, where one iteration begins and the next ends.

Yes, Up is auditory mash; porridge for the ears and R.E.M. could have done much, much better. Fortunately, all of the best tracks on Up are available on the compilation albums, making it easy to avoid picking this mess up.

The best song is "At My Most Beautiful," the lowest point might well be the utterly unmemorable "Suspicion."

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2000 (Deluxe)

4/10

Check out how this album stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Music Review Index Page for a listing from Best to Worst!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Mellow R.E.M. Makes For Fine, If Average, Life’s Rich Pageant.

The Good: Good voice, Wonderful lyrics, Moments of instrumentals
The Bad: Nothing extraordinary on the instrumentals, Still mumbling through many songs
The Basics: Despite being a perfectly fine album, I opt to not recommend Life’s Rich Pageant because all of the tracks worth listening to are on a "Best Of" album.


I have decided I might well like R.E.M., though I am definitely a fan of their works after they left I.R.S. This is not to say I cannot see the appeal of the band during the I.R.S. years, certainly lyrically they are a force to be trifled with in that period of their development. Vocally, they do not stretch much and deciphering the lyrics often is a challenge in itself. On some of their earliest albums, R.E.M. presents some of their grandest, most challenging and most overtly political music. Given that without the political activism, R.E.M. might have faded as just another garage band, one appreciates that aspect of their early work, regardless of which R.E.M. time period one prefers.

On Life’s Rich Pageant, the listener is caught with a bit of a bind on that front. R.E.M. is generally singing clearer than they had been, their political activism is intense and obvious, but it is exactly what is expected of the group. There are no surprises on Life’s Rich Pageant and while it is a good album, it is remarkably average, especially for R.E.M. It is short, very simply produced and while the poetry of the lyrics are truly exceptional, some of the most important lyrics are stuck in songs that are dull or underwhelming. Or, they are overwhelmed by the instrumentals, as is the case of the magnificent "Fall On Me."

With twelve tracks, clocking in at 38:23, Life’s Rich Pageant is mostly the vision of the members of R.E.M. They wrote all of the lyrics and music, save to the final track, "Superman," which is a fun song. The quartet plays their own instruments and they do it well enough. Lead singer Michael Stipe provides the lead vocals and the rest of the band backs him up. None of the members of the group take any form of production credit on the album, though. Despite that, it does appear like Life’s Rich Pageant is very much the vision of the men of R.E.M. and that they were not unduly influenced by anyone at the label.

Lyrically, it is hard to suggest that the group has surrendered any of their creative control. Life's Rich Pageant is full of remarkably poetic and creative lyrics that are unlike most of what one normally hears on a rock and roll album. The songs venture into the surreal with lines like, "There's a problem, feathers iron / Bargain buildings, weights and pullies / Feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air / Buy the sky and sell the sky and tell the sky and tell the sky / Don't fall on me (What is it up in the air for) (It's gonna fall) . . .There's the progress we have found (when the rain) / A way to talk around the problem (when the children reign) / Building towered foresight (keep your conscience in the dark) . . ." ("Fall On Me"). The song has a higher level of diction than most songs out there even today!

There is something wonderful about hearing a young band rail against capitalism, but R.E.M. does just that. They throw finding a catchy single to the wind and instead focus on substance. When they sing, "All the money couldn't buy / You're mistaken no one's standing there / For the record no one tried / Oh I try to / What if we give it away? / Overlooking with a hollow eye / What's pretending is it right / Eye for order a hand for what's in line / Couldn't follow couldn't write / And our life does fine here" ("What If We Gave It Away?") they seem to be daring the record companies to support art over commerce.

Even the song "Hyena," which is the least cohesive and most distorted track on the album is lyrically better than most musical outings by other artists. While I can't stand the repetition of the title shrieked out, reading the lines "The only thing to fear is fearlessness / The bigger the weapon the greater the fear / Hyena is ambassador to here" ("Hyena") reveals a strong sense of political activism and desire to confront the lies we are raised on. After all, there is truth to the insecurity of massive weaponry and R.E.M. makes that musical. It's subversive.

Vocally, the mix is remarkably average. Outside, "Just A Touch" and "Hyena" being fairly noisy, the songs are generally musical and more cerebral rock and roll. Michael Stipe has a very smooth mid-range voice that carries the notes well and has a very slick quality to his presentation and performance. On Life’s Rich Pageant, he almost never stretches out of his comfortable range. In fact, if anything there are moments when he becomes less musical and comes close to speaking his poetry as opposed to singing it, like on "Just A Touch."

This is not to say Stipe is at all atonal; far from it. Tracks like "Begin The Begin" have him going a little lower and he has a voice like honey on "Swan Swan H." Despite how he fails to articulate clearly on "Fall On Me," his vocals are wonderfully musical, which is a rare thing on a surreal, listing song.

The irony of Life’s Rich Pageant might be that vocally the group is at their peak on the lone song they did not write. On "Superman," the group harmonize with amazing vocal clarity. The group sound unified, together and fresh on that track. Moreover, it sounds like the whole band gets in on the action and it works to make the song sound both classic and fresh.

As for the instrumentals, Life’s Rich Pageant is generally average at best. This is very much a simple "guitar/bass/drums" band sound. There is a keyboard utilized on at least one track, but the emphasis for the band is clearly the very simple guitar and bass sound. Actually, were it not for the fact that it seems to be a standard for R.E.M., it might be surprising how emphatic the percussion is on this album. The drums are very evident on each and every track and they have a very strong rock and roll beat.

But there are moments that the instrumentals - especially on "Fall On Me" overwhelm the vocals to the point that the message is lost or made so murky as to be indecipherable. This, naturally, makes one ask, what is the point of unabashedly taking on the establishment and the powers that be, if one makes it impossible to understand the struggle being sung about?

On Life’s Rich Pageant, though, R.E.M. does just that. They throw their gauntlet down at capitalism and apathy and then they cover over that challenge to the authority with mumbling and louder music. Interestingly, it is only in the last lines of this review that it occurs to me that by my own standards, I can't recommend this album. Life’s Rich Pageant is good, but very short and looking over the track list, it occurs to me that every single one of the tracks worth listening to (and one that is not!) are on the two-disc R.E.M. Greatest Hits Album . . . And I Feel Fine - The Best Of R.E.M. from the I.R.S. years. The album is fine, but why bother when you can get a lot more value out of the other album without the deadweight from this one?

The best track is "Fall On Me," the low point is "Hyena."

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2000 (Deluxe)

4.5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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