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Since my father stole all my CDs, I hadn't listened to my REM collection in a long time.
The other day I picked up Automatic for the People.
Damn, I forgot how much I love that CD. There's only ONE song that I don't like on it. I used to listen to this in high school, when I still lived with my parents.
Sweetness follows, Monty got a Raw Deal, everybody hurts. Somber stuff, really, but applicable.
Was good to listen again.
Now I want the rest of my REM CDs.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Man, if MY dad jacked all my CDs...I'd have punched him in the face, and taken them all back, in addition to all of his. I love REM. And yes, that's a wonderful album. Nice choice.
Posts: 17 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I still love Dead Letter Office a collection of their cover songs and B-sides from the early years.
I was blessed to be growing up in an area where I could catch REM pre- Fables of the Reconstruction in concert in tiny lil venues performing with Mitch Easter's band, Let's Active.
Man, now I feel soooo old.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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REM is the best band... ever! woohoo! I'm looking forward to going to their oct 4 and oct 5 shows with my good ol' brother. AfTP is an amazing album. All of the songs are GREAT (well, ok, so star (****) me kitten isn't the best song in the world, but it certainly isn't the worst!) If my someone took my rem cds I'd probably want to kill him, I live off of those things! If you're really into REM, www.murmurs.com has an rem radio which is pretty cool too
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Arrr, I love this here album! REM will not be forced to walk the plank. Document is me favorite album though, mateys.
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Which is the one you don't like, Mack? I'm not a fan of Star Me Kitten, personally, but love the rest. Automatic for the People is probably my favourite REM album, though it's close between that and "Up." Haven't listened to it in a while, though...
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I'm really glad my dad can't stand the music I listen to. Handily, I like some of the stuff he listens to, so I tend to steal his CDs. Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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REM is playing just across the street from me in October. Tickets are $40 though. Think I should go?
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Oh, I didn't see the number. That's what happens when you hatrack at work after a long hard day.
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Hey Paercevil, I'll be at the Oct. 5th show too; I snagged early tickets through the fanclub. I saw them on the Monster and Up tours.
Their new single, "Bad Day" is a great LRP and Document style song, the kind I wish they made more of. No one does harmonies in mainstream pop rock like REM.
-Bok
EDIT: For the record, Out of Time, marred as it is by Radio Song and Shiny Happy People (which they refuse to play in concert), beats Automatic. Country Feedback beats Monty Got a Raw Deal easily.
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Just so everyone knows, I was a finalist to win REM tickets and backstage passes when they were in Montana back in August.
But I didn't win.
Instead, I hung out with some uber-cool Jatraqueros in SLC.
I read about this performance on New Year's Eve 1991 in which half of REM (Michael & Micheal)teamed up with half of U2 (Larry and Adam) and performed for (was it in DC?) the New Years party as "Automatic Baby," combining the names of the bands' newest released Automatic for the People and Achtung Baby. Isn't that one of the most beautiful mingling imaginable? I wonder if there are any recordings of it floating around in the ethers.
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Annie, there are recordings out there. Head over to www.murmurs.com and you can probably find an mp3 floating around in their give it away section... I think thats the place you want to head to
Bok-we should meet up there on the fifth or something. I got my tix through the fanclub as well.
See, with out of time, I don't think Radio Song ruins it really, it only won best rap/rock collaboration when it came out Its a solid song I suppose. It is also a great album, but I'm not sure if its better than AfTP. Country feedback is an amazing song. Did you participate in the song request thing for the concert? If not, head to remhq.com and you can email them requests for the show!
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It's interesting you say it (Bad Day) sounds like a Document song as it was originally cut from Pageant.
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How funny, Star Me Kitten in the only song I dislike as well.
I've always felt odd rating it as highly as I do since so much of it is quiet and somber, but when it comes down to it, i've always rated it as their very best. Only one week song, and tons and tons of classics: Try not to breathe, Monty got a raw deal, everybody hurts, sweetness follows, man in the moon, and the inimitable Nightswimming and Find the River.
Heck, Nightswimming is like a perfect melodious archetype for nostalgia. Just perfectly executed, a wondrous song, I've yet to come across anyone who disliked it, and it's so darn effective at conveying sense memory, of nostalgia, of youthful days long gone bye.
I'll never forget it, I even remember when i bought it, the friday after it came out when my parents and I were eating at an upscale burger joint across the street from a Tower Records. I bought it, and listened to it the next day while driving to take my S.A.T's. So it's completely fixed in my memory.
Wasn't my first album though, Green was, I bummed that off a friend following an 8th grade school dance that featured, "Stand." Than I picked up "Dead Letter..." and "Eponymous," while on a trip two months later in June of 1989, the rest of their albums soon followed and "Life's Rich Pagent" became my favorite alongside "Green" until "Automatic..." came out and then "Automatic..." became my favorite and still is, though I don't listen to it as often as I should, mainly because it's attached to memories that are a bit sad these days and the album seems a bit melancholy too.
But damn is that album ever good, I wholly agree with that.
Posts: 752 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I've always loved REM. I was in the front row of the infamous concert at William & Mary Hall where things turned ugly. Best songs- Feeling Gravity's Pull, Swan Swan Hummingbird, Superman
Posts: 55 | Registered: May 2003
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Speaking of Star Me Kitten, has anyone heard the William S. Burroughs cover from the X-Files TV show soundtrack?
Posts: 1295 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Life's Rich Pageant is my favorite REM album. AftP is a graet album, though, and its been listened to many hundreds of times by me.
I really enjoy their older stuff more, and was absolutely crushed when Bill Berry left the band. I loved the way his drumming worked with their early harmonies.
Man. Back to back concerts... *Drools* We have second row tickets, section 1, for their october fourth show in NYC Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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Fables of the Reconstruction: Kohoutek, Green Grow the Rushes, Driver 8.
Life's Rich Pagent: Fall on Me, Cuyahoga, I Believe
Document: King of Birds
Green: [untitled], you are the everything
Out of Time: Losing My Religion, Half a world away
Automatic for the people: Nightswimming, Find the River
Monster: Crush with Eyeliner, I don't Sleep, I dream (I think I loved this, but I just can't remember), Circus Envy
New Adventures in Hi-Fi: New Test Leper, Electrolite
I would go on to buy one more album, but I stopped paying attention more or less in '96, after regarding Hi-Fi and Monster as more or less disappointments. My favorite records remain Green, Life's Rich Pagent and Automatic for the People.
Posts: 752 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I really like it. I realize that most die-hard REM fans who are really into their 'sound' don't like it, but I don't have those prejudices (or standards -- depends on how you look at it). There aren't songs on the album that will knock your socks off (like there are on Auotmatic and Monster) or are obvious 'singles,' but the songs work together as an 'album' -- sharing common themes and sounds, nice flow to the set. It's a great album just to listen to -- especially while driving long stretches of highway.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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That album was more or less the third and fourth nails in the proverbial coffin for my interest in the band. I didn't think it stunk, it just didn't really effect or affect me in the least. Not a good sign. There are some songs I like a lot on it, but I simply don't listen to it anymore, hell I don't even remember where I put it.
It's funny, some bands had era's for me:
Queen: 1978-1980 Go Go's: 1980-1984 Bangles: 1985-1989 Beastie Boys: 1986-???? Freestyle/Club Music (Expose, Cover Girls that sort of thing): 1986-1989 Information Society: 1989 R.E.M.: 1989-1997 The Ocean Blue: 1989-1994 New Order: 1990-???? The Smiths: 1990-1995 Buddy Holly: 1991-1995 Sam Cooke: 1991-1997 UB40: 1991-1995 Beatles: 1992-???? Simon and Garfunkel: 1992-???? Nirvana: 1992-1996 Saint Etienne: 1993-????
and then other bands like Aterciopelodas, Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Creem, The Orange Peels, Matt Ward, Radiohead, The White Stripes, and Led Zepplin and lots and lots of other stuff became important to me. Anyway i've always found it interesting that some music is central to me, and never forgotten, or cast aside for long, while others like say, The Smiths, or The Cure or things of that sort get the short shrift and vanish from my thoughts.
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" I realize that most die-hard REM fans who are really into their 'sound' don't like it"
That's not really true. A lot of die-hards really love the al;bum, and feel that down the road it will be considered one of their best albums.
As well, shortly after reading some of this thread the other day I read a thread over at murmurs.com about Star me kitten and pretty much everyone over there loved the song. They talked about the lyrics to it, and the feel it gave. The power of the word **** appearing at the end of the song in such repitition that it has. The melody really ties to the lyrics nicely.
I'm torn on that song most of the time really, at times enjoying it, at other times not. I guess its one of those I have to be in the right mood for it songs.
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