Artist Spotlight: R.E.M.-All You Hear Is Time Stand Still In Travel

I don't have a definitive favorite band of all time. But if I was to name my upper echelon of favorites, R.E.M. would be there with five stars. They would be my trusty left handed starter in rotation of five.

Last Tuesday, R.E.M. released their fifteenth studio album "Collapse Into Now". As a sort of "Through The Years", we're going to spotlight the fourteen albums that have led one of the best bands of the past thirty years from 1983 to today.  I could probably write a book like essay on one of my favorite bands and the history of the band here and there, and where I was the first time I heard "Fall On Me" or how every album between "Life's Rich Pageant" and New Adventures In Hi-Fi" has me automatically singing every word like it's old hat....but for this we're just going to touch base here and there. Keep it simple. Oh, and there's a poll over to your left...or right, I mean. Would love if you could leave a vote for your favorite albums

To make things more difficult, I'm only allowing two picks per album for a best of collection. What two songs from each album would make up your ultimate best of collection? I will try not to lose sleep over it, but I'm sure I will have bad dreams of "Begin The Begin" and "The Sweetness Follow" asking me "Why? Why would you leave us out?" So a brief look at the fourteen albums and the highlights I remember starting........(time machine flashback noise)......right........................now.
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Murmur (1983)
Brief Overview: After their "Chronic Town" EP, this is an exceptionally strong debut. "Murmur" helped pioneer the way for jangle pop and American Underground music scenes for the rest of the decade. There is something about it that is haunted and hushed all at the same time. It's probably one of their least immediate albums, but once songs like "Catapult", "Circle Of Friends" and "Radio Free Europe" do take shape, you'll want to keep going back and listen...over and over, which is what I did several years after its release. A winning, enigmatic debut.

Grade: A
JHO Picks:
1. Pilgrimage
2. Talk About The Passion
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Reckoning (1984)
Brief Overview: Their sophomore album is an often over looked set as they turned up the jangle and left the haunting mood behind from "Murmur". If "Murmur" seems a little spacey, then "Reckoning" with its sharp beats and Stipe's vocals coming more to the forefront feel a lot more vibrant. "Reckoning" contains several classics that are sometimes left off of best of compilations like "Harborcoat", "Seven Chinese Brothers" and "Camera", and it pains me to leave off "So. Central Rain" here. But I've always had a soft spot for the two listed below. One for a great melody and one for a great down home chorus.

Grade: A
JHO Picks:
1. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
2. Pretty Persuasion
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Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985)
Brief Overview: To me, R.E.M.'s weakest album of the 80's still stands high above a lot of output from the decade (What other bands has their sixth strongest album be something as good as "Fables"? Arguably the best band of the 80's argument number one.) The group went to England to record "Fables" to kind of break away from the sound of their first two albums. And it may not be as strong or immediately winning as those, but it does include "Driver 8", "Feeling Gravities Pull" and "Green Grown The Rushes". They grew in songwriting on "Fables" but the bigger rewards were yet to come.

Grade: B+
JHO Picks:
1. Maps and Legends
2. Can't Get There From Here
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Life's Rich Pageant (1986)

Brief Overview: "Life's Rich Pageant" is a gem. An album that intertwines upbeat songs "Begin The Begin", "These Days", and "I Believe" with some of their most touching balladry yet "Swan Swan H" and "What If We Give It Away". Plus the harmonizing between Stipe, Berry and Mills as at all an time high here on "Fall On Me" and the Mills' led "I Am Superman". Plus Stipe is finding his environmental voice on the wonderfully written "Cuyohoga". So many treasures packed in 37 minutes, it was very difficult to pick just two. It's where everything plays out to near perfection.

  

Grade: A+
JHO Picks:
1. Fall On Me
2. Cuyohoga
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Document (1987)
Brief Overview: Their last album on an indepedent label (IRS) had to be one of the biggest indie hits of all time thanks to the breakout hit of "The One I Love". What makes "Document" so special is that they continue the same formula as on "Life's Rich Pageant" but with even stronger results. The guitars by Buck are more more prominent, Berry lends a great backbone to every song, the three continue to harmonize and their isn't a stinker in the bunch. "Document" has already made "The JHO Hall Of Fame", read here for the article. Many days, the one album I would need by R.E.M. for the rest of my life.

Grade: A+
JHO Picks:
1. Disturbance At The Heron House
2. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
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Green (1988)

Brief Overview: Major label debuts can be difficult for bands to jump into and on "Green", R.E.M. stands to the test by delivering a little bit of everything with a new formula. Pop songs "Stand" and "Pop Song 89", Guitar driven workouts "Turn You Inside Out and "Get Up" and lovely ballads "Hairshirt and especially, "You Are The Everything". A couple moments make "Green" just a bit weaker than their last couple albums but anything with the two songs listed in my picks below helps overcome some minor nitpicking. I'll sing this whole album through and through every time.



Grade: A-
JHO Picks:
1. Orange Crush
2. World Leader Pretend
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Out Of Time (1991)
Brief Overview: Most remembered for where Buck picks up on mandolin and delivers the band's biggest hit ever, "Out Of Time" is a bit of uneven album in retrospect. "Radio Song" and "Shiny Happy People", with all their charms, are a bit embarassing. And a couple moments work more on atmosphere than on actual songs "Endgame" and "Belong". But beyond those points, everything else on "Out Of Time" is material I've always loved. "Losing My Religion" and "Half A World Away" are absolute mandolin treats, "Near Wild Heaven" and "Texarkana" are strong Mills' songs and the two songs that end the album are my favorites. The first shows Stipe in his most naked and frustrated moment and "Me In Honey" with Kate Pierson, is the winning collaboration on this uneven album.

Grade: B+
JHO Picks:
1. Me In Honey
2. Country Feedback
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Automatic For The People (1992)
Brief Overview: R.E.M.'s most somber and well written material in their cannon. Most songs hang on desperately but the songwriting is the band at its best. It was a winner in fans' eyes and in critics' eyes, and every song is its own moment brought together with the common thread of sadness. It is also on my "JHO Hall Of Fame", more in depth of my feelings for this masterpiece, read it here. Picking two songs...not so easy, could change any day, depending on mood.

Grade: A+
JHO Picks:
1. Drive
2. Nightswimming
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Monster (1994)
Brief Overview: Taunted as the band's "rock" album, "Monster" crashes through power chord after power chord like they're the only arena band ready for the world in 1994. The anthems are replaced by standard, Buck driven guitar workouts that usually satisfy, but at times, seem a bit repetitive. It could be just me, but "Monster" is the album I feel that has aged least gracefully in their catalog, especially the second half. Plus I was never a big fan of the lighter "Tongue", the mid rocking "I Took Your Name" or closer "You"...all B-sides at best. But the strengths, "Frequency", "Crush With Eyeliner", "Star 69", and "I Don't Sleep I Dream" are all the band in good form....and fun.

Grade: B-
JHO Picks:
1. What's The Frequency Kenneth?
2. Let Me In
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New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)
Brief Overview: I remember working at the pop radio station in 96 and we were pushing for "Bittersweet Me" to be a hit, but it just wasn't meant to be. Nothing on "New Adventures" screamed radio hit. So it was seen as a commercial disappointment. However, it could be the album that you can reap the most rewards from in their catalog. Their is such an array of great songs, from flat out rockers "So Fast So Numb" and "The Wake Up Bomb" to mid-tempo gems "New Test Leper" and "Low Desert" that the album as a whole is really fantastic. After my three essentials, this falls in to fourth place rather easily. Pretty spectacular for an album written and recorded on the road, I'd say.

Grade: A
JHO Picks:
1. New Test Leper
2. Electrolite
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Up (1998)

Brief Overview: When Berry left before this album was recorded, I was a bit disappointed. I liked what he brought to the band on drums and harmonies. But I wasn't prepared for his absence with "Up". The whole affair just sounded really flat, uninspired and like an album with no direction or purpose. Songs like "Diminished" and "Parakeet" just floated aimlessly working more on pastoral moods than songs and "Lotus" rocks out clumsier than anything on "Monster". I've gone back several times through the years and warmed up to "Up" but not to a point where I can give it anything better than a B-. In 1998, I probably would've thrown a D+ out. If not for the single "The Great Beyond" in 1999, I may have let this herd ride out to pasture.
Grade: B-
JHO Picks:
1. Sad Professor
2. At My Most Beautiful
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Reveal (2001)
Brief Overview: Besides the two singles "Imitation Of Life" and "All The Way To Reno", I can honestly say, nothing on "Reveal" gets me excited...at all. I was beginning to lose a bit of patience here. All stars fade at some point....

Grade: C
JHO Picks:
1. Imitation Of Life
2. Al The Way To Reno
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Around The Sun (2004)
Brief Overview: Their least satisfying effort. And besides "Fables" (which I haven't listened to in a while to be honest, I don't own a copy at the present time) the only album I don't own by the band. I gave it two free spins in 2004, didn't like it, thought one of my favorite stars had faded, and gave up on the band. I was surprised that they actually continued because "Around The Sun" was the sound of a band that lost the plot. My opinion may be different if I go back to listen again now, but I have no interest. It would be for completist reasons only.

Grade: C-
JHO Picks:
1. Aftermath
2. Electron Blue
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Accelerate (2008)

Brief Overview: Don't you hate when a band with a long history release a new album and what you hear about it and read about it is the phrase "Return To Form". Well here's one time I didn't mind hearing that phrase. It got my curiosity back up. And while it may not be their most essential recording, it still is damn fine album. Stipe found his swagger in his lyrics and Buck and Mills play with reckon abandon. It's the band having fun again, which is something that was refreshing and desperate for their survival. "Man Sized Wreath", "Until The Day Is Done", "Supernatural Serious" all fantastic slices of guitar driven rock. One of the few times an album, if not the band's best, got my back on board after the ship had already capsized. I was glad to have the guys from Athens back with new material I liked in my IPOD. Thirty four felt like seventeen to me.

Grade: B+
JHO Picks:
1. I'm Gonna DJ
2. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
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Collapse Into Now (2011)
Brief Overview: Review later next week! I just grabbed this off E Music the other day.
JHO Picks: TBD
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Essential:
Life's Rich Pageant (1986)
Document (1987)
Automatic For The People (1992)

Recommended:
Murmur (1983)
Reckoning (1984)
Green (1988)
New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)

Personal Best Of Collection
DISC 1
1. Pilgrimage
2. Talk About The Passion
3. Don't Go Back To Rockville
4. Pretty Persuasion
5. Maps and Legends
6. Can't Get There From Here
7. Fall On Me
8. Cuyohoga
9. Disturbance At The Heron House
10. It's The End Of The World As We Know It
11. Orange Crush
12. World Leader Pretend
13. Me In Honey
14. Country Feedback
DISC 2
1. Drive
2. Nightswimming
3. What's The Frequency Kenneth?
4. Let Me In
5. New Test Leper
6. Electrolite
7. Sad Professor
8. At My Most Beautiful
9. Imitation Of Life
10. Al The Way To Reno
11. Aftermath
12. Electron Blue
13. I'm Gonna DJ
14. Living Well Is The Best Revenge

Source: http://www.jhostation.com/2011/03/artist-spotlight-rem-all-you-hear-is.html

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