halt. before your eyes apathetically somersault with a knowing glaze, retain something of an open mind and permit yourself a chance to hear r.e.m. before they became a punchline searching for a joke. i am an absolute whore for mood in music, and this just about paralyzes me:
r.e.m.'s first ep "chronic town" bears only the name of the same band that would hideously deform and mutate a decade later, releasing songs as inert, awkward and gruesome as "what's the frequency, kenneth?" the early incarnation of r.e.m. was a fiercely independent, anthemic, personal and vital organism, and their early music is representative of the absolute best of what comprises american music (before later epitomizing its absolute nadir and fight for relevance). i am an unwavering fanatic for their early albums, and it is increasingly taxing trying to get people to give it a chance (which i suspect is a bias mostly based on "everybody hurts" and "shiny happy people").
ornamented with the usual velvet underground influence, r.e.m. ascended from a scene in athens that blessed the world with the likes pylon, the db's, and the b-52s (who were also once pretty damned good). they took what the feelies had done on "crazy rhythms" and broadened it, infected it with their own dynamic of jangling guitars and call-and-response vocals, coloring their music with an unmistakably dark, southern feel. "chronic town" differs greatly not only from r.e.m.'s later discography, but also from their subsequent release and debut full-length "murmur," an album that decelerated the pace of these songs but beset itself with murky atmospherics, acoustic guitars and buried voices. though their second record, "reckoning," reprised the speed and celerity of "chronic town," it had its own personality (a trait that was developed with each subsequent album, each one having a different sound than the next). "southern gothic" is a term generally employed to describe "murmur," and though that title is rather fitting, it is more evenly applied to their third and - in my worthless opinion - greatest record, "fables of the reconstruction," which is nearly impenetrably produced, features songs bereft of pop hooks, has lyrics referencing man ray, and has an inescapble atmosphere that began to recede quickly thereafter (rearing its head later for songs like "country feedback" and most of "automatic for the people"). had r.e.m. disbanded after recording their third record, as they intended to, they would've been a band as mythologized and heroically worshipped as the velvet underground or the smiths. that's not to discount the entirety of what they'd done since the "fables" album, as their subsequent albums verged on either good or fantastic. their fourth record, "lifes rich pageant," initiated a larger audience as it contained a hit single with "fall on me," and began to incorporate political themes and lyrics that could actually be understood. "document" followed closely on the heels of that, amplifying the focus on politics, and it became evident that they were gravitating to a larger sound with bigger production (and "document" too became an even larger album, carrying both "its the end of the world as we know it" and "the one i love"...incidentally, also featuring a wire cover with "strange"). "document" also signified a slight shift in quality, as its coherence as an album was severely derailed with songs that seemed painfully awkward, leaving it a good, somewhat uneven effort. r.e.m. was attempting to adopt the sound of a hard rock band, which was definitely at odds with the mood and tone of their early records. they ended up signing to warner bros. and leaving i.r.s. records behind, releasing an album that remains of ill-renown, "green." though "green" takes an immense bit of abuse for its complete stylistic shifts - utilizing mandolins, keyboards, vocal effects and a whole banana boat of god knows what else - it is an album i find positively refreshing, interesting and beautiful (despite the inclusion of "stand," which isn't nearly as bad as it appears within the actual context of the album...it compensates with "world leader pretend" so everybody can kiss my pale, sun-starved ass). "green" necessitated a tour that enlarged their existence within the public consciousness, and their next release, "out of time," only further augured their presence, spawning the hit that probably doesn't even need mentioned. everybody is probably squeezed dry of any lingering affection for "losing my religion," and it is easily forgivable given its repetition on airwaves. i still quite enjoy it, and i find it to be one of the most well-written and lyrical pop songs of the past twenty years, however asinine the public perception was regarding its "meaning." "out of time" also featured "shiny happy people" and "radio song" with guest rap vocals by krs-one, and after typing the preceding fragment i could easily envision someone saying to themselves, "well that album has one song that's been a victim of over-saturation and popular exsanguination, one song that is so obnoxious you'd drive sewing needles through your ears to avoid hearing it, and another song that exhibits aging white folks scrambling to maintain credibility in a culture increasingly dominated by hip-hop...i see no reason at all to ever hear this album in my long, miserable life." yes, that's a perfectly cogent point, one whose merits i'm less than blind to; however, "out of time" wholly redeems itself with songs as incredible as "half a world away," "texarkana," "me in honey," "low," "near wild heaven," and one of my favorite songs, "country feedback." the record ends so perfectly with the fluency of its last five songs, that i immediately forget what kind of shambling mess it is. and anyway, who doesn't like a little krs-one now and then? "automatic for the people" arrived shortly thereafter, signifying not only a remarkable album but the absolute creative death of r.e.m. if you notice, that's two observable times in their - at this point - decade-long career in which they could've gracefully vanquished themselves, saving their music from the perdition to which it would tumble. "automatic for the people" spawned yet another disastrously enormous hit with "everybody hurts," which is really kind of an honest attempt to write a song like "happy birthday" for people who are on the verge of either climbing a rooftop with an assault rifle or pulling a swan dive off an overpass. i can't say i begrudge the idea behind that at all, nor the song it would produce. it does quite laughably occur to me, though, that r.e.m. releases its weakest songs for singles and radio play. had they been a little more selective, it would probably be less of a psychological battle to get people to give them an honest listen. just know that for every "stand" or "shiny happy people," there's about 40 "feeling gravity's pull"s or "country feedback"s. "automatic for the people" - in a perfect world, absolutely foreign to this one - would've been a fitting, nearly elliptical end to their career, as there is barely a song on that album that doesn't invoke death in some manner or another. i don't know how many other mainstream bands would create a song like "breathe" or "star me kitten," but at some point it actually happened, as unthinkable as it may now seem. even a song like "everybody hurts" requires a pair of brass balls that possess their own gravitational properties. imagine trying to write and distribute a song like that now. everybody is too goddamned jaded and indifferent to feign an emotion, let alone one that doesn't insidiously reek of beer farts and overly masculine bullshit. "automatic" is a nearly perfect album, more cohesive than "out of time," encompassing nearly all the peccadilloes and moods that define the band's sound. however, some people just don't know when the hell to quit. it's as though reinhold messner reached the top of everest and said, "there's no more mountain to climb, fuck it, i'll just cartwheel down the side." r.e.m.'s next record was tantamount to seppuku, and it is here that you could effectively claim that they had given up the ghost and lost it. their next album, "monster," was the aural equivalent of a porsche, divorce and renewed interest in jogging and fiber intake all clumsily rolled into one - an utter mid-life crisis that is dreadfully uncomfortable to sit through. what possesses a group of 40 year-olds to purchase 97 distortion pedals so they can play to the same dull rock backbeat, is as unanswerable a question as why your father is banging his security, leaving your mother, waxing his car at odd hours of the night, spending abnormal amounts of time in the bathroom and eating box after nauseating box of kashi go lean fiber twigs cereal. it is a signpost of sheer desperation, and it is terminal. "monster" had the joyless and irritating "what's the frequency kenneth?" and the pure psychic terror of "bang and blame," not to mention the punishing mediocrity of "star 69," a song so starved for ideas and passion that it will entice you to leave the room and bludgeon yourself on the medicine cabinet. despite how achingly terrible 98% of the album is, it is even more frustrating that a song as outright bitchy and cool as "crush with eyeliner," or a song as perverse and swinging as "tongue" (sung in a delightfully off-putting falsetto) is on a record this bad. the only other passable song is the ballad "strange currencies," a song which is mostly redeemed by its title alone. "monster" is forever condemned to the land of misfit toys, scuttling among the tumbleweeds, banished to the dollar bargain bins and cut-out racks of record stores, obliged to spend its insignificant life trapped under a heap of discarded duke nukem games and baha men cds in goodwills across america. if michael stipe is lucky, there will be no counsel or choir of spiritual delegates, no st. peter to greet him in death to shame him for this album. it only gets worse from here, as "new adventures in hi-fi" held on to the remnants of "monster," further driving the nail in the coffin with outtakes from the previous album. admittedly, "how the west was won and where it got us" begins the album on a breath of clear, alpine air - unfurling itself gently with an interesting verse, interesting instrumentation and a chorus that is absolutely unnecessary. again, there are 3 or 4 songs (out of something like 17) that actually move in an interesting direction, chief among them being "e-bow the letter," featuring guest vocals from patti smith and lyrics reminiscent of "country feedback." "electrolite" is also pretty good. the high points here far outshine those on "monster," and in many ways it is an infinitely more tolerable excursion into identity crisis. the drummer, bill berry, wisely decided to jump ship after suffering an aneurysm while playing live (i speculate it was probably during "what's the frequency, kenneth?"), leaving mike mills, peter buck and michael stipe to founder and flail, reaching out for a new direction and new way to shame themselves. "up" was released after the departure of berry, and they placate his absence with drum machines and a newfound reliance on electronics. it could be argued that r.e.m. were attempting to rip off radiohead at this point, but it really doesn't deter from the fact that "up" actually benefits from some kind of change, however drastic. it is an uncertain album, but at least it delivered "daysleeper" to the general public. despite finding somewhere remotely interesting to go, r.e.m. decided to make another embarrassing album with "reveal," whose platitudes and overproduction effectively killed off whatever was left, leaving an album that didn't even have one good song among its casualties, which was a stunning new feat for the band, as well as a direction they would continue to pursue with the comatose "around the sun." i remember nothing from that album, and i hope i am never subject to flashbacks. "accelerate" is their new album and i've still yet to give it any real attention - perhaps i never will.
you see, i can spit as much inhuman and intolerant shit about r.e.m. as anybody, but none of their recent perfunctory albums can blight or blemish the illustrious, impossibly wonderful band they once were, let alone obliterate the sheer quantity of quality music within their back pages. dylan hasn't released a good album since 1974 for chrissakes, so the matter of "latter day sins" affecting earlier music is kind of ridiculous. it should be expected that bands wear out their ingenuity and suffer from pattern exhaustion, ultimately repeating themselves ad nausea or unwisely venturing into territory to which they are ill-prepared. if the smiths would've remained together, they would've ended up sounding like culture club or something equally repugnant. none of it diminishes the personal connection and intimacy that can be forged by listening to those early albums, and given that r.e.m. has made at least 6 great records and 2 damned good ones, they are afforded a lifetime of shitty releases from here on out.
i'm going to post "murmur," "fables of the reconstruction" and "green" in the future, but for the time being please avail them of their sins and enjoy "chronic town."
download r.e.m. "chronic town"
http://rapidshare.com/files/211609199/R.E.M_1982_Chronic_Town.rar
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