Entertainment For Lively Minds
REM: It crawled from the south. Has it crept from the grave?
I was in resigned agreement with both the recent thread on the demise of the TOILH and the forensic summation of same in a recent Word podcast.So I spotified the latest release with weary listlessness rather than enthusiasm: a feeling not unlike the obligation, for old time's sake, to go for a drink with an old friend who's been wrecked by life - and whose misery is only going to rub off on you as the Guinness swirls down and the bitterness curdles up.
I was wrong. Yes! I was fucking wrong! Me an' me ol' mate just had a GREAT night! Sure, this IS as if REM are parodying themselves, each track reminiscent of a different period/album but it is all the better for it and, for me, here's why: Instead of me jadedly bitching ' Oh that sounds like Document, that sounds like they're trying to rewrite Automatic ...etc,' with each song I get - that buzziest of phrases - a Proustian rush - reminding me of my late teens (Document) or my early 20s (Automatic) or mid 20s hedonism (Monster) and much of which has gone before and after... Part of the fun seems to be feeling where each tracks transports you back to.
Of course, it's imperfect...
What record execs might term 'the ballads' don't always have the melodic payoff they seem to initially promise and one or two tracks don't grab me, but lordy, this is as fine a collection of tunes as they've , gulp, ever produced. No point doing a track by track: I just hope some of you will give it a spin and see if you agree. Blue, the final track, does, however, deserve special mention. Essentially a rewrite of Country Feedback, it shows Mr Blueface in defiant mood; refusing to justify himself in an apologia por vita sua par excellence. (I know, I'm quite the tosser)
It's a piece which manages to achieve the seemingly impossible; to get the disinterested listener to shift their Stipe -view from that of envied millionaire non-delivering has-been to the Salingery empathy he used to make you feel - and with a rousing positive Buckshot guitar and shouty chorus finale it marks a great finish to a great new REM album.
I will be buying it.
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I got it today...
and am just about to retire to bed with the headphones to take it in.
I thought "Accelerate" was a great album so I'm not sure why this new release has been met with such a negative response even before people have had a chance to hear it.
lovely to read of such enthusiasm
and positivity
I'm not a fan of REM
but I'm amazed by the amount of grief they get from their 'fans' every time a new record comes out. All bands that have the sort of longevity REM have will see their appeal become more selective in terms of their recorded works, why are REM expected to buck that trend (if you pardon the pun)?
Anyone read the Stipe interview
in the Observer? It will surely surprise no-one that virtually his every utterance in it could easily make Pseuds' Corner.
Stipe on listening to Patti Smith's 'Horses':
Could it really?
Thanks for that Johnny. Jesus, for a moment there I thought that artists who've proven their worth over thirty years or so might have the right to articulate themselves as they saw fit. Thanks for putting me right. What a pseud eh? Shall we beat him up during lunchbreak?
Go on, let's.
Of course he's entitled to express himself however he wishes,
just like I'm entitled to laugh at quotes like Joe's above.
Do you honestly believe he found listening to Horses so traumatic that it made him vomit?
I like REM, never miss them when they visit, but even Stipe's biggest fans would be hard pushed to deny that he can be a tad pretentious at times.
I don't know what any of that has to do with wanting to beat him up. It is possible to find someone a bit ridiculous without turning into some high school jock, you know.
all true
But I just thought that given the tone of the OP that yours was a rather tangentally mean-spirited comment. There have been many REM threads of late where such a remark might have nestled well, and I was trying to counteract that. Just as you have the right to make the remark, I have the right to call you on the spirit in which I perceive you to have made it. As for the school bullying comment, "pretentious' is a facile stick to wield, but without pretentiousness there would be no pop. Have you considered the possibility that his tongue may have been in his cheek when he made the vomiting remark? Nuance is rarely communicated by text alone.
Do you like the record?
Like the single very much,
will get the album tomorrow.
You're probably right about my first post. Must have been feeling a bit grumpy!
That's very sound of you to say.
I hope you like it. Have a nice weekend. It's been, as MY recent posts may have suggested, a long week.
Well said Vorgon.
I approached it with the same trepidation - but I've been mighty impressed with it.
Seconded
Well put, Vorgongod. Your enthusiasm is infectious, and I'll definitely be giving it a spin on Spotify the first chance I get on the basis of what you've written.
Thanks Vorongod.
I admit to being one of the rather jaded and cynical R.E.M. fans who has bemoaned the last few releases and been very negative about the prospects for this one. I had even resolved that this would be the first time I didn't get the album as soon as it came out.
On the strength of your comments, I've listened to the iTunes samples and decided to reverse my previous decision and buy it today. Thanks, and have an up arrow.
Having listened through 3 times now:
It is very good. Some of the lyrics are a bit banal, a couple of songs don't quite do it for me... but it is a very good, worthwhile record. Thanks, Vorongod, for giving me a shove in its direction.
Me too...
listened around 3 times right through and really enjoying it.
It's a pretty strong album that flows quite nicely and has a couple of great energetic tracks - especially the almost Husker Du like "That Someone Is You". "Mine Smell Like Honey and "Alligator..." are also stand out catchy numbers.
We can now relax and all go about our daily lives - it's not the end of the world disaster that people seemed to be predicting!
REM threads return to form
I approached this thread with weary trepidation only to find it wasn't the usual spiel about REM losing it. What a nice surprise!
well done Mr V
for actually listening to it before passing judgement. A rarity indeed.
Currently listening to it on Spotify.
It's actually pretty good. It's just those little bits that sound like they're repeating themselves which give it a bad name. It's very accessible and has some corking tunes on it.
I wonder what The Smiths
would have sounded like if they'd made it to 15 albums?
What do people expect from a band like R.E.M. for god's sake, bangin' techno? Dubstep? They are what they are...a traditional folk-rock band steeped in their American Southern roots. They have an "enigimatic" singer who's a bit pretentious - big deal! You need a bit of pretention and character in rock don't you?
I always thought they've handled themsleves with dignity and decency, proof that it can be done despite world-wide fame and fortune. They are genuine musicians doing it for the love of the music hence their numerous side projects and low-key appearances.
Most current commercial alt.rock bands - Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Strokes for example, are creatively washed up by their second albums - let alone their 15th!
Agree
qv The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Genesis, The Who, Ray Davies...
Amazon
I noticed Amazon have it for £3.99 on MP3 until Sunday if you fancy taking a punt.
I have done it
I got in last night and put the album on Spotify.
I had previously posted elsewhere that I wouldn't bother as I had heard a track via the Guardian website and it sounded far too like 'Drive' for its own good.
R.E.M. did themselves no favours by using this track to promote the album as it was certainly the weakest on quite a strong album.
I did enjoy it on the whole and it will certainly command repeated plays. Thanks for making me investigate further.
It's the vocal..
I’ve listened to the album and it’s like eating a cake with a missing ingredient, but you can’t quite work out what that ingredient is… but I THINK it may be the vocal. Stipey’s voice finally appears to be crumbling with age (prematurely it would seem – this only happened to McCartney about five years ago). What used to be the bold and emotional howl of someone excited by life’s possibilities is now more like the faded whimper of a pensioner on Prozac.
And I’m not sure if they’re spending less on production but their last few records (going back to Reveal) seem to lack the gravitas of, say, Automatic For the People, or the character of their early records…
He smokes...
...like an experimental beagle. Rollies, too. That would probably explain the increasing rasp in his voice. It's been iffy for a while now, although when I saw them at Glastonbury in 2003 (*fabulous* greatest hits set) it was in fine form.
Contrarily enough
I've really taken notice of how good his voice is on these songs. Smoke-related or not, it seems weathered and wearied as a consequence of life's experiences and tribulations, and sounds all the more affecting for it. I noted this on the first hearing of 'UBerlin' and particularly on 'Oh My Heart', where he sounds devastated and devastating.
You people...
...are going to make me break my promise at this rate. Damn you.
Same boat
...although I always knew I'd get it. Never say the word employed at the beginning of this sentence again!
go on Bob!
You know it makes sense...
It's A Bit Of A Grower
I am listening to it now and I must admit it is growing on me, maybe R.E.M. raised expectations too much in the past and are trading on past glories but I am beginning to like what I hear more and more.
Excellent review
Vorgongod - I am persuaded.
For £3.99
It's worth it I reckon. O my heart is lovely, Discoverer is pretty good. That's a pint you owe me Vorgs...
Stipe & co
Glad I'm not alone, loved it the first time I heard it, not sure I could say that about any album they've done since probably Up. If you liked them then, you'll like this now. Wish the buggers were touring it.
Collapse into Now
is an excellent album. One of their best I'd say.
Occasionally trite lyrics - 'hip hip hooray', 'cherry pie' aside, it's brilliant. Lots of great tracks, so far Uberlin is my favourite, but also Oh My Heart, Discoverer, All the Best and more soar. The Stipe/Mills vocal acrobatics through the second half of It Happened Today is as good as anything they have done.
Buck's guitar playing simultaneously seems to reference his greatest licks whilst taking giant strides forward. The sound as his riff from the opening track chimes in again at album's close is another hair-raising moment.
Has a band this far into their career ever produced a record this strong? The best since ...? A return to form..? Forget all that. It's the new REM album and it's terrific.
Yes
That part really is gorgeous. Here is an extended remix vid: