Blue Moon Playlist Review Club - Season 2 - Episode 24 - RobMCFC – Primary and Secondary Colours (pg 412)

[stonerblue]

Bollox, gonna have to climb into the attic and root through boxes now.

 

[mancity1]

Thanks all and my apologies for having written little so far here though I have been listening to the selections!

For me, I hope you'll forgive me skirting the intended bounds of this thread by choosing five songs that actually comprise my hands-down favo(u)rite EP of all time, R.E.M.’s debut “Chronic Town” from 1982.

Through a decade of a lot of very good things (that presaged some not-so-good things in their later years), this is the best thing R.E.M. ever did in my mind -- five perfect little songs.

I know that roughly 42% of Michael Stipe’s lyrics are utterly unintelligible. But every tune runs at pace with Buck/Mills/Berry driving their instruments along like an outboard motor. Moreover, there are no slow, mournful numbers about the demise of the South, nor character studies about wrinkled old men, nor introspective doleful schmaltz.

Granted, I do love three of R.E.M.’s 14 LPs top to bottom: “Murmur”, “Life’s Rich Pageant” and “Document”. And I have a lot of like for everything else they did up to and including “Out of Time”.

It’s always puzzled me that so many Brits like their later stuff better than their early stuff, which is one reason I chose this. To me the band died with “Automatic For The People”, which was 1992 (I’ve always found that record cloying and irritating).

To me “Chronic Town” has stood the test of time – to me, it will always be evocative of what R.E.M. is SUPPOSED to sound like. Just unpretentious, skittering, jangling, speedy, expeditious fun, and (crucially) unspoiled by the demands of the marketplace too.

Even 40 years later, unspoiled fun still sounds good.

1. Wolves, Lower
2. Gardening At Night
3. Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)
4. 1,000,000
5. Stumble

As a huge fan of early Sunny Boys for those outside oz or fans of Jeremy Oxley ( check them out ) and the Saints you cannot come to any other conclusion that listening to this EP along with songs like Ages of You is nothing more than making a fun day that much better. I bought it in 1985 and have battered it to pillar and post and back in an effort to leave it memory but I cannot and it still sounds as good as it did back then along with the desire to keep them as fresh and relevant forty years on and doing so. If I make it to ninety deaf and incoherent I will still want to listen to these high energy, unrelenting tracks that just make one more than forever grateful that the lads from Athens decided to make records. Not scoring but this as close to a ten as I could give 5 tracks.

 

[RobMCFC]

Ah, the "old REM v later REM" debate. I own two REM studio albums and one compilation. More on that later.

I enjoyed listening to this playlist from their early years - it's got a lot of energy and jangle, and whilst the tracks do sound similar to each other, I don't think they sound the same. "Carnival of Sorts" and "1,000,000" were my favourites - they seemed to have more changes than the others.

The two studio albums I own are the ones mentioned by journolud - "Automatic For The People" and "New Adventures in Hi-Fi". I'm not a massive REM fan: I don't dislike their old material and I don't love their new material, but I do prefer their 90s albums. I like the fact that they incorporated different instruments into their sound (although no doubt if I listened closely enough, I'd probably find that they were always there). The melodies on songs like "Find the River", "Try Not To Breathe", "E-Bow The Letter" are really nice while songs like "Ignoreland", "The Wake-up Bomb" and "So fast, So Numb" are really satisfying rockers.Plus I like the production more on these albums.

Foggy said he thought REM evolved but he didn't like their evolution whereas I probably wouldn't have given their early stuff a listen without hearing the newer material. Just goes to show we all hear different things in what we listen to.

 

[mancity1]

Ah, the "old REM v later REM" debate. I own two REM studio albums and one compilation. More on that later.

I enjoyed listening to this playlist from their early years - it's got a lot of energy and jangle, and whilst the tracks do sound similar to each other, I don't think they sound the same. "Carnival of Sorts" and "1,000,000" were my favourites - they seemed to have more changes than the others.

The two studio albums I own are the ones mentioned by journolud - "Automatic For The People" and "New Adventures in Hi-Fi". I'm not a massive REM fan: I don't dislike their old material and I don't love their new material, but I do prefer their 90s albums. I like the fact that they incorporated different instruments into their sound (although no doubt if I listened closely enough, I'd probably find that they were always there). The melodies on songs like "Find the River", "Try Not To Breathe", "E-Bow The Letter" are really nice while songs like "Ignoreland", "The Wake-up Bomb" and "So fast, So Numb" are really satisfying rockers.Plus I like the production more on these albums.

Foggy said he thought REM evolved but he didn't like their evolution whereas I probably wouldn't have given their early stuff a listen without hearing the newer material. Just goes to show we all hear different things in what we listen to.

Good points Rob , I appreciated the similar tempo with high energy sound that OZ bands such as those mentioned albeit the Saints were originally known as punk so it was logical I would gravitate to REM early on. For me it was just more production and sophistication in the studio as the years passed by with Stipe modifying his arching style IMO.

 

[journolud]

OK I admit it, I first became acquainted with REM when Saving My Religion became a hit. Let's face it though it's a great song off a great album which also contains my favourite REM song, Half a World Away. And probably my least favourite Shiny Happy People although over familiarity with Everybody Hurts makes that one a bit of a minus as well. What followed was a good to great run of albums but I also worked backwards, some great songs on Green and further back still, partly due to meeting the lady who became and still is my wife who was a fan and had a couple of their albums.

I've never gone quite this far back though. It's unmistakeably REM and five good tracks albeit a bit unsophisticated in places. Nothing wrong with that of course.

Standout track is Carnival of Sorts but that might be because I'm already familiar with it from the Best of album. The first best of album (I'm sure there have been several and that Shiny Happy People and Everybody Hurts are on the others) which goes up to but doesn't include Green (maybe a bit before I don't know). That is an album I turn to often, 16 tracks and not a stinker amongst them, a great album for driving to.

I enjoyed listening to this and will relisten to some of the earlier albums but I suspect that the Best of may well suffice for me from their initial phase of life. Green through to New Adventures is my favourite spell of theirs after which I thought they lost some inspiration until Accelerate, a short and sweet album and something of a return to form.

 

[Coatigan]

Never liked REM. Never really listened to REM, not properly. The hitsnare well enough that you could kmow them wothout ever having made an effort to listen to them. I found this one interesting. For a start, if someone had put it on and asked me to guess who it was probably would have taken me a good 10 guesses.

It Was repetative, as others have said. It is an EP and they can probably get away with it, on an album that would be something to pick at. But it was fine to listen to, didn't mind it at all. Has made me appreciate the band a bit more, probably not enough to look beyond it.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Never liked REM. Never really listened to REM, not properly. The hitsnare well enough that you could kmow them wothout ever having made an effort to listen to them. I found this one interesting. For a start, if someone had put it on and asked me to guess who it was probably would have taken me a good 10 guesses.

It Was repetative, as others have said. It is an EP and they can probably get away with it, on an album that would be something to pick at. But it was fine to listen to, didn't mind it at all. Has made me appreciate the band a bit more, probably not enough to look beyond it.

Agreed on the repetitive point, and I think you hear them mixing up tempos much more on their studio records. Every one has a few songs where the tempo slows down appreciably. One music critic I love described this really well -- the problem with early REM on slow songs is you actually have to ennunciate the lyrics; you can't garble everything like Stipe does here on the fast ones. If you listen to "Camera" from their second full length record "Reckoning", it is fucking awful because you can't understand a word Stipe is singing. Not too much later, he started actually singing words you could understand, especially on "Document", when suddenly his anger at the state of the world flared up, and he wanted to be sure everyone understood that.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

I have to say Foggy I’m a tad disappointed at your selection, don’t get me wrong I like early REM and I’d only heard ‘Carnival of Sorts’ before.I was just hoping for
something more leftfield like Gangsta Rap or Black Flag from yourself.i have certainly enjoyed your nominations on the other thread, so maybe next time.

When it comes back around to me I'll be more creative! I just wanted to sneak this one in there based on past conversations, and I'd already written a bit about how much I love this EP, so it was an expedient choice.

I won't be offering any "gangsta rap" unless Public Enemy counts (hint: they don't), and while I own a lot of Black Flag, really only "White Minority" is my go-to. I might go with a punk-to-pop transition theme. Or junk one-hit wonders? I thought about doing 5 songs I fucking hate too. We'll see!!

 

[bennyboy]

My turn next week 12th December.
All ready to go just the write up to do.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I like REM in the main. Foggy put me on to this playlist some time ago and I like it without raving about it. I get what people say about the bands evolution, I have time for every album from way back until their last couple and they have written some exceptional songs throughout their career. I have a soft spot for Monster which not many appreciate but I saw them do it live and was well impressed. I saw them again a couple of years later and it was probably the worst concert I have ever attended. They really were just going through the motions.
(Well maybe my last visit to see The Who was worse).

@RobMCFC can you add me to the list of playlist proposers please.