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
All bands devolve (or dissolve); most bands evolve too, unless they’re one shots. Plenty of bands who started raw later matured into a more refined, complex sound (Sonic Youth); others have been all over the place stylistically, stretching themselves for better or worse (Neil Young); still others “found” a sound that became popular with a mass audience but left their original acolytes behind (too many to mention). I like — and dislike — all kinds of artists who fit these categories and at different stages of their careers — early/late, popular/cultish. In the case of REM, my preference is for the early stuff, not the late stuff — they weren’t “sell-outs”; they didn’t head a new direction because they wanted to expand an audience — they just evolved and it was popular. It just wasn’t popular with me.I’m sure there was discussion on one of these music threads many (blue)moons ago about bands evolving or not evolving with the opinion being you couldn’t keep churning out the same old thing.
Seems like the evolution of REM was the exception to that as though it’s a cardinal sin they committed by getting big and appealing to a wider audience. I don’t buy it of course, maybe because I came to REM later than most (Out of Time as it happens). That doesn’t mean I’m not incapable of working backwards and appreciating the early stuff. Like some sort of musical ingenu though I love albums like Automatic for the People and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Still good to get an idea of what they are supposed to sound like… A bit rough and ready as it happens but I’m sure I’ll have more to say after a few listens…
I thought similar last night.Put this EP on youtube and listened to each song for around a minute...my mind is deceiving me because they all sound the same...guitar start, weird vocals, harmonies, drum fills...every song.
It's really one long song split up isn't it?
Put this EP on youtube and listened to each song for around a minute...my mind is deceiving me because they all sound the same...guitar start, weird vocals, harmonies, drum fills...every song.
It's really one long song split up isn't it?
I did. I went back and started the EP and left it alone.Could have listened to one whole song with the same amount of time.