R.E.M.

[Deebank]

yes

[naughty boy]

Yeah. I’ve really come around to them again

[Ranking Ted]

Yeah. I’ve really come around to them again

They’re one of those bands you need a real break from, I think. I got so fucked off with the middlebrow politeness and Q mag gurning of the later years that they completely spoiled themselves for me. Forward x years, hearing Reckoning cold, all their magic and mystery comes flooding back. They were a special band for a long time and we should be grateful. No one judges the Stones on Bridges To Babylon after all.

[Matt Wilson]

From Murmur to Monster, most of it is excellent.

[jimboo]

Yeah. I’ve really come around to them again

They’re one of those bands you need a real break from, I think. I got so fucked off with the middlebrow politeness and Q mag gurning of the later years that they completely spoiled themselves for me. Forward x years, hearing Reckoning cold, all their magic and mystery comes flooding back. They were a special band for a long time and we should be grateful. No one judges the Stones on Bridges To Babylon after all.

They are aging well ain't they?

[Goat Boy]

I've been enjoying Automatic recently again. The Warner brothers years are weaker but they were still hitting highs until the mid 90s.

[Dayodead]

Wish more people would actually listen to their later albums (Rather than merely gripe about the good ol' days).. and realize 'New Adventures...' (Top 3) 'Up' 'Accelerate' and 'Collapse into Now' are excellent albums...Hell, even 'Reveal' and 'Around the Sun' have moments...

[Ranking Ted]

Wish more people would actually listen to their later albums (Rather than merely gripe about the good ol' days).. and realize 'New Adventures...' (Top 3) 'Up' 'Accelerate' and 'Collapse into Now' are excellent albums...Hell, even 'Reveal' and 'Around the Sun' have moments...

I agree to an extent - although, for me, New Adventures is where the run ends (others claim Monster, others Up). After that, it’s patchy stuff, no wholly convincing album although the last two in particular had their moments. Reveal and ATS are pretty awful, in the main.

[naughty boy]

The first track on Reveal is pretty good - can't remember the name. Actually I think the first four things there are fine.

[The Modernist]

Yeah. I’ve really come around to them again

You're always starting threads on them!

[naughty boy]

Yeah. I’ve really come around to them again

You're always starting threads on them!

They interest me and what people say about them interests me - they tend to rate some of their most horrible flag-waving monstrosities or dreary, endless 'ballads' highly.

They've put out some dreadful shit and some songs for the ages. They sort of straddle that kind of old-fashioned approach to being a band/writing songs and a more modern post-punk thing - which is probably their undoing. They're catastrophically fucking clueless, half the time.

[naughty boy]

and yet...

[The Modernist]

I don't find them that exciting, to talk about or listen to really. They're just a decent guitar band, but they seldom hit the heights. I did enjoy some of the earlier albums though.

[naughty boy]

oh G

[Robert]

I guess I am inbetween G & J here. There's maybe about 15-20 songs that I really love and the rest I don't really care about all that much. But, even
my top 5 REM I wouldn't exactly call 'exciting'.

[naughty boy]

They're never exciting. Where did that word come from?

They're occasionally beautiful, however.

[The Modernist]

'Don't Go Back to Rockville' kind of typifies them. It's good, if you play it you'll invariably enjoy it. You may even sing along. But is it a song that will ever obsess you, do you ever feel a desperation to hear it, does it it transform you to another world...? Well not really.
I don't mean to damn them with faint praise necessarily, but that's how I feel about them.

[Dr Markus]

They always seemed up their own arse to me.

[naughty boy]

'Don't Go Back to Rockville' kind of typifies them. It's good, if you play it you'll invariably enjoy it. You may even sing along. But is it a song that will ever obsess you, do you ever feel a desperation to hear it, does it it transform you to another world...? Well not really.

I'd say it does transport me, absolutely. It's a wonderful song and a bit of a tearjerker in my dotage. But it's a rare example.

[Goat Boy]

Oh I think Rockville is wonderful and it sorta aches with a particular kind of adolescent heartbreak. Mills had such a lovely voice

I can also play it on the guitar. Which is nice