Last week, we ranked the work of Pearl Jam, from worst to best, as part of our new regular feature Counting Down. This week, we’re taking on the catalog of R.E.M. Make your case for Monster in the comments!
While it is doubtless an oversimplification, the pantheonic 30-year run of R.E.M can essentially be broken down into a three-act drama.
Act One: Emerging without seeming explanation, as if some new, weird version of the Byrds had just crawled out of a backwater Georgia swamp, R.E.M. landed forcefully on the college radio and independent music scene with a seemingly fully formed and utterly indelible sound. Pete Buck’s unmistakable Rickenbacker, Mike Mills’ tuneful bass work and compelling harmonies, and Bill Berry’s forceful drumming all served to abet the mysterious, oblique presence of lead vocalist Michael Stipe, a singer whose habit of mumbling non-sequiturs only seemed to invest them with a strange profundity. The youthful iteration of R.E.M. felt alien but approachable. Although many of their influences were cosmopolitan — the Velvet Underground, Warren Zevon — their own songs could often feel like vestiges of the antebellum South, set to a jangle rock beat. Brilliant, strange hooks appeared in seemingly endless multitudes. They were at once artistically ambitious and almost impossible to dislike. It was the closest thing to inevitable that they would, for better or worse, soon become ubiquitous pop stars.
Act Two: So it was foretold — R.E.M. crosses over from indie favorites into the most famous band in the world. While the seeds were initially sown by the radio hit “The One I Love” on their brilliant final record for the indie label IRS, rock stardom was truly consecrated for the band on their first two major label releases Green and Out Of Time. This period marks the emergence of two elements of middle-period R.E.M., which will ultimately inspire, grate and occasionally run together. Leaving behind his idiosyncratic teen-journal utterances, Stipe emerges as a full-throated lyricist with a “message.” Their ambition to grow the band’s sound and scope is admirable, and on more than one occasion R.E.M. delivers terrific politically based anthems that prove as catchy as they are occasionally preachy. On the other hand, for the first time ever, some of the songs just out-and-out suck. Even many years after the fact, it is difficult to look at made-to-order hits like “Stand” and “Shiny Happy People” as anything more then a sad capitulation to the demands of what was then called “modern rock radio.” Eventually, R.E.M.’s middle period would be utterly redeemed by the stark and uncompromising albums Automatic For The People and New Adventures In Hi-Fi. But there can be little doubt that amongst their peers (The Pixies, Meat Puppets, Replacements, etc.) R.E.M. was better positioned and more ambitious in their attempts to gain parity with the likes of U2.
Act 3: Following the frightening brain hemorrhage and subsequent retirement of original drummer Bill Berry in 1997, R.E.M. struggled admirably, but often fruitlessly to regain their footing. Berry, it seems, was more than a gifted drummer, but also a crucial part of the songwriting process and an invaluable arbiter of the direction of the band’s sounds. In his absence over the proceedings, previously perceptible fault lines between the band members became more palpable, while the lengthy and drawn-out process that characterized the breach birth of many of R.E.M.’s later releases was a polar remove from the seemingly savant-like like ease of their earlier recordings. It is a tribute to R.E.M. that none of these records sound tossed off or indifferent; to the contrary, too often the listener can hear the gears grinding amidst the terrific exertion to find something, anything, that worked. They were really trying. Having recognized their own artistic exhaustion as a unit, R.E.M. made the principled decision to disband in 2011, unwilling to subject their legacy to a profitable but humiliating never-ending oldies tour.
Let’s be clear that rankings like these should be viewed as a conversation starter rather than scripture. Any number of R.E.M. albums could certainly be called their best, and there is always the chance that they knew something we didn’t, and 20 years from now, one of the lower-ranking items here will ascend to a much higher place of privilege. So let’s buckle up and try this. The countdown begins here. Please, no wagering.
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1) Reckoning
2) Automatic for the People
3) Murmur
4) Document
5) New Adventures in Hi-Fi
6) Green
7) Lifes Rich Pageant
8) Fables of the Reconstruction
9) Out of Time
10) Accelerate
11) Collapse into Now
12) Reveal
13) Up
14) Monster (I know other people love this record, and I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s never done much for me.)
15) Around the Sun (The only truly terrible record they made.)
Fables of the Reconstruction was pretty cool.
I’ve always kinda liked Monster – a bit of a pleasant anomoly for a long time REM fan. Certainly listen to it much more than Out of Time. How many non-REM followers think “SHP” is a fair representation of what this band created – Ugh. Probably would have put Murmur at #1, but otherwise a reasonable ranking.
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we engage in downvotes for that round these parts, podner.
Um, since when is “podcast” a dirty word, and why? Out of the 50 comments I saw under this rather dubious piece of music criticism, That-Which-Must-Not-Be-Hyperlinked was the most interesting one to me. And even if there is something wrong with referencing a podcast that is directly related to the topic at hand (?), why would anyone care enough to invest the 1.8 seconds of time and energy needed to vote something innocuous like that like that down?
And I thought the Pitchfork people were a-holes. Maybe this site is not for me.
Yes, I know now how to make the 8) symbol. We’ve all learned something today.
We’re trying to get that fixed. It’s a weird WordPress bug.
NEVER!
8)
This is basically in reverse chronological order lol
Uh…no.
I’ve read that “Document” is the band member’s least favorite album. I think Michael Stipe called it “rushed”. That doesn’t really matter since the artists themselves don’t always have a clear perception of what they’ve created. That being said, 1st place…? I have some favorites songs off that album (Oddfellows Local 151, …End of the World, etc.) but have always found myself cherry-picking through it. Isn’t there a song with a saxophone on it? I love the saxophone but it seems so un-REM! Thanks for the list though. What an incredible catalogue of work!
Accelerate over Monster and Out Of Time? Reveal is a lot better than Collapse and Up in my opinion.
I feel like you’re really underrating Up and Monster, especially the latter which is one of the most underrated rock albums ever recorded by a major band. Accelerate and Collapse Into Now are good not great. I’m also not sure what’s up the almost seemingly contrarian ordering of their 80s work.
Have to go with Automatic for best, although so many of their others are great. I’ve always loved Life’s Rich Pageant, and New Adventures and well, pretty much everything else equally up until ‘Up’ which I kind of liked, just less so. They totally lost me at ‘Around the Sun’ and I haven’t heard a thing they did after that. One of the greatest bands ever, for me anyway.
I feel like i need to defend both “Radio Song” and “Shiny Happy People” – to my ears they’re both ecstatic, catchy and CAMPY pop songs !
In “Radio Song” you have those gorgeous strings over Stipe singing ‘The world is collapsing around our ears, I turn up the radio” and when it comes to Chuck-D’s verse it sounds like he’s having a fucking blast..
Sure, “Shiny Happy People” has that ridiculous chorus, but take another listen to the verses – those minor chords contrasting with hippy dippy phrases, it’s beautiful stuff
also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQ0vDAbF7s sincerely one of my fav music videos ever.
Chuck D? Wasn’t that KRS-1?
He must be thinking of Kool Thing. It’s hard to imagine Chuck D “having a blast”.
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I’m with you for most of the list but can’t believe how wrong you are about Up
My ranking:
1. Reckoning
2. Murmur
3. Monster
4. Automatic
5. Up
6. Adventures
7. Fables
8. Green
9. Document
10. Pageant
11. Time
12. Accelerate
13. Reveal
14. Collapse
15. Sun
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Basically, it’s like this:
With Bill Berry = A perfect game.
After Bill Berry = A perfect bore.
Musta been the magical unibrow.
And I will defend Shiny Happy People to my grave, on which day I will have it played at my wake. So there.
1. Automatic
2. Fables (SO ridiculously underrated)
3. Murmur
4. Document
5. Reckoning
6. Up
7. Monster
8. New Adventures
9. Pageant
10. Green
11. Out Of Time
12. Reveal
13. Accelerate (I’ll be honest, I’m sure this is a good record, I haven’t taken the time with it that I have with other R.E.M. records, but after Around the Sun, I stopped caring entirely)
14. Collapse
15. Sun
Definitely don’t agree with this list. Automatic should be #1.
I’ve never really been able to get into ‘Document’. There are a handful of songs I love on that album, but as a whole, I find the album kind of boring. Also, I’d rate ‘Up’ and ‘Out of Time’ higher. ‘Murmer’ is easily my favorite.
That’s my input.
My 15 cents:
1. Lifes Rich Pageant
2. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
3. Reckoning
4. Automatic For the People
5. Murmur
6. Fables of the Reconstruction
7. Up
8. Green
9. Out of Time
10. Document
11. Collapse Into Now
12. Accelerate
13. Monster
14. Around the Sun
15. Reveal (i can barely listen to this album)
=1) Murmur
=1) Automatic for the People
3) Reckoning
4) Document
Beyond there I can never make up my mind. Also I will always maintain that “Shiny Happy People” is a fantastic song.
Document is probably my least favorite of the IRS years, but I think the most offensive thing about this article was the diss of “Get Up” on Green. That’s a bad song?!?!? I truly don’t understand that statement in the least.
Besides Radio Song, “Out of Time is a great album.” Shiny Happy People is supposed to be ironic…although even if that’s not true I still like the song.
You hit the nails on their respective heads. We can all agree that Around the Sun is tragic (although I do kinda like “Electron Blue”). My only gripe is that I don’t understand how you can think “Stand” is ridiculous (despite however intentional), then think “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” is a deep, intelligent song. They’re both pretty inane.
Also, “Shiny Happy People” is great, shut up.
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Do The Beach Boys next! Such an interesting catalog to rank.
Dear Reader,
Today is my first day of quitting smoking.
Because of that, you get this, forever, on the Internet.
Hope you enjoy.
A Defense of R.E.M.‘s Around the Sun:
While I wouldn’t call it R.E.M.’s best album
(Automatic for the People,
New Adventures in Hi-Fi,
and Life’s Rich Pageant are in a three-way tie for me),
I am shocked and saddened that Around the Sun continues to get shat upon in the circle of popular opinion.
Alright, maybe “shocked and saddened” are the wrong words to use in lieu of what just happened in Colorado…..
Maybe “surprised and disappointed” are more appropriate.
Either way, it’s not R.E.M.’s fault that John Kerry lost the election.
R.E.M. didn’t photograph him windsurfing off Nantucket.
(At least, I don’t THINK they did…)
Texas George and his monster-faced cabinet were seen as EVIL,
and because R.E.M. are GOOD,
they believed in and supported John Kerry.
Around the Sun was released a month before the 2004 election,
and the title track was used at the end of Kerry’s “Ra-Ra” documentary,
“Going Upriver…”
For me, ANY association between the Around the Sun album and John Kerry ENDS THERE, which is part of the reason I like the album so much.
Here’s how I rank the songs, from worst to first.
The Bottom 3:
“The Worst Joke Ever” is a total buzz kill; it’s absolutely draining, from start to finish….
I get lost at “cat burglar,” and never recover….
Lyrically, it seems like Michael is talking about a friend who keeps tripping up on a self-defeating addiction….
I know the feeling.
The repeating Sesame Street intro riff for “Wanderlust” stains an otherwise solid tune.
Can’t wear THIS shirt in public anymore…..It’s THAT kind of stain.
Michael seems to be describing a self-absorbed, restless spirit yearning for more.
Sounds like me in my early 20’s.
“Boy in the Well” is on the cusp of being solid…..
Historically, I’d say my skip ratio is at about 50% for this track,
as opposed to 98% for the previous two.
For 5 minutes and 22 seconds, R.E.M. do an excellent job replicating
“that sinking feeling” of a long term relationship about to end….
Job well done, R.E.M….Not exactly a Friday night song, but that’s fine…..
(The bridge moves me every time.)
The Middle Group: (in no particular order)
“Electron Blue”
“The Outsiders”
“Make it All Okay”
“Final Straw”
“Aftermath”
All B, B+ songs….
No urges to skip any of these, ever….
They don’t make too many playlists, though.
The Cream of the Crop:
These last 5 songs are easily in my all-time R.E.M. Top 50…
(Day #2 of quitting now has a purpose…Maybe I’ll go Top 75 ).
They ALL have landed on numerous playlists over the years,
and they bring me great joy when I sing along to them.
All A-, A songs.
“Leaving New York”
“I Wanted to be Wrong”
“High Speed Train”
“The Ascent of Man”
“Around the Sun”
Listen.
R.E.M. are great because Michael Stipe is great.
Imagine substituting Jeff Tweedy in for Michael.
I think you’d have a really nice band, but it wouldn’t be a great band.
(Just the same, imagine Michael with Wilco…
Yikes!….
Like the sound of a train wreck?)
To take nothing away from Tweedy,
whom I admire and respect,
but Michael Stipe puts all other lead singers to shame.
His pen bleeds honesty and truth;
his poetry, vulnerable at times, is sung with conviction
as he passionately debates and defends the great mysteries of the human heart…..
(And he makes it look easy)
Tweedy might be in the same ballpark as a poet,
but at the end of the day, he’s no Freddy Mercury.
(Jeff would be quick to agree with me, I’m sure.)
Stipe is great because Mills, Buck and Berry are great.
As is the case with most of R.E.M.‘s distinguished catalog,
the music backing Michael serves its purpose;
it paints the overall mood with vivid colors and appropriate shapes,
it’s occasionally moving,
but, most importantly,
the music inspires Michael to bring out his mega-phone
and proudly sing the good news (even if it’s bad news)……
R.E.M.’s music protects Michael,
like a big brother should,
but it also encourages Michael to shoot for the stars…….Which he does, beautifully.
To me, Michael is the perfect marriage of introspective poet
and goose-bump soul singer…..
And he happens to play with a kick-ass jazz band
that steals the show by not trying to steal the show.
Know what i’m saying?
Long live the spirit of R.E.M!
Love always,
Joe (from Wisconsin)
P.S.
I honestly think the image of John Kerry windsurfing lost him the election.
P.P.S.
I want to thank Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry for inspiring me as a musician….My lyrics don’t hold a candle to Stipe’s, but, if you take a listen, you might be able to hear the influence…..
http://www.where-the-i-divides.com
(or just click on my name to get there…)
Cheers!
Sorry, but I can tell that you have some weird 4th dimensional taste in music. Your rating of their worst 3 albums, should actually be at the top and Around the Sun is soooo bad I was barely able to make it all the way through the thing. (Though I did twice and then filed it under “Never listen to this crap again”.
Every song on Pageant is a perfect showing of R.E.M starting to come into their own. (I still think ‘These Days’ is one of their most powerful songs to this date.)
Put some thought into a post before you spout off a bunch of gibberish. Better yet, go back and listen to their “3 worst albums” and come back a better person.
Scott Gallagher,
I take full responsibility for the mis-communication.
I guess I wasn’t as clear as I thought I was.
Life’s Rich, New-Adventures, and Automatic are R.E.M’s finest albums.
Three way tie for FIRST PLACE….(the best).
To me, those three albums are complete…
No filler…..
No skips.
Regarding Around the Sun, I had a similar experience….
For whatever reason, I remember the first few listens were VERY difficult.
After repeated listens, however, (after about a week)
the album blossomed into a magical piece of art (just as long as you skip a few songs).
Good day,
Joe
1) New Adventures in Hi-Fi
2) Automatic for the People
3) Out of Time
4) Monster
5) Up
6) Green
7) Reveal
8) Fables of the Reconstruction
9) Around the Sun
10) Collapse into Now
11) Accelerate
12) Lifes Rich Pageant
13) Reckoning
14) Document
15) Murmur
1) Document
2) Out of Time
3) Automatic for the People
4) Reckoning
5) Chronic Town
6) Fables of the Reconstruction
7) Lifes Rich Pageant
8) New Adventures in Hi-Fi
9) Green
10) Murmur
11) Monster
12) Up
13) Reveal
14) Accelerate
15) Around the Sun
16) Collapse into Now
What’s the deal with the seething hatred for the pop songs of their commercial peak (especially “Stand” and “Get Up”. I agree that “Radio Song” is anachronistic and pointless though.)? You point out how “Can’t Get There From Here” shows versatility and has a sort of tongue-in-cheek quality that sort of makes them relatable, and isn’t that song if anything a precursor to a song like “Stand”? It is pretty common knowledge how the writing process for ‘Stand’ was a deliberate attempt at making an inane bublegummy pop song as an homage to 60′s pop groups like fx The Monkees, and I personally feel it is pretty dead-on. ‘Shiny Happy People’ might be stupid but it was based on a gruesome piece of chinese propaganda which kind of gives it an edge, and it kind of reminds me of “Stand” in that it almost feels like an excercise in the sometimes boggling simplicity of effective pop music. It was a hit after all.
So I get that the albums from REM’s ‘middle period’ are never going to be as cool to like as their early work, but putting ‘Monster’ and ‘Out of Time’ so low makes the rest of this list impossible to take seriously.
1. Life’s Rich Pageant – banger after banger; like Koston’s Yeah Right part.
2. Automatic for the People – multi-dimensional prowess
3. Chronic Town – spooky turbulence; something’s brewing
4. Murmur – up the stairs to the landing!
5. Document – just remember playing a lot of Super Mario Bros. 3 to this album
6. Green – first R.E.M. album I ever had; hair-metal killer
7. New Adventures in Hi-Fi – road trip!
8. Reckoning – rainy day classic
9. Out of Time – cringe-worthy w/ pure gold
10. Fables of the Reconstruction – Wendell Gee one of my all-time faves!
Pretty much everything else they’ve recorded pales in comparison to these ten gems.
Murmur still sounds amazing today. That’s gotta be my number one. Anyone else think “Laughing” is great?
I don’t agree with the anti-pop slant of this list. “Stand” and “Shiny Happy People” are great songs! They’re SUPPOSED to be dumb pop songs! Also, Up is an extremely underrated album. Not their best, but nowhere near their worst. I think it’s better than Monster.
My list would go something like:
1. Automatic
2. Green
3. Lifes Rich Pageant
4. Fables
5. Reckoning
6. Murmur
7. New Adventures
8. Out Of Time
9. Up
10. Monster
11. Reveal
12. Accelerate
13. Collapse
14. Around The Sun
Oops, forgot Document. I’d probably put it between New Adventures and Out Of Time. Great album, but I honestly don’t listen it to it much for some stupid reason.
It’s difficult to rate these albums because I was a much different person when I first heard them. Out of Time meant… maybe not the world to me when I was 17, but a whole lot. It doesn’t do nearly as much for me now, but can I reject what it did before? No.
That said:
Automatic has been way overrated. It’s a great album, but far from their third best.
Monster is overdue for a critical reappraisal. It’s also a great album.
Green has some real high points but I find it harder to listen to than any other of their Berry-era albums. Orange Crush, World Leader Pretend, and I Remember California are about all I listen to anymore.
I would have been more enthusiastic about Up as a Stipe solo album.
The succeeding albums have marked ever more desperate and pathetic attempt to sound like REM, as Stipe’s lyrics continued to marinate in the “desperate and pathetic” mode that was introduced in New Adventures (which I love, don’t get me wrong.)
Fables is their best album as an album. I don’t care who hates it.
So here’s my list:
1. Fables
2. New Adventures
3. Document
4. Chronic Town/Murmur/Reckoning (you expect me to pick??)
5. Lifes Rich Pageant
6. Automatic/Out of Time
7. Monster
8. Up
9. Green
I have only listened to the singles of the post-Up albums, and either hated them (All the Way to Reno) or thought they were self-imitation (Imitation of Life, hmmm) or both (Supernatural Superserious).
1. Automatic
2. Pageant
3. Monster
4. Reckoning
5. Murmur
6. Chronic (although 4-6 change every time I listen)
7. Hi-Fi
8. Fables
9. Document
10. Accelerate
11. Up
12. Green
13. Out of Time
14. Reveal
15. Collapse
16. Around the Toilet Bowl
I mostly agree with the list, but no love for “Dead Letter Office?”
1-3) All the REM records from when I was in college.
4-6) All the REM records from when I was in high school, if any.
7-10) All the REM records from before that time, if any.
11-infinity) All the REM records since I got a job and got old.
With a few tweaks, the same formula works for pretty much any long-term band.
(For me, it’s LRP, Doc, Murmur, Fables, (Dead Letter), Reck, (Chronic), OOT, Green, Automatic, and a bunch of shite.)
lol – i love this…
1. Murmur
2. Reckoning
3. Chronic Town
4. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
5. Life’s Rich Pageant
6. Dead Letter Office
7. Automatic for the People
8. Fables of the Reconstruction
9. Out of Time
10. Green
11. Document
12. Reveal
13. Accelerate
14. Collapse into Now
15. Up
16. Monster
17. Around the Sun
As many good songs Automatic has, I feel it should be considerably lower on the list due to the gag reflex-inducing idiocy of the songs The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight and Everybody Hurts.
Reckoning & Murmur 4eva.
Also, Dead Letter Office! Better than most of their albums proper.
Have always thought Up should’ve been called Down.
1. Reckoning
2. Murmur
3. Automatic for the People
4. Chronic Town
5. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
6. Out of Time
7. Monster
8. Lifes Rich Pageant
9. Fables of the Reconstruction
10. Document
11. Green
12. Collapse Into Now
13. Accelerate
14. Up
15. Around the Sun (last two are both lame, but I really like “Leaving New York”)
16. Reveal
Do us all a favor and don’t make anymore lists. Your ranking is insulting to anyone who considers themselves an R.E.M fan. Up is an amazing album (Berry called it their best album and he wasn’t even in it!) and Pageant is clearly a top 5. Murmur was a great first release, but it’s not better than Out of time? What is wrong with you people?? Green is one of the best albums ever created. It catapulted them from College band to “Rock Stars” and beyond.
“Stand”, “Get Up”, and “Shiny Happy People” are silly pop songs…uh, isn’t that the point? Is it really hard to hear the sarcasm in some of these lyrics? Apparently, writing songs that aren’t oblique or completely self-serious equates to R.E.M’s “willingness to compromise artistically”, rather than having a sense of humor or lightheartedness.
Fables is a “relative creative disappointment”? This article is a joke.
Album order’s not terrible — you’ve overrated Accelerate and underrated Up, and Document’s an odd but interesting choice for #1 — but the song commentary’s way off. Clear Monster highlights “Crush with Eyeliner” and “Bang and Blame” are really your examples of that LP not working? “Shiny Happy People,” their worst song (I’d argue “High Speed Train,” or most anything on Around the Sun)?
Can you all do this again but with the Rush albums?
Great list for the most part, but I still think Murmur resonates deepest in legacy, while Automatic is their 2nd best because of so much variety, beauty and depth. Up really wasn’t as misguided as portrayed so I wouldn’t have put that so far down the line. New Adventures in Hi-Fi is SERIOUSLY underrated and I’m glad you pointed that out. Great list though.
This is only the order in which I’d care to listen to them today, not a judgment of their artistic merit, and may reflect my own peaks more than the band’s. I’m pretty solid on what’s in my top and bottom third; ordering of middle third could easily be reset randomly.
1 Out of Time
2 LR Pageant
3 New Adventures
4 Automatic
5 Green
6 Document
7 Reckoning
8 Murmur
9 Fables
10 Chronic
11 Up
12 Accelerate
13 Monster
14 Collapse
15 Reveal
16 Around Sun
i’m not going to post my own list as i think, for any true R.E.M. fan, the experience is too singular, too personal, for any of us to really understand WHY someone else feels the way they do about a particular album or song…and that is part of the beauty of R.E.M.’s music.
though i will say that those people who can’t be bothered to give the post-Berry era albums more than a cursory listen are both not qualified to make a list that anyone should bother reading but also that they are not really fans of R.E.M. more likely they are merely fans of an era in their own lives in which R.E.M. played a significant role. that also applies to anyone that claims the band went downhill at any point in the 80′s…
Well said Jeffry,
I have to agree with the people saying Monster is enormously underrated. I agree that there are some bum tracks, but the record SOUNDS fantastic, and any REM album with “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?” “Strange Currencies” and “Let Me In” is alright with me.
When can we see one of these articles about the Mendoza Line?
“Losing My Religion” was about a failed relationship is what I’ve read Stipe was quotes as saying, and frankly that makes more sense to me than the explanation here. Also, “Shiny Happy People” is fucking fantastic, I don’t care how dumb it might be. Automatic is their best album, and “Nightswimming” their best song.
Whoa. This list is stunningly bad. Document over Automatic and Murmur? No no no! Automatic is clearly their best. Monster is shamefully underrated. For top 5 I’d go:
1. Automatic
2. Murmur
3. Monster
4. Document
5. Lifes Rich Pageant
Here are my top five R.E.M. albums. I’d love to hear what you think.
http://riffraf.typepad.com/riffraf/2012/04/top-five-rem-albums.html
I do apologize, but I must respectfully say that it is my impression that the reviewer lacks command of this material, or a true understanding of the band’s oeuvre. I would say that some of the criticisms seem rather petty, rushed, and forced. Reading this I began to wonder: is there anything you liked about this band? Anything at all? Any attempt to…document…the R.E.M. catalog is greatly appreciated. But by your reasoning, one would be forced to dismiss the White Album because of the inclusion of “Piggies,” or Synchronicity because of “Mother.” Do you understand now why I cannot take these ratings seriously? Respectfully submitted.
I still think Automatic For the People is the best album R.E.M. ever released. I would like to claim allegiance to an IRS release, but at the end of the day, after all of the commercial success and seeming abandonment of the indie ethos, they came back and made the best record of their career.
These lists are usually pretty good but this one is all fucked up. Document as number 1? Murmur as #4? Here is the correct order of REM albums.
Murmur
Reckoning
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Fables of the Reconstruction
Automatic for the People
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Green
Monster
Out of Time
Accelerate
Up
Collapse into Now
Reveal
Around the Sun
My first five
1) Murmur
2) Life’s Rich Pageant
3) Fables of the reconstruction (even if it sounds awfull)
4) Reckoning
5) Chronic Town
Automatic for the People
Fables of the Reconstruction
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Monster
Up
Out of Time
Murmur
Green
Reckoning
Document
Accelerate
Collapse into Now
Life’s Rich Pageant
Around the Sun
Reveal
It took two people to write this feature? And it seems like two people who have just a passing familiarity with the band.
I just came to say that I love Reveal…that’s all.
Ranking REM albums is not an easy task. Most of their albums (pre-2002) are studded with 3 or 4 stunning individual tracks (such as Nightswimming, The One I Love, Electrolite, Belong and World Leader Pretend) that represent some of the greatest music ever made by any artist (although every person seems to have their own different personal set of REM standouts).
But albums also have to be judged by the entire series of songs as a singular listening experience. Automatic for the People, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Out of Time, Green, Document and others are each slightly marred by 2 or 3 tracks that don’t seem to sit comfortably with their neighbours.
As start-to-finish listening experiences, I believe that REM’s best albums are:
1. Reveal
2. Reckoning
3. Murmur
4. Up
5. Fables of the Reconstruction
6. Life’s Rich Pageant
7. Out Of Time
8. Document
9. Automatic for the People
10. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
11. Green
12. Monster
13. Accelerate
14. Collapse into Now
15. Around the Sun
It is a tough ask because, as you mention, there are periods in their career. Within those periods, I think it’s easier. But my list – for what it’s worth:
1. Fables (always my favourite, the darkness of this album is what got me hooked)
2. New Adventures (this record got me back into the band after Out of Time)
3. Reveal (I agree with Brendan above – massively underrated)
4. Reckoning
5. Automatic
6. Pageant
7. Murmur
8. Monster
9. Document
10. Green
11. Up
12. Collapse (a decent swan song)
13. Out of Time
14. Around the Sun
15. Accelerate (the only album I can’t listen to)
The usual REM snobbery goin on here I see. Murmur, Green and Automatic are the best IMIO. Anyone have comment on best songs? Am thinking Country Feedback, Dist at Heron House, Fall On Me, World Leader Pretend, So Fast So Numb (As per Weisbaden).
Stipey would not approve of the fans bickering man. I mean what are we? Coldplay fans?