Prole Hole vs. R.E.M.

Chronic Town (1982)



So here we are with R.E.M.'s very first release, the five-track EP Chronic Town.  There's a few pre-1982 bootlegs floating around the less salubrious corners of the internet, but this is the band's first proper release.

If I'm To Be A Camera: Well, it's a blue gargoyle, isn't it?  The monochrome image feels of a piece with the music on the EP, and would certainly have been an atypical image at the time of its release.  It's quite a (sorry about this) impish gargoyle though, which doesn't quite align with the music.  Or maybe it's telling us not to take it all so seriously?  Cheekily, on the back cover the songs are not listed in the correct order, but instead appear to be listed for the sake of their geometric shape (side B is listed first, then Side A, giving an almost diamond-shaped arrangement).

When You Tire Of One Side: Some of us are old enough to remember when music came on a physical medium that had to be turned over, be it cassette or LP.  For reasons, we must assume, best known to the band, R.E.M. had a habit of not simply labelling the sides A or B, but something else, so I shall be noting these.  Side "A" here is called Chronic Town, side "B" is Poster Torn.

Pre-existing Prejudices: Not many, to be honest.  Chronic Town is slightly adrift in the reputation of R.E.M. - lots of people will tell you how great Murmur is but Chronic Town is the orphaned bastard child of the band.  It's well regarded, but rarely referred to or, one suspects, listened to.

Songs:
"Wolves, Lower"
Straight away, right out of the gate, we are introduced to Peter Buck's Right Hand Of Awesomeness.  Some stellar picking on a vaguely sinister guitar line, while Michael Stipe mutters evocative but largely context-free phrases over the music (Suspicion yourself Suspicion yourself / don't get caught).  Surprising amount of echo on Stipe's vocal, and something of a "headphones track".  There's a real sense (and sorry if this sounds pretentious) of acoustic space, which gives the song a rather etherial feel.  Broadly terrific.

"Gardening At Night"
Good, but never quite brilliant, "Gardening At Night" redefines what the phrase "muddy vocals" means.  Beyond the title of the track, the vocal is so low and indistinct in the mix that almost nothing is discernible, and it acts more as texture than as any meaningful lyric. It's a conceit that doesn't quite work - the guitar line is good, and the melody is catchy enough, but it lacks one extra idea to really elevate it.

"Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)"
Head and shoulders above everything else, and clearly the stand-out track on the EP.  Lovely, swampy organ introduction.  The "blurred vocal" conceit of "Gardening At Night" works much better here, low in the mix and textural, but also clear and easy to discern.  The start of an R.E.M. tradition of just repeating the same lyric in the verse three times over (see "The One I Love" for the most obvious example), but it works wonders here.  Great screeching over the closing instrumental, and has a weird thing where the song fades out but actually ends on a proper, albeit muted, final chord.  Fantastic.

"1,000,000"
Obviously a song written as a live number and now being re-purposed as a studio track.  Good luck working out what it's about though... "Not only deadlier but smarter too". Uh, smart bombs maybe?  How does that relate to living a million years?  Even by Stipe's standards this appears to be just words over music (unusually throaty vocal though).  Bill Berry does some excellent tom-tom work though, and Mike Mills is all over it on bass.  Very much a song for the rhythm section of the band.

"Stumble"
Stipe sounds seriously unhinged in the opening few seconds (this is not by any stretch a complaint).  This is again a song that belongs to the rhythm section of the band, with Bill Berry standing out on drums - terrific work.  This feels like an appropriate conclusion to the EP, even though it's just a touch indistinct as a song in its own right. The instrumental break is weirdly aggressive (another live hangover?), and the spoken-word break just before the final run-through of "we'll stumble through the yard" is incredibly Velvet Underground.

Final Thoughts:
It's a good, solid start.  Chronic Town sets up a few of the early R.E.M. staples - muted vocals, strong rhythm section for a guitar band, obscure lyrics - but this is obviously a work in progress.  It's an easy EP to like, and the mood of the piece in some ways is more important than the individual songs - "Stumble" gradually fades away on repeated guitar riffs and lyrics but it feels etherial and in keeping with the rest of the tracks, even as individually it's not quite wholly successful.  It's also extremely well produced, which goes a long way towards contributing to that cohesiveness.  The whole here is very much more more than the sum of its parts, but there's an appealing crudeness to it which comes across as rather charming - Peter Buck is clearly still learning his craft, but what's here works well.  Overall, a muted recommendation - it's not really essential R.E.M. but it's still pretty damned good.

Best Song: "Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)"
Worst Song: "1,000,000"

ganews - Well I hope you do enjoy it! I'm definitely alongside you when you say that Chronic Town is unfairly overlooked, though it's easy to see why. Going through the albums this time, Chronic Town feels like the preface at the front of a book - it provides so much information you're going to need going forward, but by it's very nature it's not going to be able to cover the same territory as an album. Mike on backing vocals will be tackled next time out... And "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)" is peerless, you will get no arguments from me there.

Monster you say? Why yes, I shall be defending it this time out. It seems odd to have to mount a "defence" of their biggest-selling album, but still.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to declare them the greatest American rock band of all time, but they were pretty outstanding for most of their run and Mike Mills is quite possibly the best backing vocalist in all of rock music history.

Spoilers For Future Reviews: I will be defending Around The Sun.

Yeah R.E.M. are probably the single most important band for my relationship to music. The first music I ever "owned" and played myself were my dad's cassette copies of Out of Time and Automatic for the People that I played on a shitty boombox on a loop in my room in the attic. When I finally got a CD player years later the first one I bought was Up which had just come out. Having that giant back catalogue to go through when I got my first job and was able to buy them all was such an amazing experience. Just hordes and hordes of gold.

One of my biggest musical regrets is I didn't go see them when they toured for Around the Sun because it was/is terrible and I wasn't so much into concerts at the time, but turns out that was my only chance and I blew it.

My favorite album is probably still Automatic for the People, but Lifes Rich Pageant is damn close. Everytime I do a top 10 songs or whatever whenever it comes up it's 10 different songs because how can you narrow it down. And I would agree with Meth Lab Shenanigans' "best American band" assertion with a potential Talking Heads caveat.

Anyway yeah, looking forward to the reviews!

Murmur (1983)



This is R.E.M.’s first full album. It received glowing reviews first time round and helped secure the band’s reputation as obscure but engaging, muddy but compelling, and gifted but under-stated. Let’s see if that’s still the case. Oh and I should make clear, I’m reviewing the albums here as is, not as someone who’s read a bunch of books/websites/background stuff on the band. So yes, I know the cover is kudzu weed, but that is not, in this case, really the point.

If I'm To Be A Camera: A desolate, almost impressionistic pseudo-landscape. Are those trees in the background? Is that some kind of bunker that’s been reclaimed by nature? Does the darkness imply dawn or dusk? The crude, Letraset-esque typography suggests a make-do-and-mend, unrefined approach that stands in stark contrast to the corporate-slick, carefully packaged artists of the early-to-mid 80’s. On the back cover, as with Chronic Town, the second side is listed first (though for less obviously geometric reasons), and contains the famous Murmur railway trestle.

When You Tire Of One Side: Disappointingly, on Murmur they are just labelled Side 1 and Side 2. Oh well.

Pre-existing Prejudices: By repetition of saying it, my second-favourite R.E.M. album. Whether this proves to still be the case, we will need to wait until the end of this project to find out.

Songs:

“Radio Free Europe”
Very nice, very strange, electric/electronic introduction. This song is immediately, strikingly more professional than Chronic Town, confident and forward in all the right ways, and featuring a near-unbeatable Mike Mills bass line. Peter Buck has improved by light-years.  There's a lovely echo on 1st and 3rd lines of chorus, which make them sound like they're being sung by two different people (and suggest a trace of live performance). And what a chorus!  But even before we get to it, all the tension is in the right place – “straight off the boat” (two guitar crashes). Michael Stipe is placed perfectly in mix – lessons have been learned, and this is surprisingly sonically varied. Best album opener (bar one, but we will get to that), and meaningfully perfect. And kind of beautiful.

“Pilgrimage”
First appearance of a Mike Mills piano! And just listen to Mike go on the backing vocals – amazing. He’s just got the ideal voice for it and adds incredibly subtle but perfect shading to this. Another in a (long) series of evocative phrases, the meaning of which is entirely abstract and impressionistic (a perfect fit for the album’s packaging). "Pilgrimage" also has a fairly unusual structure (not just verse/chorus) which leading from "Radio Free Europe"'s more straightforward construction really adds to the feeling of an album going somewhere.

“Laughing”
It’s all in the rhythm section here – opening on just bass and drums before lyric and simple guitar line kick in. Feels very of a piece with Chronic Town. Some great, precision drumming from Bill Berry, almost motorik in execution. This uses simple ways to drive the song, but effective (the off-beat following the opening lines on the verses). More understated Mike Mills backing vocals. A song that leaves little lyrical impression but that’s not really what this one is about anyway.

“Talk About The Passion”
The first song on the album that appears to be clearly about something, even if it’s not always immediately clear what it is about. Nice acoustic guitars on the chorus. More same-verse-three-times work from Stipe, and for the first time we have a non-member on the song, with a little cello adding some colour to the production. Despite being a single, it’s not the strongest track on the album, but it’s still pretty damned brilliant.

“Moral Kiosk”
Nice little bendy-string effect on Peter Buck’s guitar line. Terrific title. A good, strong song, but beyond the chorus it doesn’t stand out as noticeably different or unique in its own right. More great backing vocals though. Needs one more idea to make it special, and it’s not quite there, it feels like another re-tooled live song that hasn’t quite been re-tooled enough. Finishes on the uncertainty of a 7th chord, which will become a very familiar R.E.M. technique.

“Perfect Circle”
Perfect.

You want more? Mike’s slightly distant piano. The best “abstract lyric” Michael ever writes. The lovely little echo on Bill’s drums on the chorus. That melody line. Perfectly under-stated bass line. The rolling cymbal into the final chorus. That voice. Everything. Utterly incredible.

“Catapult”
Not perfect. Not bad, but then, what can you follow a song like “Perfect Circle” with? The lyric feels of a piece with the rest of the album but it doesn’t quite go anywhere. Peter works hard on guitar to convince but it’s just not exactly right. Nice tom-toms from Bill, but there’s a teeny feeling of… contrived, maybe, about this? Not bad, but not wholly successful. Second song on the album to do the repeat-the-verse trick. OK Michael, we know you can do it.

“Sitting Still”
Substantially better. Cheerful guitar on the verse line contrasts with a more sinister lyric/vocal, then the guitar line becomes a little more sinister in the run-up to “waste of time / sitting still”, a very effective dichotomy.  The vocal swings between very clear words and not – “I can hear you, can you hear me?” is perfectly discernible, but then… “multiply are gated visor / kitchen’s house but not may Anne / slipping top of the begin / waste of time / sitting still”? Or something. Or… not? It works, at least in part because of a remarkably impassioned vocal, but… you know. Good luck with that. Great song, though.

“9-9”
The Velvet Underground Play R.E.M. or R.E.M. Play The Velvet Underground? Even more clearly influenced than “Stumble” (spoken work intro, bass line), another lyric where the only obvious lyric is “conversation fear" (a few other phrases are available – “right on target!”). Real tension in the music, lyric and production. The influence might be clear, but this song it’s absolutely its own thing. The way Bill’s drums come in halfway through the instrumental are something special, and some really nice, angular guitar work from Peter Buck. Oh yea.

“Shaking Through”
When Stipe nails a lyric, he really nails it. Opening line “could it be that one small voice / doesn’t count in this world” is so simple, yet so effectively delivered, it’s just breathing sometimes. Another incredibly evocative title. Great, almost subliminal, piano work from Mike Mills (which slightly anticipates the most upfront piano in “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville”), and a confident, up-front vocal that showcases just what a good vocalist Stipe can be even this early on. Key change! I normally hate key changes as a way to give a song that “extra push”, but hear it works, at least in part because we hear Stipe stretching his pipes in ways he never has on record thus far. There’s a little instrumental snippet that acts an ellipse between this and “We Walk”.

“We Walk”
Big Dumb Song, and intentionally so. Child-like, rather than childish, and faintly fairy-tale in its execution, this feels like a successful version of what “Catapult” was aiming for. Random depth-charge noises manage to add a fractionally sinister undercurrent (undertow?) to the track that prevents it becoming saccharine, but then again, don't all the best fairy tales have a darker edge to them? Amazingly assured picking from Peter Buck, and a great, yawning bass-line. Feels like it could run forever.

“West Of The Fields”
Confident, faster-paced and upfront album closer. More obscure vocals, and musically in sympathy with the likes of “9-9”. Slightly snarled vocal gives an edge which matches the drive of the music. “The fields” of the title appear to be mythological (“Dreams of Elysium” Michael spits out), though they could just as easily refer to the album’s artwork. Good, choppy guitar work from Peter that feels slightly Talking Heads-y in its execution. Great call-and-response vocal on the chorus between Michael and Mike. Conclusive, as indeed it should be.


Final Thoughts:
Fuck me, Murmur is good. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to remember how good an album is until you’re actually listening to it, and that is absolutely Murmur. A staggering achievement for a debut album, it builds upon everything that Chronic Town laid down, but dialled up to about 1000. The impressionism, the obfuscation, the near-unparalleled rhythm section, the abstract approach to almost everything, it just all works, and it does it in a way that never feels forced, or contrived, or pretentious, or self-inflating. Quite the opposite in fact, there’s a relaxed confidence about everything here – this isn’t a band either building, or believing in, their own myth, but simply one producing the kind of material they want to produce. Mitch Easter and Don Dixon deserve special mention as well, because the production on this album is flawless, and that it all sounds so good is a real testament to their work - one should never forget the importance of a good producer (or producers, in this case). But the again, almost everything here is flawless. Murmur is the rare album that easily, effortlessly, almost carelessly, lives up to its own reputation. It’s stunning.

Best Song: “Radio Free Europe”. Or “Perfect Circle”. Don’t make me choose!
Worst Song: "”Catapult”

Oh that moment in "Radio Free Europe" is just glorious. Though I'm not covering Eponymous in this run-through the slightly-faster-paced version on that album is worth a look too. It's a bit pacier, and feels closer to the live version of the song, though the version on Murmur fits that album better than the faster version would.

I just realised I never replied to this, Meth Lab Shenanigans and I meant to, to more or less agree. The single of RFE really is one of the best things ever recorded, though I'm standing by my assertion that the slightly slower album version fits the album better. I'm not covering Eponymous, but I did just have to agree with you (similarly, I think the Eponymous version of "Gardening At Night" is noticeably superior to the one on Chronic Town).

While I'm listening to Murmur as I write this, Reckoning is my favourite REM album - just incredibly brilliant from first second to last. There's a lighter, earthier atmosphere on this that they never got again, but which does it for me. Favourite track ... 7 Chinese Bros., by a whisker over So. Central Rain.

Invisible Goat - that's interesting, i didn't know there were a lot of places called Greenville in the American South. It's an early Stipe lyric though, so it could be either, both or neither.

Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985)



For R.E.M.’s third album, the band abandoned the producing team of Mitch Easter and Don Dixon that had seem them through their first three releases, and abandoned the Georgian warmth for the greys and rain-slicked streets of London. What better place to write a pastoral album of storytelling songs about America’s past?

If I'm To Be A Camera: A book, on fire, with a big tin ear in the middle of the relatively small blaze makes for an abstract image, though no more so than the previous three releases. Can you read something into a tin ear? Maybe this time out. The band make their first, relatively rare, appearance on an album cover, unable to meet the listener’s gaze. The rear cover sees the same tin ear, suspended and attached to a wooden block, while the title of the album, Fables Of The Reconstruction is reversed to read Reconstruction of The Fables, thus giving petulant, pedantic fans something to argue over (which is the real name?). The inner sleeve, as per Murmur and Reckoning, doesn’t list the correct tracks (this time up to and including a song not even on the album), and the members’ names are listed in old-timey style, so we have the more gentlemanly-sounding WT Berry, ME Mills, PL Buck and JM Stipe.

When You Tire Of One Side: A side and Another Side. Remarkable! Since the title of this little section of the reviews actually comes from a song on this album (“Live And How To Live It” and the line “When you tire of one side / the other serves you best”) you wouldn’t think it too much of a struggle to do at least a little better…

Pre-existing Prejudices: The runt of the I.R.S. litter. When R.E.M. jumped ship to Warner Brothers after Document, Fables was the weak link in the I.R.S. run of albums. It’s been at least partially rehabilitated over time, but it’s rarely regarded as their best work. Let’s see if it stands up!

Songs:
"Feeling Gravitys Pull”
Sharp, angular lead guitar line and staccato breaks. Stark, immediately different feel from the previous two albums, even though the muddled, low vocals remain. Discordant, sliding strings sound like nothing so far in R.E.M.’s back catalogue. Mike tries hard on backing vocals to make things fit but there’s a new tension here that’s quite disconcerting. Screeches to a standstill on circular strings. Really, really great song, but a real step into something very new and different.

“Maps And Legends”
Far more traditional than “Feeling Gravitys Pull” and feels more of a piece with the first two albums. Simple, effective melody and guitar line. Mike’s back on form. Bill surprisingly straightforward. Provides a thematic link to the album’s title. Feels like wandering fable, though the legend of the title (presumably) refers to the key on a map, not a tale from the past. Michael’s rather muted here.

“Driver 8”
Mike’s best bass line on the album, and a very percussion-driven song – Bill’s also woken up. More travelling themes embraced, this time by train (“still aways away”). Pleasing surge into the middle-eight, and mercifully the harmonica is mixed so low it almost sounds like a train, which at least fits the song. This is decent but… I dunno. It doesn’t feel like there’s a huge amount of inspiration here. Production doesn’t help, muddy and rather sluggish.

“Life And How To Live It”
Peter’s chance to shine, a great little introduction riff and finally Michael’s lurched into life, his best vocal on the album thus far, with some passion and engagement. Even though that does sometimes make him sound like a lunatic (works well with this particular song). In fact, everyone’s on form here – Bill’s hammering away perfectly, and Mike’s carrying a great supportive bassline too. Michael’s demented screaming (“listen to the hoooollllaaarrrr!”) is always worthy of note. Lovely sharp shift halfway through back to in the introductory riff. A sense of pace here as well – there’s energy in this one! More like this please boys!

“Old Man Kensey”
Also a step up over the earlier tracks. Ominous bassline from Mike immediately gives a sense of atmosphere and place lacking from the likes of “Driver 8”, and it's better produced than anything on the album up to this point. The instrumental part of the band are better recorded – bit of a shame that Michael’s vocals are a bit low in the mix, this is a song that could really have benefitted from a slightly stronger vocal presence. Still a big step in the right direction. Could be a Reckoning off-cut, but that’s meant as a compliment. End Of Side One, for those interested.

“Can’t Get There From Here”
More staccato guitar from Peter. And who would have thought it, an actual sense of fun. Michael’s ramping up his cod-Southern accent to almost end up at Elvis levels of drawling, but at least this time it’s intentional and meant to be funny. There’s a vague sense that this might be an environmental song (“the dirt of seven continents goin’ / round and round”) though it’s vague at best. Big ol’ horn section at the end! Wooo! Fabulously good fun. Gentlemen, testify!

“Green Grow The Rushes”
Eh. I mean, it’s OK. There’s a nice little guitar line, and Mike’s got things tied down on bass, but we’re back to vocals that are not just indistinguishable but so low in the mix as to barely hold the attention. Yet more muddy production does the song no favours, Bill’s on autopilot, and it just never amounts to much. It’s vaguely bucolic, but not really in a way that actually achieves anything. Odd phrases stand out (“the amber waves of gain”) but mostly disappointing. Nice jangly ending though – that’s really what the whole song should have sounded like.

“Kohoutek”
Very strange little song. Production makes the same mistakes as “Green Grow The Rushes”, a vocal too low, and Bill’s still a bit straightforward, but… there’s something about it. Michael sounds strained in places (“we never taaaaaaalk” (?) ) and a few more evocative phrases (“Fever built a bridge / reason tore it done”) and slightly non-traditional placing of the vocal gives it something just a little extra. Difficult to recommend as a great song in its own right, but… yea. I like it.

“Auctioneer”
Some energy, badly needed. Again the mixing here is crap – Bill’s too low, so is Michael, and everything is a bit smeared into each other, but there’s tension here, and Peter’s guitarsounds like someone scraping on your nerves in places (“another engine / another engine!”). Michel’s a bit more insistent in places too (“listen!”), and he’s pacing the vocal better as well, near-whispering in places and near-screaming in others, so there’s a feeling the vocal is going somewhere rather than just starting, carrying on for a bit, then stopping.  Strong and confident.

“Good Advises”
Somewhat less energy. But at least there’s a very real, very acute sense of longing here that comes through in Michael’s vocal and gives a good sense of atmosphere. There’s a sense of loneliness (“who are you going to call for / and what do you have to say?”) and very obvious homesickness (“I’d like it here if I could leave” and most obviously “home is a long way a way”). Key change on the verse rather than the chorus also gives a bit of differentiation. Needs more Mike, but not bad.

“Wendell Gee”
Utterly charming. Very, very Southern, right down to a banjo solo on the instrumental break and a faux-country melody and (especially) Mike’s rather lovely backing vocals. Playing the same games as "Rockville" on Reckoning but in a different style.  More understated piano work, and a terrific bass line from Mike. Michael sings it like he means it, and Bill’s work is minimal but incredibly appropriate. More off-kilter but evocative phrasing (“if the wind were colours / and if the air could speak”). Irresistible, and in need of serious rehabilitation.


Final Thoughts: Fables isn’t a bad album, per se, but there’s no doubt that it’s a clear, obvious step down from the band’s first three releases. There’s nothing any of the four of them do on this album that they didn’t do better on a previous album, and in this case that’s telling. It’s not entirely the band’s fault – the production on this is at best middling and occasionally (“Green Grow The Rushes”, “Kohoutek”) actively damaging to the material. Yet even using the production as an excuse, the fact of the matter is that the bulk of the material here just isn’t as good as it was on Murmur or Reckoning. When it’s good, the band still shines (“Feeling Gravitys Pull”, “Wendell Gee”, surprisingly), but there’s lethargy here that feels like a bit of a drag, and a bit of a lack of inspiration. Yes this is an intentionally pastoral album, but there’s a different between “relaxed” and “lethargic” and it’s not quite one that Fables nails. There’s a mood here, as with the last two albums, and even a bit of a “concept”, but it just doesn’t coalesce. Never outright bad, and sometimes rather charming, Fables just cant quite live up to its predecessors. Sadly.


Best Song: Tough. It’s either “Feeling Gravitys Pull” or “Life And How To Live It”. Let’s go with… oh “Live And How To Live it”.
Worst Song: "Green Grow The Rushes”

Definitely the weakest of the IRS albums. The discordant sounds on Feeling Gravitys Pull and Auctioneer somehow seem to colour the whole album, though they don't actually, and I never much cared for Can't Get There From Here. I'm a fan of Green Grow The Rushes, though - one of their lovelier moments.
Best tracks: Driver 8 just pips Life and How To Live It.

I have a higher opinion of Fables of the Reconstruction than most R.E.M. fans, seemingly. Where I've mentally picked over most of the band's 80's output, Fables retains a sense of mystery and wonder to me moreso than any other I.R.S. record save Murmur. The drawbacks outlined in the review, particularly the murky production, gives the record an inscrutability that keeps me coming back to it where I haven't listened to Reckoning or Document in ages. 

While I can see some finding the lethargic mood tiresome, Side 2 of this album is among my favorite sides of any record ever, featuring three of my top R.E.M. ballads ("Green Grow The Rushes," "Good Advices," and "Wendell Gee").

A large part of the appeal lies in the sense that the album grapples with the band's Southern heritage arguably more than any other in their catalog. Hallmarks of the Old South (overgrown vegetation, trains, small town eccentrics, etc.) abound on this record. The lyrical themes are all the more interesting when you consider that the band was reportedly homesick and miserable while recording in London. 

Peter Buck doesn't like it, but as far as I know everyone else in the band does. Which is good, because it's fucking amazing.