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Later REM albums - shockingly bad.


spectoremg

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2 minutes ago, spectoremg said:

I love their output between Document and Automatic For the People, even Monster and Up were good. 

I recently browsed the rest of their albums and was shocked at how awful they were. They probably hung around at least ten years too long. 

For me it's everything up to Monster (maybe even some of New Adventures.... But then the quality rapidly drops off.

Who knew losing a drummer would have such an impact.

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Personally I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the final albums were awful, but they certainly weren’t great, and I agree that they probably hung around too long. I loved R.E.M. from Murmur up to Automatic... and though I really liked the odd track thereafter (Electrolite, Daysleeper) I’d largely lost interest by then. The quality of their output seemed to deteriorate after Bill Berry left. I wonder if that’s coincidence? Bill was always much more than ‘just the drummer’. 

When they finally split up I did wonder if U2 might get the hint as well...

 

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I loved some of REM's stuff, mainly the older ones I have to admit.

Whether I like a band or not, I'm always in awe of those who you can instantly recognise though, which certainly was the case with REM. Same goes for instrumentalists too, particularly guitarists. In a world of over distorted sounds with no originality, to hear someone play with a unique tone and touch still gets me every time.

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they're one of those bands who I want to like based on their politics and general approach to music but I only like Murmur.

On the subject of bands who've gone on way way too long, Status Quo top the list. Even after Rick Parfitt has died, Rossi and co still carry on churning  out dross, e.g. the dire current single Backbone which Planet Rock loves playing. Like the equally woeful Two Way Traffic, the lyrics are basically a load of cliched phrases cobbled together 

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When we first met, keen to impress each other in the first flush of love, Mrs. Pook and I agreed we both liked REM.

We don't - nether of us does, never have.

Sweet tho, isn't it ? We were probably hammered, but still...

:)

 

Edited by ahpook
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1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said:

they're one of those bands who I want to like based on their politics and general approach to music but I only like Murmur.

On the subject of bands who've gone on way way too long, Status Quo top the list. Even after Rick Parfitt has died, Rossi and co still carry on churning  out dross, e.g. the dire current single Backbone which Planet Rock loves playing. Like the equally woeful Two Way Traffic, the lyrics are basically a load of cliched phrases cobbled together 

R2 are annoying their listeners with it too. 

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45 minutes ago, ahpook said:

When we first met, keen to impress each other in the first flush of love, Mrs. Pook and I agreed we both liked REM.

We don't - nether of us does, never have.

Sweet tho, isn't it ? We were probably hammered, but still...

:)

 

A relationship built on deceit and alcohol, have you been together a while?

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10 minutes ago, spectoremg said:

A relationship built on deceit and alcohol, have you been together a while?

Good point, doesn't sound like the best start does it ? :D 

At least we were both lying, I can't imagine spending 26 years with an REM fan !

Edited by ahpook
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I’m going to buck the trend her and say that I prefer their later output; ‘New Adventures In Hifi’ being A particular favourite. I’m not saying their early stuff is schit, far from it. Just my personal opinion.

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New Adventures was the last good one. I saw them at Brixton Academy in 2003 and it was some anniversary of recording Fables of the Reconstruction so they played Feeling Gravity's Pull/Maps and Legends/Driver 8/Life and How To Live It - after that they could have played anything from Up or Reveal and it wouldn't have mattered

 

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39 minutes ago, Hobbayne said:

I love all the stuff on irs. When they were signed to Warner’s they got to commercial for my tastes. That bloody awful shiny happy people was the kiss of death for them. IMHO 

The singles off Out of Time were the worst tracks on the album.

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REM were a band I never liked too much as I found them a bit boring and dare I say it too safe. That's not to say they don't have good songs, but most of them said nothing to me. They certainly hung around too long.

Then again, most bands do. Not everyone quits at the top like The Jam. My theory is that The Rolling Stones are the model of what happens when you try to carry on forever especially after you're incredibly successful. U2's career has followed that pattern and if you compare the ages of the members between the two bands and the albums they released at similar ages there are some very interesting parallels. Not necessarily interesting music I hasten to add, but interesting "time of life" parallels of waning creative juices and the occasional good song.

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I didn't like the first five or six albums at all, but I'd concur with a few posts that the early-middle period stuff (Out Of Time/Automatic For The People) was listenable.  My dad died around the time Everybody Hurts came out and my mum took some comfort from that track, so I bought her Automatic For The People.

Did a few long US road trips around the period these two came out and they were on the radio constantly, so you just bought them.  Different times.  I bought Monster and New Advertures In Hi-Fi but never listened to NAiHF all the way through, after this I left the party.

I recently put together a Spotify playlist...my interest re-sparked for some reason or another.  Never listened to it though.

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