R.E.M. thread (1 Viewer)

[kutta]

I Believe is one of my top 5 favorite songs.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aopES6KCBQs

 

[Ghost Rider]

When I was a young man and for many years afterward, I held the conventional hipster position that R.E.M."s early stuff (the EP through Life's Rich Pageant) was a peak that their later pop hits never equaled. 

But with age comes wisdom and I now think Automatic For The People is their best album.  It has a beauty and depth that the band had to grow into.  They were better musicians in the 90s than in the early 80s.  Stipe sang where he once mumbled.  Mills' piano parts added a huge element.  On Automatic, the string parts arranged by John Paul Jones are perfection.

I still listen to and love all their records, even Around the Sun.  They were my #1 most listened to artist on Spotify last year. 

Reading various stuff online, there is definitely a big portion of the fanbase that swears by the early stuff (the IRS years) over all else, and I can see why, but for me, a new listener (minus the hits I've always known), I see the good in almost all of it thus far.  The 80's stuff is good, and the 90's stuff is good. 

I Believe is one of my top 5 favorite songs.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aopES6KCBQs

I have only given Lifes Rich Pageant a few spins, but I Believe is definitely one of my favorites thus far along with Cuyahoga, Begin the Begin and These Days.  Fall On Me is the one I already knew and that one is good as well.