Murmur (1982)
This is the world at large’s full-length introduction to Michael Stipe and company. I find it a bit boppy and very non-threatening. I don’t know what the hell Stipe is talking about, a pattern which would continue over their next few albums and, let’s be honest, their entire career. The man seems to enjoy writing lyrics that make you think. Which is a good thing, in general. But when I put on my favorite artists, I want to KNOW what they’re talking about, and be able to just sink into a bubblebath with a contented sigh, and enjoy it. Besides, I don’t think on command, thank you very much. Unless this really is just a jambly mess of chaos.
Grade: C
2010: Stipe gets even more twitty in retrospect.
Grade: C-
Eponymous (1988)
They weren’t very good at all until ‘Document’. Three of the good songs on this best-of-up-until-’88 are from ‘Document’. And thus this album is elevated from mediocre to pretty good.
(“The One I Love”)
Grade: B
Out Of Time (1991)
“Losing My Religion”. No. I will not listen to that song ever again. Michael Stipe has always been a pretentious twit, and here his music and lyrics combine to full twit-effect. What about the rest? Well, it’s not bad…better than I would have expected after the first single.
(“Texarkana”, “Belong”)
Grade: B-
2011: He does mean well in a lot of ways…and True Believers are hard to find.
Grade: B
Automatic For The People (1992)
“Everybody Hurts” has achieved the same status as Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven”, both as a prom song and a song that has been played continuously and mercilessly since its release. It’s a very good song, but how many times can we keep playing the d@mn thing and still enjoy it? With that noted, my two favorites here do NOT include that song. Btw, Andy Kaufman stinks.
(“Ignoreland”, “Drive”)
Grade: B-
8/20/12: Not to be morbid, but he certainly does by now. Oh shut up, he’d say it himself if he wasn’t dead.
Grade: B
Monster (1994)
Nice hard-ish rock guitar throughout on this album, beginning with the killer riffs on “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”. Most of this rocks pretty hard…there’s certainly filler but it’s more tolerable than it could be.
(“What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”, “Star 69”)
Grade: B
8/20/12: All the meaning in the world didn’t save any of their other albums from being worse than this, and all the meaning in the world doesn’t make this any better than it is. Perhaps they should, with some exceptions, find another medium with which to bore the life out of their clientele. Thank you, Diane.
Grade: B+
New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)
Slow I don’t mind, pretty I don’t mind, mournful I don’t mind. But put them all together and add a dose of poor songwriting and it makes for a dismal bit of filler, broken up occasionally by a decent song. Is it worth your money? I don’t think so.
(“E-Bow The Letter”)
Grade: C
2011: Moving away from both rock and pop is very dangerous for your career. This does both. It’s intentionally obscure and minimalist in the same way as ‘Murmur’, except here you can actually understand what the heck they’re talking about. Not their best album by a long shot, but in some ways this is their triumph…Peace, Love, and Community over Money. For once, I applaud.
Grade: B-
Reveal (2001)
R.E.M. goes easy-listening/cocktail lounge act. At least on parts of it. It’s laughable, because you expect at least a stab at innovation from them each time out.
And because Stipe has to be the frontman for this occasionally annoying, horrible synth-sound album. He’s always been a bit full of himself, but he seems to be losing it. Where the hell is Peter Buck and his bag of riffs? I guess Michael decided he WANTED to actually make a semi-easy-listening, mostly hookless quiet album. I hope
he likes it, because I sure the hell don’t, and thankfully the album-buying public seems to agree with me to a certain extent. Stop with the synth moves, guys.
You have no clue what to do with them. Either get back to GOOD pop music, or (my preference) straight out rock, e.g. ‘Monster’.
Grade: D
2011: “Any sort of commerciality” and “Doing whatever the fck we want” went to war…they raised the stakes, forcing the other side to, forcing the other side to, and so on…they won.
Grade: D+
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (2003)
It’s a good thing that 1988 was when they started to rise above persistently meaningless mediocrity. It’s a bad thing that they didn’t take all the good sh1t and put it here.
(What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”, “Orange Crush”)
Grade: B