‘Green’ by R.E.M.

R.E.M. A band I’ve consistently liked without ever quite managing to love. And yet, when I stop and make myself listen to an album, I always enjoy it. ‘Green’ is a particular pleasure to listen to. As the transition between their early cult success, and their later world domination, the album walks a fine line between artistry and commercialism, and it therefore manages a very fine balance.

‘Pop Song ‘89’, ‘Get Up’, ‘Stand’, ‘Orange Crush’ – all are great. Slightly disposable and possibly meaningless, perhaps, but still great. ‘World Leader Pretend’, whilst far more downbeat and introspective, is also great. Only a couple of tracks – ‘Turn You Inside Out’ and ‘I Remember California’ – are less successful. Since they’re the louder, more rock-heavy tracks on the album, that would suggest that, to my mind at least, R.E.M. are at their best when they’re writing pop songs and having a good time. This in turn suggests that when I reach their 90’s output, I’m not going to enjoy it quite so much.

‘Document’ by REM

‘Document was the fifth album by REM, but on some level, it feels like a debut, probably only because it’s the earliest one I own, and I don’t think I know any songs that predate it. In addition to this, it sounds like a debut should – a bit rough and ready, a couple of really good songs, and a lot of potential. It’s hard to imagine a band getting to a fifth album these days without having passed this stage.

‘Finest Worksong’ begins the album with a decent amount of bluster before ‘Welcome To The Occupation’ serves up a more typical slice of folk-inspired vaguely political meandering, made great by it’s two part harmony, a feature that REM used a lot at the time. ‘Exhuming McCarthy’ is a jauntier track – like a prototype ‘Stand’ with allegedly weightier lyrics.

Variations on these three track types fill the rest of the album, to a generally high level of success. There are further standouts – ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ is successful as a result of its speed, and its determination to cram in as many lyrics as possible, ‘The One I Love’ succeeds through having a very strong (if simple) melody. The rest of the album just sort of chugs along happily until the end comes. A perfectly decent listen, but nothing to get wildly excited about.

‘Automatic For The People’ by R.E.M.

Released in 1992, ‘Automatic For The People’ was R.E.M.’s eighth studio album, and a continuation of the predominantly acoustic style of ‘Out of Time’. As such, it’s a gentle album of well constructed songs with only a few up-tempo tracks to vary the mood.

‘Drive’ starts the album off in subdued form, based around a repeating pattern of acoustic guitar over which the track swells and fades throughout. Repeating patterns are something of a trademark of this album - ‘Try Not To Breathe’ and ‘Nightswimming’ being other prime examples. The first half of the album is dominated by the singles ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight’ and ‘Everybody Hurts’, both instantly recognisable, but both very different. ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight’ has a melody that meanders from chorus to chorus via any means necessary, and a set of lyrics that are virtually indecipherable, and obtuse even by Michael Stipe’s standards. ‘Everybody Hurts’, on the other hand, is a beacon of clarity – a simple but beautiful backing track with an instantly accessible set of words. It’s a song that’s been dulled by familiarity over time, but it deserves to be listened to properly, as it’s lovely.

The second half of the album is more of the same, but this is no bad thing. ‘Monty Got A Raw Deal’ and ‘Man On The Moon’ are the rockier tracks on the album, though this is a relative state, ‘Nightswimming’ is a wonderful example of how to construct a great song out of very few components, and ‘Find The River’ allows the album to drift to a close.

‘Automatic For The People’ is generally regarded as the archetype R.E.M. album, and it’s hard to argue with this view. There are other great albums in their back catalogue, but this is pretty special.

'Accelerate' by REM

REM have always been one of those bands that I've liked without ever being passionate about. Over the years, I've slowly accumalated a pretty decent number of albums, and I've liked most of them to varying degrees, without ever really being blown away by one.

This is there most recent, and I think it's one Tessa had a present. To be honest, my interest in the band had waned since the release of 'Reveal', which had been pretty disappointing. All the signs seemed to indicate that their glory days were long passed, and they were destined to drift into obscurity and irrelevance.

Perhaps they are, but if this is to be their fate, then 'Accelerate' will be, at least, a final burst of excellence. Perhaps aware that they were running out a chances, REM seriously raised their game with this record. Gone were the ambling acoustic fumblings of recent years, replaced with short sharp bursts of energy and tune. Few of the songs last much longer than 3 minutes - the whole album lasts for little more than half an hour, but it has real impact from the beginning.

It's not an album with particular stand-out tracks, but this works to its advantage - everything is good, and nothing pales in comparison to anything else. Only the final track, 'I'm Gonna DJ' is sub-standard - it's not terrible, but it's not as good as what comes before it. It doesn't matter - the album as a whole is more than good enough to make up for it.

Time will tell whether further REM albums will match this, or whether this will be a final gasp. Either way, it's something to be proud of.