An exchange I had on numerous occasions from Autumn '92 to Christmas '93. Other person: 'Oooooh, I absolutely love R.E.M.!! I've got both their CDs!!' Me: 'Would that be the R.E.M. who've now released 8 studio albums, then?' Other person: 'Oh.' R.E.M. crawled from the south (specifically the university town of Athens, Georgia) in 1980. Vocalist Michael Stipe and guitarist Peter Buck met in the record store where the latter worked in 1978, and a couple of years later they hooked up with the rhythm section of (in grand teenage style, sworn enemies who'd become best friends) preppie-esque bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry, owner of ...  Read the complete review

When my girlfriend asked me why I was writing a review for an R.E.M. album when I've been listening to Pearl Jam all day long, my reply was that this is what my soul desires. It's not a cheesy reply; seriously, this is one of the greatest albums ever released. And you know why? Because it's unknown and pretty obscure. R.E.M. is one of those great American bands that didn't become famous overnight but they managed to build a great fan base as each year went by. What's amazing is that they released 6 albums in less than 6 years during the 1980's. What's even more amazing is that those old-school R.E.M. albums are fantastic albums, and they have a very vital ...  Read the complete review

"Lifes Rich Pageant" (no apostrophe!), REM's fourth studio album after "Murmur", "Reckoning" and "Fables of the Reconstruction" was released on the IRS label in 1986. Guitarist Peter Buck explains the apostrophe-less title as follows: "We all hate apostrophes. Michael insisted and I agreed that there's never been a good rock album that's had an apostrophe in the title." I don't know what Lynne Truss would have to say about that, but seeing as it's REM, I'll forgive them their punctuation sins. This was the first REM album I ever heard, in about 1987. I thought it was fantastic then and its appeal has definitely ...  Read the complete review

Back when i was first buying music, i came accross REM's 1994 album 'Monster'. Seeing as how i loved this album to death, i pretty much bought their entire back catalogue (on tape as my battered old stereo didn't have a CD player). This album though is the absolute business. It's hard to imagine a band consistently making a new record every year making great albums year in, year out, but REM did it! This is from 1986, 3 years after making their acclaimed debut record, 'Murmur' (excellent album as well!). After 1984's 'Reckoning', 1985's 'Fables of the Reconstruction' and before their 1987 breakthrough record, ...  Read the complete review

The title's a phrase from Inspector Clouseau (from "A shot in the dark"), but why REM chose it as the title to their fourth album is, like Michael Stipe's vocals at the time, about as clear as mud. It's not, for one thing, a mumbling Clouseau-like collection - it is a rich mix of tracks, though, and contains some of my favourite REM songs. At the time of its release, REM were still a cult band, in the UK at any rate, they were yet to have a chart hit here (that would come with "The one I love" from the album that was to follow "Life's rich pageant"). However, this album did seem to be beckoning towards a more mainstream ...  Read the complete review