Shiny Boring People (Out Of Time - R.E.M.)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Out Of Time - R.E.M.
Date:	12/09/02 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great songs, Great playing, Great band

Disadvantages: They're as dull as dishwater

American rock has always been the stuff of legend - somehow so much more authentic than our own home bred mimics. The US had Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochrane, Britain had Cliff Richard and (perish the thought) Tommy Steele (remember Little White Bull). We had The Motors and The Jags and they had REM, 'nuff said. Ah well, we've had our share of high spots, but the band from Georgia who named themselves after the acronym for Rapid Eye Movement have always been honorary Brits, with their thoughtful, uplifting, earnest, consideration, like the Smiths but with a singer who wasn't a joke and melodies which flowed rather than chugged (sorry, Mozza and Johnny, but you know what I mean).

REM have always dripped credibility with their studious image and student-crowded following, intellects who could write a mean tune which mattered, and they've garnered a huge and committed following over in Blighty and demanded your attention. REM are/were Bill Berry (drums, percussion), Peter Buck (guitars and other stringed things), Mike Mills (bass, keyboards) and Michael Stipe (vocals), one of the smallest men in rock. They're a captivating, serious, artistic bunch of old men who matter.

Their mythical, taxing, rewarding albums have always done well over here and earned an appreciative audience.

In fact, REM have nearly everything imaginable going for them. There's just one bad thing about them, in fact. THEY'RE SO GODDAMNED BORING AND DULL. Nice black and white clothes, moody careworn faces, decent haircuts and a worthy approach to life. They play well, sing well and write good songs, offering excellent value, and being genuinely difficult to find fault with, but there?s always that nagging, worrying problem about them. THEY MAKE YOU GO TO SLEEP. Still, listen to tracks like Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People and you can forgive them (virtually) everything.


Out Of Time is the band's 1991 album, a
nd while it doesn't have near the instantaneous classic and pull of the superb Automatic For The People set, but it's nevertheless a wonderful, wonderful collection which you?d struggle to find fault with, apart (I suppose) from the boring cover, and boring photos, and boring cartoons on the fold out booklet in the CD. Lord, they're even on Warner Bros, ferchrissakes. Still, boredom and dullness and worthiness are what REM are all about and no one does it any better than them, do they?


Radio Song
Blissful, transatlantic pop with great guitar and organ, and aching, gorgeous vocals, this one rocks. It bounces along, tugging you irresistibly in its flow. These men are grown up, but they certainly write a mean single and have a certain way with hooks which you'd be hard pressed not to like. They've got all the slow bits and strings and pauses in exactly the right place like all the real bands do, but they manage to breathe new life into orthodox rock and inject urgency and meaning where there is vapid emptiness. Classic, classic REM this, putting the competition firmly in their place, while smacking unmistakably of the B-52s.

Losing My Religion
A massive hit single, which is most memorable for its wonderful mandolin lines and classic Stipe vocal - little boy lost, badly hurt and turned out of the village, like a lost watcher, persecuted by the bigger boys in the class. Losing My Religion has hidden depths of beauty and even merits the flowing, gorgeous strings which never quite overpower everything. No one else writes classic pop rock quite as well as these boys and few use the mandolin as eloquently, at least since Rod Stewart and the Faces in their heyday (sorry, folks, but check out Mandolin Wind, Farewell and some other of the man?s early work pre-Britt and the blazers).

Low
Nagging, fidgety urging, understated and muted in tone, but every bit as gripping as all the other great songs on this al
bum. The insistent blocked guitar riff and swirling organ build the mood up nicely, but Stipe continues his low key love poetry, picking away at our senses and using neat wordplay and some of his classic phrasing tricks to pique our interest. REM are wonderfully good at songs and moods like this, totally controlled at one minute, yet always capable of letting go and giving free rein to their wilder side.

Near Wild Heaven
Jingle jangle orthodox American folksy rock of the kind which REM have always excelled at, but seem to churn out so effortlessly that you often think they're operating on automatic and do the stuff without even having to think about it. Never trust a gifted American instrumentalist, no backbone these boys and they insist on calling footie Soccer (with that damned annoying capital S). Sadly, this is them at their dullest.

Endgame
This is interesting in a very boring way, or boring in a very interesting way (whichever you prefer), all acoustic finger picking and poetry, though there's some captivating guitar lines on here.

Shiny Happy People
Enough of the makeweights, more neat stop-start REM hit single material, and one of their most uplifting, addictive songs, although you can never really imagine Michael Stipe laughing or even smirking, can you? However, the irony ain't lost on the band and at least they do have an earnest kind of self deprecation to their bows. I love this song, with its lovely, timeless quality and sense of order and orthodoxy. REM will never win any prizes for earth shattering experimentation, but they can certainly write a decent song. Could have done without the slow middle bit, but at least it gives Mikey the chance to sing "Here we go" and embarrass himself as they pick their way up from it.

Belong
A moody, rumbling piece of music which drips authenticity and feeling. Leaden paced, but filled with some nice rhythm guitar jangles and understate
ment. Ho hum, this album is so good, it?s getting terribly boring.

Half A World Away
More gorgeous mandolin lead, more neatsy folk rock, more yearning, pleading vocals, more effortless brilliance. You just wish they'd fall flat on their collective smug faces for once in their entire worthy lives. It's a goodie.

Texarkana
Nice, country tinged music which reminds one of nothing so much as a speeded up Dire Straits, but Michael Stipe is a much better singer than Mark Knopfler and he doesn?t bother with a head band (still, he?s bald, uh ho, Knopfler's not exactly overflowing with hair himself). At last, though, this is a routine number which you'll struggle to remember. Oh damn, I just heard a pretty neat stop-start bit with a neat bass rumble which'll make me come back to admire its beauty. Don't these guys ever let up? Bloody hell, they've done it again. I hate them.

Country Feedback
Lovely pedal steel guitar from John Keane is the most distinctive part of another song with country overtones. Still, REM don't trade in distinctiveness, they trade in hugely consistent, great rock music, and this is more of the same.

Me In Honey
Look at them, upping the tempo on the closer, to leave you on a high note, what an obvious bloody trick, didn't they think we'd spot such cack handed manoeuvres. Well I did, but who can argue with them.


PS Don't believe all my narking, bickering and moaning. REM are a special talent and deserve every plaudit they?ve been given. I admire them with every fibre of my being and I'm glad they've seen fit to shower us with their work. Out Of Time is a great, great album, a classic of the 90's.

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