Let's Begin Again

First off I must say a very nice birthday to the OFOMOL. Her birthday was yesterday and make a holiday I could care less about (St. Patrick's Day) something worth celebrating. Even though we're an ocean apart she's ever-present with me.

For whatever reason I wasn't very tired last night. It was around 1:15 and I was ready to kick it when I decided to click through the channels one more time. I flipped to VH1, saw Eddie Vedder and immediately knew what it was. Call it fate because I turned to the channel right as he was beginning his induction ceremony for R.E.M. into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum. Needless to say I was psyched.

Mr. Vedder had some nice words to say about one of the most respected and influential bands of all time. Yes I am biased, but I believe this to be true. The band helped to user-in the age of college radio in the 1980s. They toured incessantly during their first five years (and albums) to establish a fan base that would help make them one of the biggest bands of the 1990s. They have always done things their way and, while earing millions of dollars, have had creative freedom to make the music they want.

Yes these guys are nearing (or in Peter's sake, have reached) 50 years old but they are still rocking. That is one thing that I've always enjoyed about them. The last time I saw them (2003) I was amazed at their enthusiasm and the energy they had I would expect from bands half their age. Most people know them from their Out of Time and Automatic for the People days. These albums are more subdued then earlier albums and causual fans peg them as the "Everybody Hurts" band. Both albums have some great songs, but are not indicative of their catalogue as a whole. They can play the quiet ballads but also can put energy into their up-tempo rockers. Its a nice dichotomy that few bands can do. One a side-note, it was really nice to see Bill up their with the band and he looked like he was really enjoying himself.

They were lucky enough to be inducted the same year at Patti Smith. Smith's Horses was one of the albums that had a major impact on young Peter Buck and Michael Stipe. Stipe and Smith have a tight friendship and she even sung on E-Bow The Letter (one of their most underrated songs) off of 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi. R.E.M. with Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye put on a great rendition of The Stooges Now I Wanna Be Your Dog. This was probably an endorsement of The Stooges to be inducted into the Hall. Be sure to check-out Peter at the end:



I'm happy for the band. Even though their last couple of albums (Up, Reveal, Around the Sun) have not done so well commercially or critically, the band is working on a new album. I believe that the band has one more blockbuster in them. Am I asking for an album that sells 10 million? No. I'd just like to see the band have mainstrem success one more time so that their music can be exposed to a new group of fans. After everything they've done for the music world, they deserve it. I'm also hoping for a "return to rock" album that strays away from the acoustic mindset from their last couple of albums.

In closing, I'll do my best to rank their albums. Everyone always asks me what my favorite is. I've always dodged this question because I've never wanted to pigeonhole myself, but I think it is about time to rank them.

First Tier
Murmur (1983)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Automatic for the People (1992)
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
These are all must-have albums. Murmur is the legend that started it all. LRP may be my favorite album as it has a nice ratio of rockers to ballads and initiated in the band's political messages via song. AFTP captures the band at their commercial and critical peak and is one of the few "perfect" albums of all-time. NAIHF is probably their most underrated album.

Second Tier
Reckoning (1984)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Document (1987)
Monster (1994)
These albums lost a bit from the first tier. Each one has its moments, but each also has a song or two that just is a step below the rest of the album. Fables is an album that many folks would rank lower but beneath the surface the album offers a lot. Monster also gets a bad rep but an album I think has really endured in the 13 years since it has been released.

Tier 3
Green (1988)
Out Of Time (1991)
Around the Sun (2004)
These albums have songs that are great and memorable but contain a lot more of filler and throw-away songs. Initially I hated ATS but it has grown on me and I do like a fair amount of the songs on the album. The problem is the songs I don't like, I really don't like.

Tier 4
Up (1998)
Reveal (2001)
These two albums I listen to the least. They are difficult albums to listen to. They are also the first two albums in the post-Bill Berry era. The band has talked about how hard Up was and that they really rushed into recording it. They are not bad albums per se, but compared to the level of the previous 12 albums here...these are the low marks. That being said, below-average for R.E.M. is still better then a majority of the stuff out there.

I congratulate those who reached the end of this post. Most of my faitful readers are familiar with my fixation with R.E.M. and by enduring this post I promise that any future R.E.M.-related material will be considerably shorter.