As years have passed, I’ve increasingly looked at R.E.M. as a band that broke up in 1997, with Bill Berry’s departure. The band put out ten albums before that point and five after, but those five never quite felt like “real” R.E.M. albums.
I found something to love in each of them when they were released (even Around the Sun, by far their weakest record) but looking back on R.E.M.’s career in total, it definitely splits into two eras.
My desert island countdown continues (see Monday’s post for the full explanation).
Desert Island Musical Artists – #3 – R.E.M.
As I’ve written many times on this blog, no artist has as powerful an emotional pull on me as R.E.M. Their music transports me to different moments in my life like a sonic time machine.
If there’s one album in my music collection of which I could never tire, its R.E.M.’s 1985 classic Fables of the Reconstruction. I think that’s in part because I have no idea what most of its songs are about — or even what Michael Stipe is singing in half of them.
Reading over the lyrics of ‘Kohoutek,’ I realized that despite hearing and loving it hundreds of times I had never really paid any attention to its words. Because they don’t matter… not really. What matters is the sound and the feel.
Today’s selection, rounding out my top five desert island songs, fits nicely into the discussion in yesterday’s comment section.
Dana might argue that I’m closing out with an R.E.M. song because they are one of my favorite bands. I would counter that R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands because of this song (which I featured in its original form as SOTD #201).
Another early R.E.M. track, this one as early as they get (at least when it comes to their studio releases). Chronic Town is a 1982 EP that was released before Murmur, their full-length debut.
The band hadn’t quite found their groove on this EP, but all of the elements are in place. And the release does feature ‘Gardening at Night,’ a classic R.E.M. track.
Meet Me In Montauk 