The Random iTunes Fairy has been eavesdropping again, serving up a song related to my recent listening habits.
I’ve been working my way through the entire R.E.M. discography in order, as I suggested I would back in September. And I just recently finished the band’s 2001 album Reveal, on which today’s random selection appears.
I once ranked Reveal as the 12th best R.E.M. album, which isn’t saying much because they had released only 14 at the time. But I guess that’s enough to make it my #9 album of 2001.
Reveal was the band’s second album without drummer Bill Berry, and while none of the post-Berry records measure up to R.E.M.’s work as a quartet, this one does have several of their best tunes from that era.
Three years after Up, R.E.M. released their second album as a trio, 2001’s Reveal. After the sonic experimentation of Up, Reveal was more in the vein of a “normal” R.E.M. album, sharing a style and tone closest to their work on Automatic For the People.
For me, this is one of the trickiest albums in the band’s catalog. While I enjoy most of the songs quite a bit, the album itself has never quite gelled. I don’t know if it’s the lack of Bill Berry, but Reveal has always seemed off in some way.
Meet Me In Montauk 