R.E.M. - RECKONING - 1983

Info:

The murmuring continued with this, R.E.M.'s second album, recorded in only two weeks, and yet critical acclaim and a growing fanbase had not made the music any less elusive. From the cover depiction of a winding river/snake, the jangly music within was similarly ambiguous, drenched in alternately murky, then dazzlingly clear, images. The water theme predominates throughout side one's five-song suite, with talk of harbours, oceans and water towers, crowned by the sublime lament of "So. Central Rain." Later, the melancholic eulogy of "Camera" sits comfortably beside the cod-country of "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" and the brisk but disillusioned tour around "Little America." An astonishingly assured and uncommercial half-sibling to MURMUR: file under water.

Recorded at Reflection Sound, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Personnel: Bill Berry (vocals, drums, percussion); Michael Stipe, Mike Mills (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar).

Audio Mixer: Mitch Easter.

Recording information: Reflection Sound Studios, Charlotte, NC.

Photographers: Ed Colver; Mike Cameron.

Unknown Contributor Role: Howard Finster.

R.E.M.: Michael Stipe (vocals); Mike Mills (vocals, bass); Bill Berry (vocals, drums); Peter Buck (guitar).

Rolling Stone (p.77) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he powerful RECKONING established the band as bona fide leaders of the new American indie-rock underground."

Tracklist:
1.Harborcoat
2.7 Chinese Brothers
3.So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
4.Pretty Persuasion
5.Time After Time (Annelise)
6.Second Guessing
7.Letter Never Sent
8.Camera
9.(Don't Go Back To) Rockville
10.Little America

Link:
RECKONING

Pass:
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R.E.M. - MURMUR - 1983

Info:

R.E.M.'s full-length debut is a landmark album that set the standard for the next 10 years of indie rock. The Athens quartet combined Byrdsy, folk-rock guitar jangle with obscurantist lyrics and a post-punk compositional sensibility to create a vibrant new sound that would soon be imitated by every high-school poet with a Rickenbacker guitar. R.E.M. was also one of the first bands to make the long, hard journey from college radio (when it was still college radio) to mainstream acceptance, and managed the difficult task of maintaining its integrity at every step along the way.

MURMUR, far from an embryonic debut, shows a fully-formed unit with a strong artistic vision. (It was preceded by two legendary underground releases: The "Radio Free Europe" single--which was re-recorded for MURMUR--and the CHRONIC TOWN EP.) Producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon's lofty reputations would have remained intact even if they had never worked on another record after this one. The gentle-but-insistent arrangements and glorious pop hooks of songs like "Catapult" and "Talk About The Passion" provide the perfect contrast to Michael Stipe's earnest, moody vocal style. Drummer Bill Berry's breathless effervescence provides the perfect backdrop for this album of jumpy, intellectual pop.

Recorded at Reflection, Charlotte, North Carolina in January 1983.

R.E.M.: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar); Michael Mills (bass, background vocals); Bill Berry (drums).

Additional personnel: Jefferson Holt, Bertis Downs.

Tracklist:

Side one

1. "Radio Free Europe"
   
2. "Pilgrimage"
3. "Laughing"
4. "Talk About The Passion"
   
5. "Moral Kiosk"
6. "Perfect Circle"
   

Side two

1. "Catapult"
   
2. "Sitting Still"
3. "9-9"
4. "Shaking Through"
5. "We Walk"
6. "West of the Fields" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe and Neil Bogan)

Link:
MURMUR

Pass:
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R.E.M. - CHRONIC TOWN - 1982

Info:
Chronic Town is the debu EP by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in 1982 on I.R.S. Records. Chronic Town is the first illustration of R.E.M.'s signature musical style: jangling guitars, chords played in arpeggio, murmured vocals, and obscure lyrics.

Reviewer Richard Grabel wrote, "Chronic Town is five songs that spring to life full of immediacy and action and healthy impatience. Songs that won't be denied." Grabel praised the songs' auras of mystery, and concluded, "R.E.M. ring true, and it's great to hear something as unforced and cunning as this." Creem writer Robot A. Hull began his review saying, "This EP is so arcane that I had to play it six times in a row to get a handle on it – and even now, I'm still not sure." Hull praised the EP for "[evoking] the music of the late-'60s without any pretensions, mingling past and present to shape both into concurrent moments." Hull concluded, "Despite its eccentricity, R.E.M.'s record is undoubtedly the sleeper EP of the year."

Tracklist:

Side one – "Chronic Town"

1. "Wolves, Lower" – 4:10
2. "Gardening at Night" – 3:29
3. "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" – 3:54

Side two – "Poster Torn"

4. "1,000,000" – 3:06
5. "Stumble" – 5:40

Link:
CHRONIC TOWN

Pass:
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