capsule reviews of miscellaneous titles by
R.E.M.

R.E.M.
Up   (1998)
Comments:  Bill Berry's departure was a sad day for REM fans, and for the band as well.  Many feared the band would break up.   Instead, the remaining three took the opportunity to explore new sounds, and came up with a strong recording that's just as strange, or stranger, than any of their offbeat releases thus far.  Without Berry's percussive backbone, they pursued a dreamy keyboard sound on this album, peppered with drum machines and loops.  Only the power-pop "Lotus" echoes the arena-rock R.E.M., and "Daysleeper" provides a catchy radio-ready single.  But there are subtler pleasures here, like the shimmering, gentle tones of "Suspicion" or the powerful prayer-like "You're In the Air".  Another thing that surprises me on this record is the seeming contentment.  Michael Stipe's vocals don't seem so driven to croon or to drive a point home; in "At My Most Beautiful" he might be singing in your ear while you sleep. 
   There doesn't seem to be a theme here, unless it's a meditation on making meaning of your life.  "Lotus" might be Stipe's self-effacing look back at his own career and occasional arrogance: "Who's this stranger?/Crowbar spine/dot,dot,dot...and I feel fine."  If that's not a nod to their cocky, posturing radio hit, "It's the End of the World as We Know It", I don't know what it is.  "Suspicion" follows a drunkard down a downward spiral into self-denial.  "Sad Professor" sounds like Solomon lamenting the dead-end paths of knowledge, the elusiveness of love.  "The Apologist" portrays a leader apologizing for mistakes, until that becomes his whole persona.   "Daysleeper" celebrates the honest, straightforward, blue-collar late-shifters fighting to pay bills.  Things come most clear in "Walk Unafraid", a banner song about self-confidence and the importance of pressing on in spite of mistakes.  The song is so unapologetically positive and hopeful, it is no surprise to learn that it was written with a little help from Bono. 
    Like U2, REM will have to work hard to keep from repeating themselves, if they hope to last long past Berry's retirement.  If this is any indication, they still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
Outstanding tracks: "Suspicion", "Lotus", "You're In the Air"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

R.E.M.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi    (1996)
Comments:  As U2 did with "Zooropa", REM recorded a collection of some of their finest work while on the road touring for a hit album.   While they break very little new ground stylistically here, they cover a wide range of energies, from the breakneck pace of the exhilarating "Departure" to the mournful beauty of "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" to the relentless fervor of "Leave". This seems to be a confident fusion of the things they’ve learned in the guitar-heavy days of "Life's Rich Pageant", the pop-hooks of "Out of Time", and the dark moods of  "Automatic for the People".  Gone completely is the weird buzz of "Monster". 
   The clear theme here is The Journey.   Journeys into self-destruction, as a nation in "How the West was won" and as a reckless rock star in "So Fast So Numb".  Journeys into joy in "Electrolite".  Journeys from the known into risk, doubt, and faith in "Leave".  The loss of identity along the way in "Bittersweet Me", and the pain of loneliness and being an outcast in "New Test Leper".  That song stings the sharpest, a lament against Jesus' followers for their tendency to break their own ethics and to judge those around them.  Clearly, Stipe has avoided claiming a personal faith for a reason; he's sickened by the hypocrisy and pride of the "faithful" that he has encountered along the way.
Outstanding tracks:  "E-Bow the Letter", "Leave", "New Test Leper"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

R.E.M.
Monster   (1994)
Comments: "Monster" is the loudest, most subversive REM album.  It's a trip through identity crises, sexual, political, and relational.  Abusive relationships blow up in "Bang and Blame" and "I Took Your Name".  A generation withdraws in disgust from the corrupt political arena in "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"  "Crush with Eyeliner" is a declaration of lust and obsession for a reckless prima donna.   And "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" is a frightening confession of a desire for pure, carnal exchanges.  The singers seem to indeed be monsters, ravenous, self-centered, obsessive.  And Peter Buck's guitars provide the appropriate clamor, dissonant, deafening and distorted.  This is a great rock band providing ugly portraits of just who you might be if your fears or your appetites get the better of you.   Only "Let Me In", dedicated to Kurt Cobain, offers hope in the form of an outstretched hand, the power of love and friendship for the disillusioned.  In fact, the song is played by Mike Mills on Cobain's own electric guitar.
Outstanding Tracks: "I Took Your Name", "What’s the Frequency, Kenneth", "Let Me In"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

R.E.M.
Automatic For the People   (1992)
Comments:  Life is short.  Don't blow it.   Savor it.  That's the sentiment of "Automatic for the People".   REM's melancholy follow-up to the cheery "Out of Time" is often called their masterpiece.  It starts with "Drive", appealing to youth, compelling the listener to indulge their dreams and avoid conformity, while the clock is ticking "tick...tock...".  "Try Not to Breathe" focuses on an old man who wants to die with dignity.  "Monty Got a Raw Deal" remembers the tragedy of the actor Montgomery Clift.  And "Man on the Moon" celebrates heroes who pioneered new territory even when it was an unpopular idea, like Moses, Darwin, Newton, and, of course the zany comedian Andy Kaufman, making a saint of him in the process.  It's an appropriate symbol for R.E.M., who have developed a singular, strange presence in rock history despite their critics.  "Everybody Hurts" is their most accessible song ever, a straight-to-the-heart appeal to the downhearted, encouraging them to get up.  And "Sweetness Follows" is a reverent memorial for the lost, while also an admonition not to let the reality of death cause you to stumble in life.  "It's these little things, they can pull you under/ Live your life willed with joy and wonder...."  I find their encouragements to be a bit empty.  The fact that 'everybody hurts' is not enough to give me hope.  But you can tell they're searching here, reaching for meaning, asking what life is all about when there's so much darkness and death in the world. 
Outstanding tracks:  "Sweetness Follows", "Everybody Hurts", "Drive"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

R.E.M.
Out of Time   (1991)
Comments: Excellentfter conquering alternative rock, Stipe and the gang decided to conquer the world of pop music, all the while refusing to compromise their trademark subversiveness and riddling lyrics.  "Losin' My Religion" stands with "Every Breath You Take" and "With Or Without You" as one of rock's all-time great songs about the torments of unrequited love.  For the first time the world's most politically active band (except perhaps Midnight Oil) decided to broach the subject of love, and they do so with characteristic doubt, questioning, and suspicion.  The result is a broad landscape of love's highs and lows.  There's a giddy and dreamy pop number ("Near Wild Heaven"), the detailed history of a love's collapse into bickering ("Country Feedback"), a poetic meditation on necessity ("Low"), the loneliness of a journey without love ("Half a World Away"), and a song about love so happy and high that it can't possibly be serious ("Shiny Happy People").  Above all, it's compellingly sing-able, stirring together the magic of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.  Their trademark guitar-heavy sound is cast off for strings, keyboards, and mandolins...a brighter pop style.  While perhaps not their most profound record, it's certainly the most listenable, and the most startling turn from a prolific and fascinating band.
Outstanding tracks:  "Losing My Religion", "Half a World Away", "Country Feedback"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece

R.E.M.
Document   (1987)
Comments:  The songs on this REM release are tighter, more formulaic, and the musicianship more polished than on previous releases, making this the REM equivalent of U2's "War" album.  It was the album where it became clear that they were determined to make a difference, an effort that would accelerate in the follow-up, "Green".  They celebrate a hard work ethic ("Finest Worksong"), they rail against a manipulative and arrogant government ("Welcome to the Occupation" and "Disturbance at the Heron House"), and they have a laugh at the information-overload of popular culture, maniacally declaring their own numbness and ignorance in "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)".  While they refuse to play love songs or suggest any answer other than hard work and authenticity, they have a crystal-clear vision of the problems eating at America.  Nobody prophesies more powerfully in modern rock music then this band. 
Outstanding tracks: "King of Birds", "Disturbance at the Heron House", "The One I Love"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

R.E.M.
Life's Rich Pageant   (1986)
Comments:  With "Fables of the Reconstruction" REM established themselves as the next-big-deal, a rock band with an unmatchable sound of jangly southern guitar-rock and indecipherable lyrics.  Listening to them was like listening to dreams from the night before; the emotions are strong, but the specifics unclear.  "Life's Rich Pageant" was a major change of pace for the strange, mysterious rockers from Athens, Georgia.  It focussed on full-speed-ahead, drum-heavy rock and roll, with such a crazed, enthusiastic performance by Michael Stipe that none of their material since leaves him as breathless as these songs do when performed live. The muddied sounds of "Fables" clear up here, so we can understand the lyrics for the first time in REM history.  "Fall on Me" is quite a beautiful song, a passionate plea for better care of the environment, REM's first and foremost theme.  "Cuyahoga" celebrates the natural world with nostalgic photographs of an idyllic time, perhaps a summer camp.  "I Believe" and "begin the Begin" are the exhilarating cornerstones of the album, but the highlight is the lush, beautiful anthem "The Flowers of Guatemala".  There is also a burst of new humor here as well, in the nightmarish howler "Underneath the Bunker" and Mike Mills' irresistible pop number "Superman".  Previous albums had proved REM's musicianship, but this album proved they were also a songwriting force to be reckoned with.
Outstanding tracks: "I Believe", "Fall on Me", "Flowers of Guatemala"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent