REM #15: Collapse Into Now

 

Release Date: March 7, 2011

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Mike Mills (bass, keyboards)

Produced by Jackknife Lee & REM

Track Listing: Discoverer; All the Best; Uberlin; Oh My Heart; It Happened Today; Everyday is Yours to Win; Mine Smell Like Honey; Walk it Back; Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter; That Someone is You; Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I; Blue

Collapse Into Now was pre-determined to be the final REM record, in a mutual decision to disband. The album features a variety of tracks calling back to different eras of the group's history, often referencing older songs. There's also a sense of time passing, the lingering message throughout is one for posterity, many of the songs are addressed to "the kids." 

"Discoverer" recalls the more muscular sound of Monster from 1994, and the sentiment going back to Murmur's opening track "Radio Free Europe." The power pop of "All the Best" has a one more for the road vibe, "it's just like me to overstay my welcome." "Uberlin" offers fantastical daydreams with neo-psychedelia sound.

"Oh My Heart" is one of REM's most poignant songs, told from the viewpoint of someone returning to New Orleans amidst the devastation left by the storm. "It Happened Today" is baroque pop, commenting on the nature of interpretation. "Everyday is Yours to Win" offers a compassionate message to someone in despair at the state of the world - evoking a lullaby. 

"Mine Smell Like Honey" offers subtle sarcasm on ego, "Walk it Back" is piano driven and a meditation on time passing."Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter" is punkish and juvenile by design. "That Someone Is You" is guitar driven, mocking a sophomoric rant by an adolescent. "Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I" muses on celebrity and cultural obsessions. The final REM track "Blue" features Stipe giving a spoken word poem, with Patti Smith providing back-up vocals, always a influence on the band since the beginning, then the fadeout goes into a reprise of "Discoverer."

Collapse Into Now is a fitting farewell. REM began as a fledgling college band in Athens, Georgia and climbed their way up from a cult band to mainstream success. Through it all, they stayed true to progressive ideals and avoided becoming the walking cliché so many rock bands become. 

REM #14: Accelerate

Release Date: March 31, 2008

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Mike Mills (bass, keyboards)

Produced by Jackknife Lee & REM

Track Listing: Living Well is the Best Revenge; Man-Sized Wreath; Supernatural Superserious; Hollow Man; Houston; Accelerate; Until the Day is Done; Mr. Richards; Sing for the Submarine; Horse to Water; I'm Gonna DJ

Accelerate marked a return to guitar driven rock for REM in what would be their penultimate LP.

A punk infused opener, "Living Well is the Best Revenge" also has a politically charged bent, "Man-Sized Wreath" continues in a similar vein, a song full of swagger mocking the idea of swagger and the political rhetoric of the post 9/11 era. "Supernatural Superserious" swerves into pure power pop mode, an observational look at American youth. "Hollow Man" may reference the T.S. Eliot poem "The Hollow Men", which envisioned futuristic men as violent and empty, but the REM song pushes against the sentiment. "Houston" offers subtle commentary on post-Hurricane Katrina climate in America, "if the storm doesn't kill me the government will." "Accelerate" is a moody rocker with a positive energy. "Until the Day is Done" throws scathing commentary at Big Business and all it represents in 21st Century America, especially timely in that it was written just before the 2008 crash. "Mr. Richards" satirizes a certain type of "W" era warmonger, preaching the merits of an aggressive foreign policy to callow youths. "Sing for the Submarine" is a surreal interlude, Stipe in perfect form delivering a dream soliloquy. "Horse to Water" is punk poetry, "I'm Gonna DJ" ends the record on a defiant and jubilant note. 

Accelerate was well received. The smooth production often masks the incisive political commentary, adding more depth to the record on repeated listens. At 34 minutes, it's also the shortest REM record. They undoubtedly sounded rejuvenated, a band still with something to prove. Not a classic by any means, but certainly a late career triumph. 

REM #13: Around the Sun

Release Date: October 5, 2004

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Mike Mills (bass, keyboards)

Additional Musicians: Scott McCaughey (keyboards, percussion); Ken Stringfellow (keyboards); Q-Tip (rapping on "The Outsiders); Bill Rieflin (Percussion); 

Produced by Pat McCarthy & REM

Track Listing: Leaving New York; Electron Blue; The Outsiders; Make It All Okay; Final Straw; I Wanted To Be Wrong; Wanderlust; Boy in the Well; Aftermath; High Speed Train; The Worst Joke Ever; The Ascent of Man; Around the Sun

"Leaving New York" opens Around the Sun, a poignant ode to New York City with melancholy post-9/11 subtext. Lyrically, the song speaks to the leaving the city and the end of a friendship. The electronica fused "Electron Blue" remains a favorite of Michael Stipes he described as a futuristic song that came to him in a dream. "The Outsiders" begins as a synth-pop song and ends Q-Tip providing a rap as a coda, which speaks to the political frustrations and inertia of the Bush era. "Make It All Okay" continues on in a similar vein speaking to miscommunication in a fraught relationship. 

"Final Straw" was written as a protest song about the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, but avoids topical references in favor of an oblique Socratic dialogue. Cultural and political disillusionment are expressed a bit more forcefully on "I Wanted to Be Wrong, Stipe sings "everyone is humming a song I don't understand." 

"Wanderlust" lightens the mood, with Stipe inhabiting a poetic wanderer in modern America, possibly imagining a reincarnated Kerouac. "Boy in the Well" conjures early REM with its minimal production and flickering Americana. "Aftermath" offers hope through gaining self-knowledge, REM at their stateliest. Atmospheric and moody, "High Speed Train" may actually work better if seeing it performed live. "The Worst Joke Ever" speaks to creativity and malaise. "The Ascent of Man" injects some much needed soul to counter the overcast mood of the record. "Around the Sun" ends the record on an upbeat note, promising to keep seeking for the answers as long as the world's still going. 

The album cover art features REM as fading shadows - and that suits Around the Sun. All members admitted to being bored and frustrated during the making of the record, sales were moderate, while reviews were tepid. The post 9/11 world, especially for idealists and Progressives, brought on disillusionment, and here REM flirts with succumbing to it, but not quite. The record can be read as a warm hug to their fans, pointing the way through introspection. 

REM #12: Reveal

Release Date: May 14, 2001

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Mike Mills (bass, keyboards)

Additional Musicians: Scott McCaughey (keyboards, percussion) Joey Waronker (drums); Ken Stringfellow (keyboards)

Produced by Pat McCarthy & REM

Side One: The Lifting; I've Been High; All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star); She Just Wants to Be; Disappear; Saturn Return

Side Two: Beat a Drum; Imitation of Life; Summer Turns to High; Chorus and the Ring; I'll Take the Rain; Beachball

By 2001 REM had achieved carte blanche in terms of their career. They were a rich rock band with total creative freedom and a loyal fan base supporting their tours and buying their records. Their legacy was set in stone. Musically, rock and pop no longer commanded the youth market like in decades past. The way consumers were interacting with music was in flux with the internet becoming a Wild West for free downloads and with streaming just around the corner. Part of REM's new mission was assuaging their fan base through reissues, live albums, and collections of unreleased tracks. 

New albums were no longer the centerpiece of a REM's existence, with them becoming cottage industry on their own. Reveal is a stellar album, less experimental than Up, yet seemingly tailor made to be what one would expect from REM. But a subtle unease traverses through the slick lyrics and hypnotic melodies. 

Like most REM tracks, "The Lifting" benefits from multiple listens. Written as a prequel to "Daysleeper" from Up, it's about an office drone who once had high ambitions about life. With its dreamy pop intro that could open a Cardigans song, but there's an emphatic frustration with the character, a figure who imagined a life of color, but it's still black and white. It also contrasts dreams with mundane nature of life, drawing a comparison to " A Day in the Life." 

"I've Been High" applies a retro '80s pop sound, with recurring REM imagery of water, the sky, and falling. "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna be a Star)" follows a familiar character, a young woman trying to break into show business, musically it feels like a spiritual sequel to "Man on the Moon." Michael Moore directed the playful video for the song, following REM as they visit a Catholic High School in Brooklyn and mingle with the students. 

"She Just Wants to Be" could possibly be about the same character from the previous song, a track celebrating experiencing the world, but also complicating the sentiment. "Disappear" follows a world- weary character on other side of the spectrum of the young person in the precious song, always on the elusive search for meaning and finding nothing, eventually preferring to leave the world. "Saturn Return" continues in a similar vein, the lyrics are labyrinthian with Stipe's haunting vocal and the rich soundscape creates a sublime mood. 

Some have read "Beat a Drum" as a tribute to Bill Berry who left the band to become a farmer, weary of touring and shaken after a brain aneurism, Berry chose the quiet life. The song's themes of transcendentalism also draw parallels to Emerson and Thoreau. "Imitation of Life" could be read as the band satirizing themselves, with its overtly sweet optimism. "Summer Turns to High" also revels in darkly sweet imagery, with hints of Pet Sounds. "Chorus and the Ring" is lyrically the most adventurous. A melancholy resignation sustains "I'll Take the Rain." "Beachball" ends the record on a low key vibe in a jaundiced vision of paradise. 

Musically and lyrically Reveal offers everything one would expect from REM, bright melodies, and sublime lyrics. I marginally prefer Up because of its less constrained style, there's an uneasy insularity on Reveal, a safe record in the best possible sense. 

REM #11: Up

Release Date: October 26, 1998

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Mike Mills (bass, keyboards)

Additional Musicians: Scott McCaughey (keyboards, percussion) Joey Waronker (drums); Barrett Martin (drums)

Produced by Pat McCarthy & REM

Side One: Airportman; Lotus; Suspicion Hope; At My Most Beautiful; The Apologist; Sad Professor; You're in the Air

Side Two: Walk Unafraid; Why Not Smile; Daysleeper; Diminished; Parakeet; Falls to Climb

With the departure of drummer Bill Berry, REM continued on as a trio, employing a handful of session musicians on keyboards and percussion. Up was recorded throughout 1998, with members working more as individuals and exploring electronica sounds under the influence of Radiohead. Barely on speaking terms at times, it took a three-day retreat in Idaho for the band to air out their differences and deciding whether to continue. 

Up opens with "Airportman", a gently melodic soundscape of electronica, influenced by Krautrock. "Lotus" introduces the spiritual themes on the record, with its surreal lyrics and pop-electric sound. "Suspicion" is in a neo-psychedelic mode, with stream of consciousness lyrics, in one of Stipe's most evocative vocals yet. "Hope" borrowed its melody from Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne", lyrically the song is directed at someone unsure if they should go in the science or religion route in trying to make sense of mortality.

"At My Most Beautiful" is a pristine piano ballad inspired by Brian Wilson. Aural waves and reverb sustain "The Apologist," with its moody themes of compromise and control. "Sad Professor" is a character sketch of melancholia similar to REM's earlier interest in eccentric characters. 

"You're in the Air" is a love song, baroque, and haunting thought Stipe's vocal. "Walk Afraid" marinates in existential angst, a secular prayer. "Why Not Smile" drowns in earnestness and honesty, which makes the sentiment even sadder. "Daysleeper" offers poetic reflections on modern life, globalization eating away at the soul of Gen X, prescient in its sentiments and somewhat reminiscent of "Fakin It" by Simon and Garfunkel. "Diminished" is the longest track at six minutes, lyrically ambitious with more wordplay and striking imagery, in the fadeout Stipe performs a fragment of "I'm Not Over You." 

"Parakeet" is a metaphorical in how we can trap ourselves, "Falls to Climb" brings the introspective themes of Up to a proper conclusion. 

Up offers a variety of dreamy melodies and rich themes. Musically, REM was updating their sound with elements of Brit Pop and electronica, while maintaining their thematic preoccupations on life and how to live it. Stipe continued to expand his vocal range, often inhabiting the characters in the songs. New Adventures in Hi-Fi was their farewell to the 1990s, Up had them looking forward to the 2000s. Record sales declined in the US, but the record performed better in Europe. With their days of mainstream success behind them, Up signaled REM was settling into becoming a niche band. 

REM #10: New Adventures in Hi-Fi

Release Date: September 9, 1996

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Scott Litt & REM

Side One: How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us; The Wake-Up Bomb; New Test Leper; Undertow; E-Bow the Letter; Leave

Side Two: Departure; Bittersweet Me; Be Mine; Binky the Doormat; Zither; So Fast, So Numb; Low Desert; Electrolite

Recorded over the course of their 1995 tour in support of Monster during soundchecks for their shows, New Adventures in Hi-Fi finds REM at the peak of their powers. The sound is REM at their most bold and melodic. A panorama of styles are on display: power pop, punk, New Wave, and jangle rock.

"How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us" opens the record on a reflective note, MIke Mills contributes a hypnotic piano that centers the song along with Stipe's cryptic vocals, "The story is a sad one told many times/The story of my life in trying times." End of century themes are a recurring thread on the record - and the opening track hits an ominous tone at the height of Pax Americana '90s.

"The Wake-Up Bomb" is punk-rock-pop track driven by Buck's guitar, Stipe channeling a manic character, perhaps an extreme version of himself, who wants to accomplish everything fast:

My head's on fire and high esteem

Get drunk and sing along to Queen

Practice my T-Rex moves and make the scene

Carry my dead, bored, been there, done that, anything

"New Test Leper" opens with "I can't say that I love Jesus/That would be a hollow claim" and satirizes hollow evangelists dominating the airwaves demanding money and offering deranged hope. "Undertow" features blistering guitars, the narrator confronts his mortality without looking for solace from religion, a defiant secularism. 

Patti Smith, a major influence on REM, joined Stipe on backup vocals on "E-Bow the Letter."  At seven minutes, "Leave" closes side one, with more pulsating guitars and driving synth, the lyrics tell of an intense journey of self-knowledge and a drive to escape the past.

"Departure" pays homage to Cheap Trick, with Stipe channeling mid-70s Todd Rundgren in his vocal. "Bittersweet Me" is another rocker, REM at their best with introspective lyrics that builds. "Be Mine" is more stripped down and builds into a romantic ballad. "Binky the Doormat" borders on Dadaist imagery , "Zither" a subdued instrumental. "So Fast, So Numb" is a surreal pop song directed at someone involved in drugs and leading a chaotic life. "Low Desert" channels the early REM sound, a travelogue of being on the road.

The record closes with one REM's greatest songs, "Electrolite." Stipe spoke of wanting to write a farewell to the 20th Century and a tribute to Los Angeles, inspired by driving along Mulholland Drive. The lyrics namecheck icons of American cinema James Dean. Martin Sheen, and Steve McQueen. Mills contributed the sublime piano track, melancholy and triumphant. The song's closing verse:

Twentieth Century, go to sleep

Really Deep

We Won't Blink

Your eyes are burning holes through me

I'm not scared

I'm outta here

I'm not scared

I'm outta here

REM allowed themselves go epic on New Adventures in Hi-Fi, but the exuberance running through it was tempered by a sense of finality. In some ways, it's the Abbey Road of their catalog, a record showcasing the best aspects of the band coming together, channeling both the past and future. Rumors were swirling the band was about to break up, and it would be the final REM record with the original lineup. Bill Berry announced his departure the following year. REM continued as a trio until they officially disbanded in 2011. 

REM #9: Monster

Release Date: September 27, 1994

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Scott Litt & REM

Side One: What's the Frequency Kenneth; Crush With Eyeliner; King of Comedy; I Don't Sleep, I Dream; Star 69; Strange Currencies

Side Two: Tongue; Bang and Blame; I Took Your Name; Le Me In; Circus Envy; You

Monster marked a shift in tone and sound for REM. Released in 1994 and recorded over the course of several months while touring, the album takes a sardonic look as pop culture amid mid-90's euphoria, but with dark forebodings ahead. America is presented as a grotesque carnival of parasites and obsessives.

"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" opens the distorted guitars that appear throughout the record. Inspired by a "post-modern" incident in 1986 when CBS news anchor Dan Rather was accosted in Manhattan by two men who claimed to be time travelers, repeating over and over "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" One of the men was convicted of shooting and killing a stagehand for the Today Show, under the delusion the media was controlled by evil forces. REM used the incident to satirize cultural critics/academics trying to understand the younger generation. Cryptic lyrics like, "withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy" and Stipe's staccato delivery result in a hybrid of New Wave and Sci-Fi. 

On "Crush With Eyeliner" Stipe takes on the persona of a stalker infatuated with a model, uncertain if he's in love with her beauty or fame. Performed in a 70's glam rock song in the style of T-Rex and David Bowie, Stipe menacing on the refrain, "I'm the real thing." "King of Comedy" follows up in a similar vein, commenting on the exploitive nature of show business and the perpetual greed. "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" is both conniving with a nefarious narrator. "Star 69" sounds more like '80s REM, referring to a parasitic relationship, an essential part of any tabloid narrative. "Strange Currencies" could be a sequel to "Everybody Hurts", but more hopeful and cathartic. 

On "Tongue" Stipe sings in a falsetto accompanied by piano, soulful in its own unique way. "Bang and Blame" sounds like REM doing their own rendition of a Nirvana song, Stipe and Cobain were friends and were considering making a record together. "I Took Your Name" muses on the fragility of identity in a hypermedia plane, a song suited for the social media age, Peter Buck's riffs ripple like a ZZ Top tune. "Let Me Down" is both stripped down, slightly derivative. "Circus Envy" continues in a punkish style with swampy guitars. "You" ends the record on a properly discordant note, brimming with ambivalence. 

REM rose to fame by ignoring the trends and embracing their insularity (up to a point). Monster revealed them being influenced by the music going on around them, spurring some of their most iconic songs. Every band that hit mega stardom will inevitably make a record about the surreal nature of fame - and Monster is that record for REM. 

REM #8: Automatic For The People

Release Date: October 5, 1992

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Scott Litt & REM

Side One: Drive; Try Not To Breathe; The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight; Everybody Hurts; New Orleans Instrumental No. 1; Sweetness Follows

Side Two: Monty Got a Raw Deal; Ignoreland; Star Me Kitten; Man on the Moon; Nightswimming; Find the River

Automatic For The People is considered by many REM's best album. Released a month before the 1992 Presidential election that would elect Bill Clinton, the record is both looking back and exploring how to move forward. With the band entering their 30s and the musical landscape in flux, they made an impassioned effort to push their sound to its limits.  A philosophical album as well, many songs deal with mortality, memory, but also living.

"Drive", like the opening track Murmur "Radio Free Europe." is a clarion call, a displaced anthem with references to the past and present aimed at young people, performed in Stipe's opaque style with a big production with a string section. On "Try Not To Breathe" Stipe takes on persona of a dying woman imploring her family not to worry, a heavy track full of drone and poignancy.  

"The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight" has Stipe inhabiting another character, a recluse (possibly a fading rock star) enjoying solitude and the mundane. References to consumer brands like Nescafe and Dr. Seuss create a blissful setting, the production adds an epic quality (also dated now with the recurring image of the pay phone). 

"Everybody Hurts" is perhaps the most straight forward ballad REM had recorded up to that point. With an iconic video and powerful lyrics with the majestic production, the song transcended the band. The swampy "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" serves as a welcoming coda to "Everybody Hurts." The sublime "Sweetness Follows" is another meditation on mortality, ending the first side on a dirge. 

"Monty Got a Raw Deal" is (probably) about the life of actor Montgomery Clift (1920-1966), or in a larger sense the fate of celebrity (works as a companion to the Clash song "The Right Profile"). "Ignoreland" condemns the course of America under the Reagan-Bush regime, the non-confrontational stance of the media, and mentality of the "Super US Citizen." The issues mentioned in the song have not gone way, but more amplified. "Star Me Kitten" is a complex love song, full of drone and droll humor.

Written as a tribute to the late comedian Andy Kaufman (1949-1984), "Man in the Moon" paints a phantasmagoric portrait of the recent past. Major historical figures are referenced alongside cult heroes like Kaufman and the wrestler Fred Blassie, and of course Elvis, who Stipe playfully mimics. The iconoclastic nature of Kaufman, finding humor by exploring the edges, takes on a prophetic meaning.

"Nightswimming" is another ode to solitude, with a simpler arrangement of piano and strings. "Find the River" ends the album on a note of continuity with its metaphorical river journey, encapsulating many of the ideas on the record.

Automatic for the People solidified REM as a musical force for the 1990s, an album of great depth, of its time, but also one of universal themes that seamlessly project into the 21st Century. 

A 40-minute interview with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills on the making of the record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnGwA5gK29g

REM #7: Out of Time

Release Date: March 12, 1991

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Scott Litt & REM

Side One: Radio Song; Losing My Religion; Low; Near Wild Heaven; Endgame

Side Two: Shiny Happy People; Belong; Half a World Away; Texarkana; Country Feedback; Me in Honey

After an exhaustive tour in 1989 in support of Green, REM kept a low profile for a few years but returned with another massively successful album in 1991, Out of Time. Eclectic and more introspective than Green, the record solidified REM as a musical force for the '90s.

"Radio Song" opens the album with melodic hooks and mass media commentary, with hip hop artist KRS-One providing backup vocals. "Losing My Religion" became REM's biggest hit to date, with an iconic video that got constant airplay on MTV. The title was according to Michael Stipe a Southern expression for a heart breaking, the soul-searching lyrics made it perfect anthem about angst and young adulthood. "Low" is more of a hypnotic pop song, the barebones arrangement amplifies the talents of the entire band: Berry's moody percussion, Mills playing a haunting organ, Buck with a catchy riff, and Stipe's distinct vocal performance. "Near Wild Heaven" was written and sung by Mills is more of an upbeat love song with echoes of '60s pop. "Endgame" is an elegant instrumental, a dreamy psychedelia piece.

Another hit single, "Shiny Happy People" featured Kate Pierson from the B-52's on vocals, was on the surface readily made for Sesame Street (according to Stipe the lyrics were inspired Chinese State propaganda after the Tiananmen Square protests). A controversial song in the REM canon, but it shouldn't be. On "Belong" Stipe sings in spoken word lyrics, returning to familiar themes of family bonds and freedom. "Half A World Away" blends classical with pop, thematically similar to the previous track. "Texarkana" is a Gen-X Americana, while "Country Feedback" continues in sojourn mode. "Me in Honey" manages to evolve into an uplifting rocker to end the album.

Out of Time is a confident, and at times, great record. The band was meeting and experimenting with the challenge of achieving (and being) a mainstream success. With a mass audience ready to embrace them, REM was starting to transcend their college rock sound and becoming a cultural force through their own music and personas. 

REM #6: Green

Release Date: November 7, 1988

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Scott Litt & REM

Side One: Pop Song 89; Get Up; You Are the Everything; Stand; World Leader Pretend; The Wrong Child

Side Two: Orange Crush; Turn You Inside-Out; Hairshirt; I Remember California; Untitled

Green would be the final REM album of the 1980s, a decade whose sound the band played a big role in shaping. Coincided to be released on day of the 1988 Presidential Election between George Bush and Michael Dukakis (REM campaigned for Democratic candidates), Green marked where the band had been and where it was going as the '90s beckoned.

Originally intended to be one half electric and other acoustic, the record waltzes between radio friendly numbers, social commentary, and introspective acoustic numbers. "Pop Song 89" comments on Gen X dissonance as the '80s were closing, bolstered by Peter Buck's melodic guitar hooks. "Get Up" is the most playful number on the record, an ode to indolence reminiscent of Lennon's "I'm Only Sleeping" with some Beach Boys harmonies added in for good measure.

"You Are the Everything" channels Walt Whitman with its embrace of experience, the closest REM comes to straight up love song. "Stand" channels '60s bubblegum pop and self-help mantras, becoming a hit single. "World Leader Pretend" may be told from the perspective of someone with power who feels powerless in a wonderfully sublime and evocative track. In contrast, "The Wrong Child" is mostly acoustic, told from child's perspective who feels like an outsider.

"Orange Crush" is a more direct song dealing with the use of toxic Agent Orange by the American military during the Vietnam War. "Turn You Inside-Out" is about power and relationships, metaphorical on many levels, Stipe sings with a sarcastic edge. "Hairshirt" meanders a bit, an emotional examination of another power relationship. "I Remember California" is conniving and cryptic. "Untitled" ends the record on a reflective note.

Green has a sense of weariness and circling introspection that somehow makes it less accessible than previous REM albums even though it's full of catchy tunes.

REM #5: Document

Release Date: August 31, 1987

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Scott Litt & REM

Side One: Finest Worksong; Welcome to the Occupation; Exhuming McCarthy; Disturbance at the Heron House; Strange; It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine); 

Side Two: The One I Love; Fireplace; Lightnin' Hopkins; King of Birds; Oddfellows Local 151

Document marked another step in REM's rise to mainstream recognition, aided by two hit singles "The One I Love" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I feel fine). 

"Finest Worksong" opens the album, an alt-folk rock song:

The Time to Rise has been engaged

You're better best to rearrange

Unlike their contemporary Billy Bragg who drew directly upon the style of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, REM settled into their own sleek progressivism in response to the Reagan/Thatcher '80s. "Welcome to the Occupation" features oblique references to American diplomacy in Central America, profit, and its consequences. "Exhuming McCarthy" in a similar vein calls out reactionary forces in America which were slightly more stealth in 1987, and far more open and brazen these days. "Disturbance at the Heron House" is sustained by easy going hooks with wry social commentary. "Strange" was a cover of a song by the British punk band Wire, with REM channeling '70s rock with autobiographical lyrics about stage fright.

Maybe the first iconic song REM recorded, "It's the End of the End of the World (as we know it)" features rapid fire lyrics in the vein of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" satirizing late 20th Century Millennialism, with references to the band's own history. It got constant airplay during the '90s and was infamously banned by Clear Channel after 9/11.

Side two opened with another hit single, the anti-love song "The One I Love." "Fireplace" featured a first, a saxophone on an REM record - and a return to more surreal lyrics. "Lighnin' Hopkins" appears to have no connection to the legendary bluesman, other than Stipe's vaguely bluesy vocal. It sounds like New Wave reinterpreting the blues. The meditative "King of Birds" is focused on the musings of an aging man who might be a genius, thematically like the songs on Fables of the Reconstruction. In a similar vein, the closing track "Oddfellows Local 151" returns to the Southern Gothic themes REM had explored on past records - a great addition to the Halloween season.

Document suits the uneasy mood of the late '80s with songs shifting between the ominous and playful. Also highlighting the shifting sensibilities from within the band, one ambitious for fame and radio play, and the other showcasing the band's experimental side. 

REM #4: Life's Rich Pageant

Release Date: July 28, 1986

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Don Gehman

Track List: Begin the Begin; These Days; Fall on Me; Cuyahoga; Hyena; Underneath the Bunker

Side Two: The Flowers of Guatemala; I Believe; What If We Give it Away; Just a Touch; Swan Song H; Superman

Life's Rich Pageant signaled REM's transition from a college radio staple to one of America's premier bands on the cusp of superstardom.

"Begin the Begin" serves as an overture for the album which elliptically touches upon the state of the nation in the late Reagan era. The lyrics here are about seizing the moment and eschewing apathy, extorting, "Example, the finest example is you." In a similar vein, "These Days" could serve as a Gen X anthem, an update of "Radio Free Europe" reimagined as a summertime jangle. "Fall on Me" is richly melodic in the classic REM way, also well suited for a children's singalong.

"Cuyahoga" carries along the ecological theme running through the record (the river that burned - also covered in Randy Newman's "Burn On") and ties it to a lost childhood, and uses the imagery as a call for renewal:

Let's put our heads together and start a new country up

Up underneath the riverbed we'll burn the river down

"Hyena" is widely viewed as a nuclear war analogy, or more generally the predatory nature of man. Originally a hidden track, the playful "Underneath the Bunker," is mostly an instrumental with a pastiche Spanish sound.

"The Flowers of Guatemala" obliquely references the consequences of U.S. foreign policy in Central America, a mid-tempo track with effective harmonies. "I Believe" is about realizations that come with late stage youth. Another song of possibilities and epiphanies, "What if we give it away?" could be read as a mission statement for the band. "Just a Touch" goes back to the punk origins of REM, the lyrics mimic the eccentricates of a jaded teenager in the album's most frantic song. 

"Swan Song H" breaks down time barriers in its evocation of past wars, ghostly in tone and delivery. For the final track, REM performed a cover version of "Superman" originally by Texas based band The Clique. A favorite of the band's since their early days, the song imagines Superman fuming over losing his girl to another guy, ending the record on an effusive note.

A record of seasoned and youthful ruminations with one eye cast to the past and another eye looking forward, Life's Rich Pageant could be considered by turns sincere and playful. Mixed emotions run through the record, the ebb and flow of swirling possibilities in the middle of the 1980s.

REM #3: Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)

Release Date: June 10, 1985

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Joe Boyd

Track List: Feeling Gravity's Pull; Maps and Legends; Driver 8; Life and How to Live It; Old Man Kensey

Side Two: Can't Get There from Here; Green Grow the Rushes; Kohoutek; Auctioneer (Another Engine); Good Advices; Wendell Gee

Fables of the Reconstruction marked REM's third LP in as many years, continuing to hone and build upon the sound developed in Murmur and Reckoning. 

A hypnotic "D" chord opens "Feeling Gravity's Pull" a song about falling asleep while reading, but the lyrics suggest much more. A musing on the basic forces around us and how strange they are in reality, "Time and distance are out of place here" sings Stipe. Entering into the realm of sleep and dreams means going outside of linear time, the moment of falling asleep remains an intangible part of being human. References to experimental artist Man Ray's skies and strings on the fadeout add to the majestic mosaic of sound in a metaphysical pop song.

"Maps and Legends" marks the first appearance of the many eccentrics who appear on the record. Peter Buck's melodic hooks are on full display in a modern folk song. "Driver 8" is pure Americana in its recounting of a train journey through a surreal and often empty landscape. "Life and How to Live It" probably dealt with a local eccentric in Athens, Georgia, home base of REM, adding to the homespun feel of the album. As the title suggests, "Old Man Kinsey" is another hermit who seems to be both a curiosity and a menace, carried along by Buck's guitar which tells a tale of its own.

"Can't Get There from Here" may be the first time Stipe inhabits a character in a song, singing in a thick Georgia accent, inhabiting the characters he's writing about, there's a Gothic touch and a horn section. "Green Grow the Rushes" is more in the baroque pop of Reckoning with its lavish production, lyrically a song about economic exploitation. "Kohoutek" relates another oblique fable, a reference to a comet that passed Earth in 1973 but failed to live up to spectacular predictions of an amazing night sky. 

"Auctioneer (Another Engine)" is a surreal break up song packed imagery from the old America of trains, perhaps a prequel to one of the earlier tracks, it would made for an intriguing short film. A song of loneliness with images of old shoes and odd encounters, "Good Advices" seems to assuage the listener in its melodies and melancholy musings. "Wendell Gee" has a country western flavor with a prominent banjo, inspired by an Athens local the band once knew, tells another hazy story of mortality with hints of sentimentality. 

Fables of the Reconstruction consists of fragments of folk tales, inspired by Athens, but all given a poignancy in their subtle constructions. In the tradition of literary luminaries like Faulkner and Twain, the album's appeal has ebbed and flowed but offers rewards for all. 

REM #2: Reckoning (1984)

Release Date: April 9, 1984

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Don Dixon and Mitch Easter

Track List: Harborcoat; 7 Chinese Bros; So. Central Rain; Pretty Persuasion; Time After Time (Annelise)

Side Two: Second Guessing; Letter Never Sent; Camera; (Don't Go To) Rockville); Little America

Anticipation for REM's second album was high after the glowing critical response to their debut record Murmur. Their follow-up Reckoning more than lived up to the promise of Murmur, offering ten tracks of modern pop that would influence alternative music in the decades to come.

"Harborcoat" opens the record with Strip's catchy inane lyrics combined with cryptic imagery and Peter Buck's swinging guitar riffs. Cavalier in its disdain for what passed as mainstream pop, then sidles into covert punk.  The melodic "Seven Chinese Bros" was based on a children's book and according to Stipe a relationship that went wrong. Lyrics aside, the sound has an epic quality. "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" became a minor hit and remains a popular track in REM's catalog, Stipe's impassioned vocal marked a shift to a more direct approach.

"Pretty Persuasion" is a moody, hard driving pop song with Peter Buck's versatile guitar playing. Bill Berry's drumming on "Time After Time (Annelise)" provides a martial cadence in a retro folk rock song. "Second Guessing" feels a bit tossed off, but the harmonies sound great. "Letter Never Sent" utilizes more vocal harmonies and suggests spiritual longing. "Camera" feels inspired by the first Big Star record with Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, heavy weeping guitars and emotive vocals.

("Don't Go Back To) Rockville" shifts to a more Americana sound, written about a former girlfriend of Mike Mills deciding to back to her hometown, including cheeky lyrics like "You'll wind up in some factory/that's full of filth and nowhere left to go." Stipe sings the song on the record but Mills usually sang when played live. "Little America" references Roman and American history, surreal imagery of an agrarian past one sees when driving through rural country. 

Reckoning marked REM as a band evolving with ever more ideas, versatile in both style and approach. 

REM #1: Murmur (1983)

Release Date: April 12, 1983

Members: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitars); Michael Mills (bass, keyboards); Bill Berry (percussion)

Produced by Don Dixon and Mitch Easter

Track List: Radio Free Europe; Pilgrimage; Laughing; Talk About the Passion; Moral Kiosk; Perfect Circle

Side Two: Catapult; Sitting Still; 9-9; Shaking Through; We Walk; West of the Fields

One of the most influential debut albums of the 1980s, Murmur introduced REM to the world with a stately grace. 

The iconic opening track "Radio Free Europe" is a clarion call. The repeat play potential of the song is unlimited. It stands in contrast to the earlier single version, which is more punk in delivery and attitude. On Murmur, "Radio Free Europe" is diamond layered with arcane imagery, a technicolor light show of the mind. Stipe's sublime vocal promises something new for all willing to heed the call. 

The anthemic "Pilgrimage" thumps along with Stipe's mysterious vocals alluding to a spiritual journey but not like Chaucer. The grotesque imagery of "two-headed cows" and "broken lips" are contrasted with Berry's adventurous drumming. "Laughing" is irresistibly melodic with Peter Buck's guitar and Stipe's vocal blending perfectly. A snapshot of a mother and her two sons possibly in search of a better situation, finding peace through humor and each other.  

"Talk About the Passion" features more melodic hooks and stirrings of transcendence. "Moral Kiosk" is  opaque and sublime, pushing the boundaries of the pop song's potential. The idea of a moral kiosk, post-religion in its implication, suits the album's allusions to a spiritual quest. "Perfect Circle" is proof pop songs can be beautiful. A lullaby of sorts, also a hymn for a world engulfed with consumerism and ill-shaped opinions.

A wave of childhood nostalgia permeates "Catapult", it's got the drive of a Gen-X TV commercial jingle by way of William Wordsworth. "Sitting Still" is a tossed of track of fragmented lyrics and Byrds like harmonies. "9-9" could be the most cryptic track, expressing an existential unease. "Shaking Through" uses more disjointed imagery, sonically all over the place and it's great. 

"We Walk" is catchy and ominous with references to the French Revolution. "West of the Fields" closes the album and like "Pilgrimage" and inverts and turns spiritual ideas inside out - hinting at an eternal journey - even after death. 

Murmur breathed life into American music during the mid-1980s. With their hardscrabble origins, REM brought a poetic sensibility of a romantic and gothic variety, drifting between forebodings of joy and dread. The songwriting eschewed narratives in favor of expressionism, welcoming to all listeners, interactive by design.

For Albino Carillo (1964-2022)