OK everyone should be hard at work listening to R.E.M.'s first official album, Murmur. Try to get your listening done by July 18 and feel free to post your discussion here at anytime. After the 18 we'll take a couple days for discussion before starting the next album. Enjoy!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLogic-lock in-laughing at you
ReplyDeleteMy favorite L.A. Times music writer had an article one day about a new band. As i recall he said he could not understand the lyrics and much of what you could understand made no sense at first listen. The music was an odd mix of early 60"s jangly folk/rock guitar and added strange clicking, muted percussion along with backup vocals that seemed to be singing a different song. It sounded like it was recorded in a cave. It was like nothing he had heard before, but he could not get the songs out of his head. Well, that was all I needed, I headed down to Licorice Pizza and got the record.
ReplyDeleteIt WAS different than anything I 'd ever heard. I was used to, and loved, music that had a definite point of view; Elvis Costello, Clash, Tom Petty, U2. This was music with layers of meaning, or was it? Murmur changed the way I listened to music and I never went back.
I have no idea how many times we listened to Murmur but every time it seemed like we caught another word, or phrase, or heard a new sound in the mix. For a long while I was slightly obsessed with what the heck a Moral Kiosk was- with figuring it all out, but listening to it again all these years later I decided it was better to just turn it up and lose yourself in the looping, jangling guitar, the interplay of bass and the shimmering percussion and the voices which more than anything were simply additional instruments.
If you want to keep score, Sitting Still, Laughing and Perfect Circle are all among my favorite R.E.M. songs. But if you'll excuse me for sounding like an old fogey, Murmur should be listened to as a complete alblum - nobody downloading a couple tracks off ITunes here and there would be able to capture the feeling of how all the songs seem to belong together.
When you think about it; a perfect first record - mysterious and great on it's own, but also leaving the listener wanting more. Listening to it now I also realized it is a great summer record. You can have the Beach Boys or Katy Perry or any of the other "summer hits" that come out annually but to me nothing brings back memories of lazy blazing hot days and warm nights like Murmur. It sounds just as strange and cool and timeless now as it did on the first spin on my turntable.
Overall Murmur is a good CD. There are a few holes however, and by that I mean song I want to hit the skip button on. I think the songs with the best music are: Radio Free Europe, Laughing, Sitting Still, and We Walk.
ReplyDeleteWhat do the songs mean? Even after a careful listening I still am not sure. The following is what off the top of my head possible meanings.
Sitting Still could possibly be about wasting time in life because you personally stop yourself from moving forward.
Talk About The Passion sounds like it is about someone dying or death figuratively speaking or real. The line not everyone can carry the weight of the world made me think this.
Perfect Circle sounds like it is about a group of friends hanging out together because obviously he say circle of friends in the song. I wonder about the 2 should high in the rain. Does he mean should to should friends form a circle that protect you from the rain: ie the tough stuff that happens in life.
Overall, Murmur is a much more modern sounding album then I expected. It does not sound like it was made in 1983. I really enjoyed listening to it and was actually surprised by how much drumming there was and how distinct the bass was in some of the songs.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite songs on the CD were Radio Free Europe, Talk about the Passion, Sitting still, and 9-9. Radio Free Europe is just a great sounding song all around while Talk about the Passion has a great guitar and sitting still has a good chorus. I don't really know why I like 9-9 I guess it is just the unique sound it has.
I am curious to see if the other older CD's will sound as good as this one or if they will feel dated.
My interpretations of some of the songs above: Perfect Circle - I think it is a longing for simpler times, maybe childhood memories - "a perfect circle of acquaintances and friends" standing around "coining phrases". "Eleven shadows play out a play" reminded me of countless evenings playing football in the street as it got dark. "standing too soon shoulder high in the room - could that be the realization that one is growing up fast and soon will only have these memories to hang onto from childhood.
ReplyDelete"sit and talk of lovemaking, wasting time sitting still" speaks for itself I think - probably the most direct lyric on the alblum I guess.
Talk about the passion is I think about stepping back from the rat race - "not everyone can carry the weight of the world" is sung as if it's not really a bad thing. "Empty mouths talk about the passion" - all talk and no passion.
Favorite Song: Perfect Circle
ReplyDeleteSecond Favorite Song: Catapult
Honorable Mention: Sitting Still
I think it has taken me so long to review Murmur because it has always been hard for me to articulate why I like REM in general. In my mind they are so connected with all of those times when we listened to them on road trips, (shout out to the Sable Wagon and Plymouth Grand Voyager!) or watched dad play his slightly crazy air guitar to their songs (shout out to Simons!-FYI, we are all Simons so maybe you should use your first name unless you are trying to remain anonymous...).
That being said, I enjoyed Murmur. I think that it holds its own against some of my favorite REM albums, which is pretty impressive for a debut effort. For me, Catapult and Perfect Circle felt like precursors to some of their later songs on Automatic For the People, which is probably why they ended up being my favorites. Those two songs, along with Sitting Still were the songs that made the biggest impression on me.
Perfect Circle is one of those great REM songs that I could listen to over and over...I don't event really know why. Stipe is good at making slightly melancholy sounding songs come to life and I think that's what he does here. "Standing too soon, shoulders too high in the room" is a great line and his voice brings it to another level.
Final Verdict: I like it but I don't love it. I might just be biased, or maybe it's the lack of nostalgia. But I felt like there was just something missing that will keep Murmur from being an album that will get regular rotation on my record player--I mean iPod.