R.E.M. Album Recommendations: "Murmur"

Album Recommendations: Murmur

The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

R.E.M.

[#] Murmur (1983)

Oblique autumnal singalongs.

Reviewed September 9, 2024

If you want a taste of just how (pardon the pun) out of time Murmur really is, look into the version of "Catapult" I.R.S. coaxed R.E.M. into doing with famed New Order producer Stephen Hague. Far from a trainwreck (it's a nicely performed rendition that accentuates their way with a pop refrain), what makes it ice water to the face is how locked in time it truly is. The dungeons of digital reverb and the call-and-response synth stabs put it square in the early 80s—anathema to everything great about R.E.M. at that point. Thankfully, both the band and I.R.S. opted to give the job to Chronic Town producer Mitch Easter, giving us the much more understated, mysterious, timeless, and brilliantly dramatic Murmur instead.

Every member of R.E.M. contributes to Murmur's sound in a big way. Mike Mills' basslines are darkly melodic, acting as a second voice (when Mike isn't filling that himself) between Michael Stipe's famed introverted croons and evocative lyrics about radio, boats, pilgrimages, empty mouths, conversation fear, and dreams of Elysian. Peter Buck's brightly intricate guitar lines mix chiming arpeggios and chords with not a solo in sight, and Bill Berry's drumming is restless, his drum sound being warmly dull and heavy on the toms. Paired with the organic, rustic production, neither bone dry like the 70s before it, Pet Shop Boys shiny like the music around it, or intentionally ragged like the 90s that followed it, and to this day, R.E.M. has never made a record that sounds anything like this one, nor is as good as this one.