Continuing our series with my first favorite R.E.M. album (I came to them late!). This is still severely underrated and lumped-in with the rest of their post-Berry work, but I think it has a fairly distinctive sound and character, and the work is generally high-quality. There are a few stinkers here - I never warmed up to "Walk Unafraid" in terms of Stipe's performance, and overall I think it's a couple songs too long. But there are also some truly beautiful things.
"You want to cross your DNA / cross your DNA with something reptile" might win this for "Hope" as far as I'm concerned but then there's "Lotus" and the convincing weirdness of "Airportman," the throaty cry of "Daysleeper," the REALLY overlooked "Falls To Climb" etc etc...
Poll Results
Option | Votes |
Daysleeper | 9 |
Hope | 8 |
Why Not Smile | 3 |
Sad Professor | 3 |
Falls To Climb | 2 |
At My Most Beautiful | 2 |
Parakeet | 1 |
You're In The Air | 1 |
Suspicion | 1 |
Walk Unafraid | 0 |
The Apologist | 0 |
Diminished | 0 |
Lotus | 0 |
Airportman | 0 |
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 14 November 2008 00:34 (fifteen years ago) link