REM - Collapse Into Now

Devils Advocate

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New album out this week - currently available off Amazon to download for £3.99.

Doubt it will be as good as the 80's/90's stuff although reviews have been favourable. Then again, REM often don't get critical acclaim for Up and New Adventures and those are two of my favourite albums. Also, Accelerate got praised and it was the first time I was indifferent to an REM album...

Anyway, there we go.
 
REM are dead to me. Up had one good song, New Adventures was ok. Everthing before that was either sheer quality or very good

Since 2000 they have been utter shit
 
Never the same for me after Bill Berry left.

Mainly because before then they always maintained that without the four original members they wouldn't be REM.

I understand that Bill gave them his blessing but for me it was a bit tainted after that. They still put out some good songs now and then, though.
 
Up was an amazing album! 1 good song?! I presume you mean 'Daysleeper' which is one of my least favourites on it.

Walk Unafraid
Diminished
Falls To Climb
Parakeet
At My Most Beautiful
Lotus

All of those are really good songs and the rest weren't bad either. I probably listen to the stuff off Up & New Adventures more than any other REM album, with the exception of Out Of Time.

Reveal has some really good stuff on it and I liked a fair few songs on Around the Sun, although can understand why people drifted away over those albums. Preferred them trying different things, as they did with Up, than the return to an earlier style that occurred on Accelerate.
 
Not overly impressed with this new Uberlin track and co. The lyricism borders on comical.
 
Given it a few listens now. Its an alright album, its basically Accelerate but with a few slowish songs thrown in there as well. Nothing ground breaking.
 
Had a listen to this today. Only heard it through once so I'll need to give it a bit longer but my first impression was that of a band trying to recapture something that has long gone.

Some of the songs sound very similar to past glories on first hearing. I couldn't decide whether it was REM by numbers or REM stretching too much.

Intend to give it a proper listen tomorrow.
 
It's ok but nothing more, having had about 3 listens now.

I think things have dried up a bit since they've become content with their music. Unlike some, I loved New Adventures and Up, and liked Reveal a lot too, but after this point they've become more formulaic although I liked Around The Sun as well.

Still, they were at the top of their game for far longer than most bands manage and nothing can diminish that for me.
 
Devils Advocate said:
It's ok but nothing more, having had about 3 listens now.

I think things have dried up a bit since they've become content with their music. Unlike some, I loved New Adventures and Up, and liked Reveal a lot too, but after this point they've become more formulaic although I liked Around The Sun as well.

Still, they were at the top of their game for far longer than most bands manage and nothing can diminish that for me.
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The last track on the album sounds like a cross between E-bow the Letter and Country Feedback.
 
Officially cease to exist :(.
"To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening." R.E.M.

In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.

MIKE

"During our last tour, and while making Collapse Into Now and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, 'what next'? Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.

"We have always been a band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers who truly love, and respect, each other. We feel kind of like pioneers in this--there's no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring-off. We've made this decision together, amicably and with each other's best interests at heart. The time just feels right."

MICHAEL

"A wise man once said--'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.' We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it.

"I hope our fans realize this wasn't an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.

"We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It's been amazing."

PETER

"One of the things that was always so great about being in R.E.M. was the fact that the records and the songs we wrote meant as much to our fans as they did to us. It was, and still is, important to us to do right by you. Being a part of your lives has been an unbelievable gift. Thank you.

"Mike, Michael, Bill, Bertis, and I walk away as great friends. I know I will be seeing them in the future, just as I know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years. Even if it's only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store, or standing at the back of the club: watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world
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thanks for the memories.

"Swan, swan hummingbird...hurrah we are all free now...."
 
Have to say, the way they've broken up sums them up - pure class & very meaningful. My Sister is heart-broken, she's been following them for what seems like forever - since the early 80's anyway. Great band & no bullshit with them, which was always refreshing!
 
Red Hand Devil said:
Nah not particularly man. It was a Monster, they tried to Accelerate but were Out of Time. I guess thats just Automatic for the People to do that!
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Hmm. I'd heard a Murmur that they were getting back together but it was only Fables of the Reconstruction. Their career was a real tapestry of Life's Rich Pageant, were you to sit down and Document it. I have to say I'm Green with envy.


Did I do that correctly?
 
Sure hope you can Find the River.

Try Not to Breathe underwater, I hear it's bad for you.
 
Great, under appreciated band. They have a better body of songs than any other band to date, in my opinion. Solidly outstanding albums through to Up and drifted away a bit in the last decade. Infinitely better than the other rock monoliths of the last thirty years, U2.
 


"He had a dream one night
That the tree had lost its middle
So he built a trunk of chicken wire
To try to hold it up"

I cry every time I listen to it & I'm crying now.

Don't care what anyone says, they're like Ariel Ortega. Pure magic; erratic.
That's all anyone can hope for, really.
 
Just about everything up to Automatic For The People was pure genius with intermittent brilliance since e.g. E Bow The Letter & Leaving New York. I'll miss them. I still can't decide which is my favorite album.
 
Wibble said:
Just about everything up to Automatic For The People was pure genius with intermittent brilliance since e.g. E Bow The Letter & Leaving New York. I'll miss them. I still can't decide which is my favorite album.
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I thought it was Reckoning but after last week I'm leaning more toward Life's Rich Pageant. So much brilliance.
 
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