Long time fan. Help me pick a R.E.M song for the mother/son dance at my son’s wedding. He and I have so many memories of dancing to their songs when he was very young.

Lots of my fave songs would be better without the ‘left turn’ melodic choices. The verses of sweetness follows are beautiful then the chorus stops it in its tracks. Half a world away almost does it but comes back to a lovely chorus that resolves.

Hey, I recently did a review for NAiHF on Album of the Year, and as it does have quite limited viewers, especially for R.E.M., and I felt really quite proud of it, I wanted to post it on here after first listen today. Enjoy.

Monthly R.E.M. #9/15

New Test Leper really sounds like Michael and the band are losing their religion, right? Get it? Fuck.

Happy 4th of July everyone (coming from a Brit, it means nothing to me but enjoy), but I did feel inclined to start it with a listen to my favourite American band in R.E.M., with their 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The album was a succession of their mixed bag 1994 release in Monster, an album defined in it's roaring guitars and grunge feel similar in many ways to Nirvana, as of course was a tribute to Michael Stipe's close friend in Kurt Cobain, and his tragic passing earlier that year. Despite the direction change seeming like a touching tribute, Monster was seen like a rather controversial record, with many seeing the album as an uncomfortable and misfit diversion, while many enjoyed the grunge sound, with it attracting lots more R.E.M. fans than before. Therefore, New Adventures in Hi-Fi seems to be a lovechild of both eras of the band in the 90s, encompassing the Alt-Rock, almost Americana style of Out of Time and to an extent Automatic for the People, as well as the grunge of Monster, which I'll be honest in saying I do sort of respect, showing R.E.M. is a band who sticks to the art side of the music, not just what sells well.

The album begins with 'How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us', which to be fair I was quite a big fan of, but to be honest I do think it leaves the record as slightly misleading, considering it's country rock style really doesn't carry throughout the album, still, Mike Mills makes a rare piano performance on this record which we only wait until the end for with So Fast So Numb and Electrolite, and those three songs are just fantastic, contrasting with Peter Buck's lonely folk guitar sound very nicely. You then get to The Wake-Up Bomb, which while many would say is a clear succession of Monster, I would say it sounds quite similar to Ignoreland off Automatic for the People, in terms of quite a passionate energy, with some fantastic guitar from Mills and Buck, and to be fair Michael with a lot of passion on the song. New Test Leper is a pretty good song too, which sees Stipe talk a fair bit about the band's clashes with hyper-religious Christian groups, which while it is a touchy topic, it's a good song nonetheless. I did also like how Peter Buck's rather soft guitar sounds quite similar to the evangelical worship songs that the band would've heard back in Georgia, which I think was a nice touch. I would say however, that Undertow was not as solid. Once again a Monster inspired song, it does carry the same style as The Wake-Up Bomb but just comes off as just, worse. Less passion, less energy, and overall slightly duller instrumentation from Buck, Mills and Berry, which was a shame. Undertow slides into E-Bow the Letter, which is known by many to be quite an essential R.E.M. track. By all accounts, I do always find myself quite impressed by the instrumentation on here, it gives such a country soundscape to the song, especially Mike Mill's, who I really can't sing the praises enough of on this record, he truly is just fantastic. What I do struggle with however, is Michael, who seems to carry the spoken word style seen on tracks like Low and Belong on Out of Time, which while I have grown to warm to them very slowly, IT STILL JUST DOESN'T WORK. He kind of just rambles throughout the song, and I'll be honest if he did sing normally, it would be a pretty clear 10/10, but I really just can't go with it. The first side ends with Leave, a 7 minute behemoth of a song, carrying the same high passion energy that is seen throughout the album, and while I did enjoy it, the siren sound almost did give the impression it was some kind of rap beat, I still don't think 7 minutes was needed, the album carries over 65 minutes, and only 14 tracks, so many >5 minute songs really just a bit unnecessary, it's just a shame. Still, high energy, and pretty enjoyable.

The second half begins with Departure, which to be frank I think is really underrated. I know it does stand for everything I said I disliked- Monster inspired follow ups and spoken word from Stipe- but to be honest I think those two things work really well together, as well as it bringing the quite passionate energy which I did enjoy. I also did give Bittersweet Me a relisten before reviewing, and that is a pretty fantastic song. A perfect balance between the country rock and grunge, and often flitting between the two throughout, and I did really enjoy that, and once again Mike Mills' grinding bass is just immaculate. To be honest, from there, I get the feeling a lot of the next few tracks blend into one, once again bringing up the question on whether or not the album could've done with some trimming, but also the songs themselves really don't seem to stand the test of memorability, which is a shame. Be Mine seems to be a romantic turn for Michael, which is fine until he speaks about how he's going to 'wash you with my hair', look at any picture of Michael Stipe in the 90s and immediately see why that's difficult. Binky the Doormat, while firstly being an absolutely atrocious name for a song, also blends into forgettability, and once again doesn't deserve 5 minutes of listening. Zither I do think is a great shame, as while I do appreciate those instrumentals on R.E.M. albums, such as New Orleans Instrumental or Endgame, it is just infinitely weaker, and was apparently recorded in a bathroom backstage of a show, I can kind of tell. In fact, the whole album was apparently recorded while on the Monster tour, which was really cool. So Fast, So Numb was a bit of a lift out of the forgettable quagmire, including more piano, an instant point scorer, it just compliments R.E.M. country rock so well, to be fair the song isn't even country rock, it's more grunge, but it still sounds good. Sadly, Low Desert is another forgettable track, just less energy, more Monster offcuts, a real shame. However, it does culminate in Electrolite. The song outros the record perfectly, with the Americana style which the band has been lauded for for so long, Peter Buck gives a light sounding guitar which works very well, and while Mike Mills is mainly doing the piano, it sounds absolutely fantastic, genuinely the man absolutely bodied the record on two entirely different instruments throughout the album, and was the star of the show on both, absolutely legendary. Michael was good too, giving what could've even worked as spoken word for how good it was, but sounded even better melodically. Truly, a fantastic way to end the album.

I think the band, while I do respect them for not running away from grunge rock as soon as it didn't give them sales, very likely got the hint with the reviews and song success of this record that the grinding sound of a lot of it really didn't work, and it was time to retire it. As far as I've heard, they obliged for about 12 years until the rather heavy sound of Accelerate in 2008, but that's honestly fine. Mainly a lot of it comes down to what you come to R.E.M. for. People don't come to them for roaring aggressive sounding bass and angry sounds, in that case you just listen to Nirvana or Soundgarden or Pearl Jam, people come to them for the lighter sound, the Americana inspiring country that many would consider 'dad rock', but by all accounts it is just so much more. When the band did do that on this record with How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us, Electrolite or even E-Bow the Letter, it did just sound so much better, or at least look half like the cover of this release, and that's fine, people come for different things. In terms of band performances, I've already said enough about Mike Mills for you to know this is the best performance on the record, and I did love it. Peter Buck does need his flowers too, with both acoustic and electric guitars across the album he jammed so well with Mills, it was a delight. Michael also gave quite solid performances, to be honest mainly on the grunge songs, with some incredibly high energy vocals really pulling the album together, even if I do think he slightly spoiled E-Bow. This was of course the final record with Bill Berry, which was firstly a great shame as I do think he was honestly the strongest member of the band, but also he did seem a bit off to the side on this record, which is fully understandable considering the aneurysm, but also the album sonically didn't exactly need drums, which is fine.

Overall, New Adventures in Hi-Fi is an album with a cult following, and one due to it's limited number of successful songs, seems to be mainly down to the heavier R.E.M. fans to enjoy. While the record holds a personal confliction for me, it's a great group of songs with some real highlights, and my personal love for piano on most rock music, especially with the band, it's a shame to see the record be the last with the band as a whole.

Best Track: Electrolite

Worst Track: Zither

Best performance: Mike Mills (bass/piano)

Overall rating: 74/100

Slightly critical, but feel free to judge and critique, it does all help. Thanks for reading :)

17. Collapse Into Now

18. Up

19. New Adventures In Hi-Fi

20. Around The Sun

21. Out Of Time

22. Automatic For The People

23. Accelerate

24. Reveal

25. Document

26. Green

27. Monster

28. Murmur

29. Dead Letter Office

30. Reckoning

31. Life's Rich Pageant

32. Fables Of The Reconstruction

33. Chronic Town

Does anyone else wish the siren was used a little more discerningly?

Or perhaps just a little quieter in the mix? Or am I worthy of banishment?

I had posted a few weeks ago about how I was coming back to REM. I pretty much walked away after Awakening (sorry I meant Reckoning) and Murmur, no reason, just went to other music I guess. Largely, the recommendation here was to just pick up where I left off and start listening.

Yesterday I listened to Fables while driving. Damn, what an excellent album. While I generally avoid the hits, I forgot just how cool Can't Get There is. And the deep cuts were (to me) better than the hits: Maps and Legends, Old Man Kensey, and (freaking love this one) Good Advices.

So I guess it's time to pop another REM CD into the car and do some more driving!

Odd question maybe, but listening to "Sister Golden Hair" by America earlier and immediately thought it's such a Mike Mills suited song and Peter's playing would work well.

See also "September Gurls" by Big Star

A really good track by track listen and review.