Customer Reviews

Reckoning

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In all the years I've been listening to this CD (and I listened to it a lot today as well), I find that my favorite song of this album keeps changing. Rockville. Harborcoat. Time after Time (I'm naming my first daughter AnnElise). Today, though, it's Letter Never Sent.

Dammit, each song on this CD is totally different than the next, and just about every one of them deserves to be a hit.

Ranked against my favorite REM albums, it's hard to not put this one at the top. Fables, Murmur, Life's Rich Pageant...they are all great. I don't know if it's my favorite REM album, but I know that I wouldn't want to live the rest of my life without this masterpiece. I guess the main point is, if you enjoy Life's Rich or Murmur or any other REM album, you will definitely LOVE Reckoning.

Now if you'll excuse me, vacation in Athens is calling me. Buy Reckoning today. Don't waste another year.

There's basically two kinds of REM fans. People who got into the post-Green material, and know them as a big-league stadium rock band, and those who appreciate their earlier indie material on the IRS label. Well, you guessed it, I'm on the IRS side of things. The only post-Document album of theirs which I actually own is "New Adventures in Hi-Fi," which is not nearly as good as the early work. I frankly don't understand why they gave up this sound at all. They had so much potential here. AARRGGHH!! Well, no use dwelling on it.

I can't begin to describe how great this album is. I first bought it when I was in high school, on cassette, a decade after it was recorded. I updated to a CD copy about five years later. It's only sounded better over that period of time. It has that raw, jangly, murky feel that REM was so good at back then, with abstract lyrics hinting at something big but never giving everything away. It's less staid-sounding than Murmur, but keeps that mysterious feeling that was lost when Mike Stipe became a regular old frontman and started demanding attention and wearing his heart on his sleeve. The whole murky-mumbly thing suited him and the band far better than anything. It is my favorite album of the 80s, even with competition from the Stone Roses, the Pixies, the Replacements, the Clash and Jesus and Mary Chain. It's also a huge influence on one of my favorite songwriters, Stephen Malkmus. So, if you're looking for everything that indie rock can be, look no further.

-HW

R.E.M. broke onto the scene with "Chronic Town" when I was a sophomore in high school in 1982. Prior to this time, I was "into" the mainstream hard rock of the day (Van Halen, Aldo Nova, Huey Lewis, Rush, Men at Work, etc.). R.E.M gave me an individualistic retreat amidst the pressure of adolescent conformity. In this period prior to adulthood, I was able to invest R.E.M.'s music with my own innocence, naivete, and sense of mystery. The band's initial EP ("Chronic Town") and first two LPs ("Murmur" & "Reckoning") seemed to beg the listener down this path. The music suggested a growing youth movement that embraced kindness, creativity, and commeraderie.

Side One (pardon this out-moded expression) was one of the best LP sides ever. The sound of "Reckoning" was more driving and slightly more electric than it's folk-tinged predecessor, "Murmur". The vocals were rarely decipherable, but one could extract occassional nuggets ("Your handshake is worthy, it's all that you've got"..."The wiseman builds his house upon the rock, but I'm not bound to follow suit"..."Goddamn your confusion"..."pull your dress on, and stay real close"). These little chestnuts somehow seemed and felt important at the time. Never enough to hang one's hat on, but enough to conjure intrigue.

Side Two yielded "Letter Never Sent", which is still at the top of my favorite R.E.M. songlist. Other highlights included "Second Guessing" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville".

While R.E.M. continued to create occassional moments of brilliance ("Maps & Legends", "Flowers of Guatemala", "Me in Honey", and "Man on the Moon"), their music yielded diminishing returns from this point forward. Peter Buck abandoned the gorgeous sweep of the clean arpeggio jangle of his Rickenbacker for power chords and distortion. At the time I grieved and lamented this loss, but after 20 years I realize that the sound I loved HAD to change. It was the product of its time and the age of its creators. And somehow the fact that R.E.M. and I went down different paths after 1984 lends a bittersweet pathos to "Reckoning".

"Reckoning" is one for the ages. And the embarrassment of Michael Stipe circa 2003 does not diminish its beauty. Highly recommended.

R.E.M.'s second album "Reckoning" isn't a whole lot different from their debut, "Murmur". Perhaps it's a bit more refined and cleaner sounding. A worthy sequel for sure.

Songs like "Harborcoat" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" are crisp slices of jangly pop/rock like many of the songs on the album's predecessor. Good luck getting the chorus of "Rockville" out of your head.

However, there's songs like the moody/tense "Pretty Persuasion" and the somewhat raucous closer "Little America" that feel like uncharted territory for the band at this point. They're not quite 'rocking out' (wait until "Life's Rich Pageant" for that), but it's a new sound for sure.

Also, the ballads feel a bit more personal. "Camera", in particular, is a heartbreaking song written about a friend of Michael's who passed away shortly before the album was made.

"Time After Time" is utterly sublime, ranking up there as one of R.E.M.'s best songs. And the intricate "Letter Never Sent" truly rewards itself after repeated listens.

A couple other favorites of mine include the pensive (and catchy as hell) "7 Chinese Bros.", and the dreamy "So. Central Rain", the latter of which has an elegant chord progression in the verses that I really love.

If you liked "Murmur", there's no reason you won't like "Reckoning" as well. Both albums get better and better with each listen.

Highly Recommended.

Best Songs: Camera, Time After Time, Letter Never Sent, Pretty Persuasion, So. Central Rain.

"Reckoning" is a continuation of the first album. Same janglily, hooky songs with the vocals very low in the mix although much brighter and more beautiful than "Murmur". Many of these songs are just goregous, beautiful in the extreme with many breathtaking moments and very solid material from beginning to end.
If you are to have only one R.E.M. album, I'd say get this. "Murmur" may be one of the all time greatest debuts in rock history, but this actually improves upon it and demonstrates why R.E.M. was one of the greatest underground acts of the early to mid 80's.
I don't give out 5 star ratings to just anything, this more than deserves it..I'd give it a 6 if I could..it's just that beautiful of a rock record.

I seldom go on the record for ANYTHING. But the song, "Time After Time" really did change my appreciation for music. I can't say "for life" because I didn't change that much. I had smoked some world-class pot, I had listened to "Time After Time", and I had UNDERSTOOD. The richness of Michael Stipe's voice and the melody really did hit home with me. It ranks as one of the top musical experiences of my life (Sonny and Cher on "Letterman" and REM on "Letterman" also qualify, so be warned...) and, dare I say it, it is THE most musically transportative moment of my life. Timing is everything and the song and my mindset were "just so" (thank you, Rudyard Kipling) on that fateful day (eh, Pincus, poor little ERIC Pincus) so that it resonated with me-and still does to this day. It moved me then, it moves me now, and it will move me til the day I die.

First, let it be noted up front that no band has ever recorded a *better song than "So. Central Rain." Michael Stipe poured so much of himself into the haunting crescendo wail at song's end that he damn near fell down the stair case in which he recorded his vocals. (He was there to capture the resounding echo effect -- needless to say, it worked.) It is deeply romantic, unfathomably sad, yet spiritedly bracing and uplifting. R.E.M. has equalled this song several times ("Man on the Moon", "E-Bow the Letter", "New Test Leper", "Driver 8" to name a few) as have others (the finest efforts of Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Pearl Jam, for starters), but by my stars, it has never been exceeded.

"Reckoning" is somewhat like "New Adventures" in that it is essentially an album of the road, of life on the move for a touring rock/folk band. Most of the songs are impressionistic sketches of the life the Boys from Athens were living at the time, piling into the back of their ratty boat of a station wagon and touring the south, playing pizza joints in order to pay for their next meal, working with their friends and school mates through the confusion of young adulthood in the early '80s. Stopping in on occasion to sleep in the run-down, abandoned old red church in Athens, GA that was their home at the time.

So you have chronicles of the road like ""Little America", love letters to lost and/or departed friends and lovers or to disagreeable family members ("So. Central", "Time After Time" and "Letter Never Sent") and goofs on their friends ("(Don't Go Back to) Rockville", which was a joke on their manager Bertis Downs's southernness -- per Peter Buck, "early thrash became country for 'reckoning' as a joke on Bertis").

In many respects, this is their most intimate and personal album. Here you see the young, precocious band discovering their capabilities -- gifts which would go on to yield one of the finest careers in 20th century music, vibrant and passionate still and now, going into their thrid decade, which begins in April 2000.

All of which is prefigured in that stunningly stellar, soul-invigorating song, "So Central Rain." Reckon I'll give it another spin right now. ...

It is the only rem's album that really has a heart and soul. and pain. as camera slowly weeps, i can sense this layer of feelings under it. it is perfect to listen reckoning with no light, heavy depression and gentle snowflakes outside your window. and you can feel death is near. drink this like a good wine. and you can dance slowly to the far unknown land. goodbye.

This album was another great release in the same style as Murmur. R.E.M. at this point had established themselves in the music circuit with their jangly Rickenbacher guitars along with singer Michael Stipes' sweet, yet slightly muffled vocals. Not to forget the other members who make R.E.M.-Billy Berry with his hard hitting sturdy drumming amd the melodic bass of Mike Mills.

This release is a bit tighter and stronger than their first as heard on "Harbercoat" and "7 Chinese Bros.", because of it's overall meatier rhythm. Then it has "So. Central Rain", a mournful moody ballad about a love lost. which we all have experienced. The song "Pretty Persuasion" delivers in a big, hard hitting way as a perfect rock song. Overall the band still doesn't disappoint, with each song on this album proving their great chemistry and excellent songwriting abilities.

Recorded in 2 weeks, this quick, rollicking followup to Murmur continued the jangly folk of that masterpiece, if not the otherworldy feel. Still a terrific album by any means, with Stipe's mubles as effective and evocative as ever. "Harborcoat" is a great kick-off to this record, with a terrific driving beat from Bill Berry, chiming guitars from Peter Buck, and beautiful harmonies from Mike Mills to complement Michael Stipe's warm, gorgeous lyrics. "7 Chinese Brothers" continues this mood, a slower, more meditative piece that includes beguiling lyrics and wonderful seasonal and water imagery. "So. Central Rain" is the timeless classic of this album, a sorrowful but intense tune on loss and forgiveness. "Pretty Persuasion" shows the band rocking harder than they have before, proving they know how to torture they instruments for the right sound when needed :) "Time after Time" is a nice longing tune, inviting and sad at once. Two somewhat lighthearted, quick rockers, "Second Guessing" and "Letter Never Sent" bridge the gap to "Camera," definitely one of their best. Stipe's lyrics about a lost friend are truly heart-wrenching and a glowing tribute. The atmospherics to the song are surprisingly intricate too, considering the budgets they were working on back then. "Don't Go Back to Rockville," is another solid masterpiece, a Mill's-penned tune with a great country feel and wistful lyrics. Rounding out the album and lending to its Old-West feel wonderfully is the tight scrappy rocker "Little America," with a very catchy breakdown by Stipe in the chorus. It's a very quick listen, but that's another benefit: You won't have to wait long to rip through it again. Stands wonderfully with Murmurs and their older classics Automatic for the People and New Adventures in Hi-Fi.