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I've been listening to REM since its pre-Murmur days. So it's been a while. To me, this is REM's magnum-opus, a "concept album" that doesn't fall flat on its face like most such recordings but quite the contrary. The music is entrancing and diverse, the lyrics are thought-provoking and, in a few documented cases, life-saving. Others have already written quite convincingly glowing reviews about this remarkable album. I wish to add this:
I own a couple of thousand of CDs and a stable of basses, amps, and accessories. I try to listen to all music that strikes me as unique and, thus, the collection. I became a professional musician because I saw what one can do with intelligent rock. I wanted a piece of that experience; without REM, I would have lacked the motivation to work so hard. Yes, y'all, REM is nothing short of inspiring.
The band indeed inspired a generation of young musicians, to which I belong(ed), to compose deceptively simple songs, with sincere-but-never cloying lyrics. My bands opened for countless major acts and it was all very nice: Opening for REM was the greatest experience I ever had as a musician. The band sparked a revolution: It made serious rock cool again; it was time for that and most of us are greatly, unabashedly indebted.
This album is a masterpiece. It presents REM at its tightest, most introspective (but not pompous--tough feat), and lyrically and melodically powerful. It impressed my fellow "college rockers" the most for the reasons mentioned above: We played it over and over in the tour-bus, until our normally patient driver yelled that he was either going to switch the CD or drop us off somewhere dark and scary. There is not a weak song on this album, not in any way. Stipe and crew take all who have ears and musical intelligence embedded betwixt them on a stark-yet-very-human tour of our universal yearnings, experiences, regrets and ride toward self-acceptance.
Very few bands manage to capture the tenets of high-brow positive existentialism (e.g., Alfred Adler, Irvin Yalom) without alienating their audiences with bloated pseudo-intellectualism. This one makes it to home-base with enough change to feed any meter. It's the most humbling album I've ever heard and I have been a touring and recording bassist for most of my adult life. There are no flashy pyrotechnics here, thank God: There is great beauty. Show me a rock album that surpasses this one and I will sell all my gear...cheap.
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- A_Welshman_in_OzReviewed in Australia on July 28, 2024
Superb quality, 5* and A++++ for the seller's customer service.
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