Last night EJ, East Coast Peggy, and I saw Jed’s band at Mercury. They were great as always, like Fountains of Wayne covering Weezer. Really concise, smart ’60s pop. It was also Palomar’s record release party, but we were starving so we missed their set and went to Kiev, a Russian restaurant that plays My Bloody Valentine. East Coast Peggy’s band is opening for The Secret Machines (!) on September 11 at Rothko. Go see them ’cause Peggy is awesome.
Today I cannot get this song out of my head: “Hang Up the Phone” by Annie Golden. I saw the awesomely bad video on VH1 Classic yesterday and the song’s still stuck in my head. It was in 16 Candles. I sort of wish it was on iTunes even though it’s really cheesy.
I will review the new R.E.M. album for you guys soon. As with many of their post-Out Of Time albums, I hated it at first and now I love it. There’s even some rapping (not by Stipe) on “The Outsiders” and they sorta get away with it.
Friday thread: Best R.E.M. Album? / Worst R.E.M. Album?
I’m going with Automatic / Monster … changed my mind … Reveal
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Life’s Rich Pageant / Up
Believe it or not, “Monster” is one of my favorite REM’s.
I’ll go with Automatic/ Out of Time.
Document / Reveal
(You should have stuck around for Palomar–they keep getting better everytime I see them.)
The worst is obvs: Reveal.
Best, maybe: Reckoning?
Believe it or not, “Monster” is one of my favorite REM’s.
I’ll go with Automatic/ Out of Time.
Shit, sorry for the double-post.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi / Reveal
Murmur / Reveal
I second Frank’s nominations.
Oh man, rapping on an REM album? That didn’t work out too well the last time.
“What are you sayin’?/
What are you playin’/
Who you obeyin’/
day after day/
uhhh…baby baby baby/”
new adventures in hi-fi/reveal
Thanks a lot! Now I have “Hang Up the Phone” stuck in my head, too. I’ll just have to keep thinking about The Specials’ “Little Bitch” and repeating the words “very hot, very hot” until it goes away.
Chronic Town / Out of Time
monster was great
New Adventures in Hi-Fi / Reveal
(though i love “i’ve been high”)
Monster has A FEW great songs, but I find it weak as a whole album. I suppose Reveal could’ve been a better answer.
But those of you who think OUT OF TIME is the worst? WTF? Maybe you’re just sick of hearing the singles?
Out of Time & Document / Monster
Best: Automatic
Worst: Fables.
Automatic / Reveal
new adventures / fables
Life’s Rich Pageant/Reveal
automatic/out of time.
djs communicate
on the dance floor
sex and blah blah blah
all your life
radio listenerrrrrrsss
I’m sticking w/ Out of Time as the worst (I can’t count Reveal, as the Bill Berry departure = breakup for me), but I will admit that “Low” is a fantastic song.
REM sucks. End of discussion.
Scott, I hope it doesn’t take too many more listens to make this new one tolerable. Because right now it is KILLING ME. KILLING ME DEAD.
Life’s Rich Pageant/Reveal
Out of Time has three excellent tracks, one of which being the best song REM have ever recorded (“Near Wild Heaven,” “Country Feedback,” and “Losing My Religion”) and everything is a bunch of mediocrity except for two songs which are two of the absolute worst they’ve ever recorded (“Radio Song” and “Shiny Happy People”). That’s a 3 out of 11, which translates to a 2.5 out on a 1-10 scale. Not good. The I think “Radio Song” and “Shiny Happy” are bad enough to warrant an extra point cut. Thing is, “Losing My Religion.” How did this song make onto this album? It may just be good enough to counteract the effects of those two aforementioned abominations.
But either way, it’s still a shit album.
Are we forgetting about Green at all? I would say that and Document are the best. I never bought their albums past Out of Time so not sure if they are the worse but I don’t think they can be better.
Cant decide between Pageant and Automotic for the best. Monster made my ears bleed, although I admit I didnt spend too much time with it. regardless I would have to consider that the worst.
My Teenage Stride sounded great, and Jed’s new haircut looked swell. I’ve seen that Annie Golden video too. She was in a band that played CBGB’s a lot back in “the day” (oh, i don’t know exactly what i mean by “the day”, get off my back), the Shirts, and now does a lot of musical theatre on Broadway and such.
Pageant/New Adventures
OR
Automatic/Fables
How can I choose?
Does Dead Letter Office count as an album? It definitely contains the worst song R.E.M. ever committed to tape, something called “Burning Hell.”
Still one of the best bands ever, though. High hopes for the new one.
wow…great question…great answer…but i have to contend first that, while “shiny happy..” does indeed suck, “country feedback”, “texarkana”, and “belong” can hardly be discounted as mediocre songs…particularly “country feedback”. where’s the love? anyway, if you asked for “best song”, i’m sure “losing my religion” would garner enough votes, mine included, to make top 3. That said… i’ll still have to go Automatic/Monster. Tough question though. ask me tomorrow, might have a different answer.
Best: Life’s Rich Pageant
Worst: Out Of Time
>>>”…particularly “country feedback”. where’s the love?”
“Country Feedback” was included along with “Near Wild Heaven” and “Losing My Religion” in the “good songs from Out of Time” category.
best: reckoning
worst: up
Automatic/Out Of Time, from then on,what we’ve gotten are some nice singles, the albums lack the same strength