An REM thread for r.e.m. stuff
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Sal Kramer
Member
Thank you.
Thewlis
Very Senior Member
Yet the last couple of albums weren't really close to their 1982-1992 heyday.
I do wonder if we will ever get that Stipe solo album.
DagenhamDan
head in the clouds, and a mouthful of pie
I did think Accelerate was up there with their best but i know im probably alone in this, i just miss Michael Stipes voice and REMs canny way with melody.
Thewlis
Very Senior Member
Yes, that's my fave too of the later albums. I saw them on that tour and they were still great.
But the last album plus Reveal and Around the Sun were a let down to me. Up was hit and miss.
I wish Stipey would finally get that solo record out, I do like some of the songs he released over the last decade.
Johnnie Ray
Well-Known Member
I love Stipe and oddly enough, Reveal is my favorite REM album. I miss him.
Thewlis
Very Senior Member
It's a fine Summer-y album, love Beat a Drum and I've Been High.
Imitation was fine too.
The last four songs I don't really care about.
Johnnie Ray
Well-Known Member
I was going through a divorce when it was released and it is a very cathartic album for me. Very summer-y. It was beautiful outside and I was miserable and stayed inside. Chorus and the Ring is one of my all time faves!
Johnnie Ray
Well-Known Member
I hadn't ever really thought about it but I think a Michael Stipe "Viva Hate" style album would be a big hit. As much as I think that Peter Buck was perfect for REM, he is pretty limited. It would be really interesting to see what Stipe could come up with solo.
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Thewlis
Very Senior Member
Definitely something more electronic if his latest songs are anything to go by.
But I like those songs. A full album would be something to look forward to.
gargumma
Active Member
Michael Stipe doesn't know how to write a song by himself and much less how to arrange and produce it. And he can't play any instruments either, in any usable way. And, unfortunately, for that he usually relies on superficial fashionable hipsters who know even less than him and who have nothing in common with anything resembling R.E.M.. All that is fact.
Most of those scattered solo songs he's been releasing since, idk, 2018 or so are nothing less than atrocious -- I'm not even exaggerating! Go listen to "Give me a hand" or "Future if Future" and try to find anything good about that excrement! --, with the laudable exception of "No time for love like now", which just cuts above the rest, but far from being a masterwork itself.
If Stipe follows the same path he's been taking -- and I say this as a diehard long time R.E.M. fan who thinks they were the best band that ever was, no less -- his solo album is going to be just a very forgettable oddity for diehards like me, and a litteral pile of nothing to the rest of the world.
While we're at that, to be honest, a Mike Mills solo album would be just a slightly bit more well-crafted and enjoyable, but soppy and sugary and corny to the bone. Fans would be looking at each other with that "uh, so, yeah..." face. If you heard his, um, "concerto" you know what I'm talking about.
And no one took notice of Peter Buck's solo albums -- sure, they were released in very limited fashion, but the files can be found easily, if you want to listen to them. Yet, NO ONE has given a damn about that. They were awful. If you find any of that enjoyable, it says more about your tastes (weird, but I appreciate weird) than of the really bad tracks.
R.E.M. was the four personalities and talents combined, exclusively. Sure, they even made it work with just three of them for a minute (I love Up, Reveal and Accelerate to pieces). But the separated parts simply can't make it work -- and from what we have seen so far, they simply cannot make it work AT ALL, not even remotely.
Most of those scattered solo songs he's been releasing since, idk, 2018 or so are nothing less than atrocious -- I'm not even exaggerating! Go listen to "Give me a hand" or "Future if Future" and try to find anything good about that excrement! --, with the laudable exception of "No time for love like now", which just cuts above the rest, but far from being a masterwork itself.
If Stipe follows the same path he's been taking -- and I say this as a diehard long time R.E.M. fan who thinks they were the best band that ever was, no less -- his solo album is going to be just a very forgettable oddity for diehards like me, and a litteral pile of nothing to the rest of the world.
While we're at that, to be honest, a Mike Mills solo album would be just a slightly bit more well-crafted and enjoyable, but soppy and sugary and corny to the bone. Fans would be looking at each other with that "uh, so, yeah..." face. If you heard his, um, "concerto" you know what I'm talking about.
And no one took notice of Peter Buck's solo albums -- sure, they were released in very limited fashion, but the files can be found easily, if you want to listen to them. Yet, NO ONE has given a damn about that. They were awful. If you find any of that enjoyable, it says more about your tastes (weird, but I appreciate weird) than of the really bad tracks.
R.E.M. was the four personalities and talents combined, exclusively. Sure, they even made it work with just three of them for a minute (I love Up, Reveal and Accelerate to pieces). But the separated parts simply can't make it work -- and from what we have seen so far, they simply cannot make it work AT ALL, not even remotely.
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H
Hattie Hein
Guest
I’d love a mix of just all Stipe’s live 1980s monologues. They were among my favorite parts of the bootlegs
Thewlis
Very Senior Member
Agree for the most part.
I quite like Peter Buck’s album with Luke Haines but even that went by largely ignored.
For such a huge band the four individuals have added little to the music world outside of the band.
Though I must say that Stipe’s numerous collaborations on other people’s songs makes for a good compilation. I think if he surrounded himself with the right people he could make a very good solo record. But I don’t think he has that ambition anymore unfortunately.
fredharris
Member
What was it?
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