Rem - Murmur
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.47 You Save: $3.51 (59%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.78 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Murmur
Free Music Review: alternative
Hit: 5 Stars
Well I can't believe that in the long review I put down there, I didn't really say exactly WHY "murmur" is the greatest album i've ever heard. Sooooo here, finally, in Lester Bangs "Metal Machine Music" fashion, are the reasons.1. Throughout the entire album, vocalist Michael Stipe purposely makes the lyrics unintelligible so that the listener can more easily interpret the songs for his/herself. This may have also been a way to guarantee keeping this album in the underground so that it would never become popular with the uncool MTV crowd.
2. The talents of bassist Mike Mills should never be overlooked. Ever hear his basswork during the "Straight off the boat, where to go?" section of "Radio Free Europe", or the intro to "Laughing"? That song has THREE separate melodies in its three minutes of existence, and they're ALL great.
3. I read somewhere that the band was so ego-free that they had every instrument and the vocals balanced out in the mix so that no part would stand out. They wanted it to sound like a mush, which I think is really innovative, considering the overblown heavy metal that was popular at the time (this was 1983 remember).
4. A sad lament: Nobody makes their drums sound like the ones in the beginning of "Catapult" anymore.
Excellent drumming that actually sets a mood and isn't just mindless thumpity thump thump. Oh, and Bill Berry also wrote the piano line for "Perfect Circle", and for which we should all be eternally grateful.
5. One of the best "anti-album cover" album covers: the dark kudzu tree field. The words "R.E.M. Murmur" are hardly noticeable, the song titles are arranged out of order (and in large purple smudgy type), the band members look as if they're having the worst day of their life, Michael looks funny with glasses, the title for "Moral Kiosk" is arranged vertically, and they even pick a typeface that's very difficult to read.
6. "Perfect Circle" is the greatest song ever written.
7. Like all classic albums, every time I listen to it I notice something new. Just yesterday, I noticed something that sounds a lot like a Gregorian chant or something during the refrain of "Pilgrimage". You have to really sit down and PAY ATTENTION to the little things, like the piano in "Shaking Through", or the thunder in "We Walk".
8. Trying to figure out what Michael Stipe is singing (especially during the chaotic bridge section in "9-9") is one of the best things about it. It makes you think, but not in a heavy pretensious manner. They could have equally called it "Mumble".
9. It was the very first "alternative" album. It sounded like absolutely nothing that was popular at the time, and it seemed to come from out of nowhere. I think Peter Buck once said something like "We wanted to make a record that had no influences so that nobody could say, 'Oh they sound like this band or that band'". And it came out at the right time. I don't know. It was just like, finally! After years of synth-heavy new wave one hit wonders and disco camp, there FINALLY was the band that meant as much to you as the Beatles and Stones meant to your parents. Ehh... Or something. That's how I felt, anyways. I mean if it wasn't R.E.M. then who was gonna save rock and roll? Okay okay the Replacements, but I mean BESIDES them. Huey Lewis and the News? Phil Collins? Motley Crue? 38 Special? See, the whole reason the words "alternative" and "indie-rock" were invented was because by 1984, MTV and "Thriller" had killed the face of mainstream music and it was albums like this that were considered worthwhile "alternatives" to the mainstream corporate rock sound. "Murmur" started all of that.
10. It's the greatest album ever made ever in the history of music since the beginning of time. But that's just me. You might hate it for some reason. Number two: Zaireeka!
Free Music Review: Explorations in a Small Room
Hit: 5 Stars
In 1983, R.E.M. was four unknown men from a small Southern town no one had ever heard of, recording their music in a small studio with a producer no one knew for a small independent label still getting its feet wet. This probably goes a long way to explaining why they broke so many rules. The mushmouthed singing, the failure to identify the players, the oddball sound effects - it never should have worked. Then again, with all that anonymity and isolation working for them, it would have been tremendously shocking if they'd come up with anything familiar."Murmur" sounds a little like this band has just learned what music is, so it has to make it up as it goes along. Fascinated with what they uncover, they experiment - they stretch out notes and repeat melodic phrases in all kinds of combinations, they drop instruments out of the mix without warning and bring them back in at odd angles. They're exploring, and it's some sort of privilege to listen because they give the impression of playing while sitting down in a small room, in a circle, playing just for each other - the lyrics are full of rooms and circles and enclosed spaces, after all. This is chamber rock.
I imagine it's that sense of exploration and invention that makes me think of this as profoundly spiritual music. That, and the much-noticed mysterious aura the band generated. All the muted tones and fuzzy boundaries, both in the music and the album art, seem to invite the audience to a kind of spiritual inquiry, asking questions they'll never get answers to. (And they tried - people bugged Michael Stipe for interpretations of these songs for years.)
Take the song titles and lyrics (what you could make out of them, that is). "Speaking in tongues is worth a broken lip," or "Could it be that one small voice doesn't count in the world," or "Martyred, miscontrued," or "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world." And, of course, "Calling all in transit," not to mention the titles alone of "Talk About the Passion" and "Moral Kiosk". Not that R.E.M. was a religious band. They found inspiration in plenty of other things - there's politics here, hippie ideology, and even a quick dose of Greek myth (how many other rock performers can you name who even know who Laocoon was?). Still, they seemed chiefly interested in writing music that explored the mystery they saw around them, and that's what give this music its spiritual quality. Did you know the band's first gig was in an abandoned church?
On the other hand, this isn't just music to meditate by - it moves. For all I know, the members of R.E.M. actually did record this album sitting down in a small room, like I said before - if so, they must have been stamping out the beat on the floor the whole time, because I can't imagine playing most of these songs without a powerful urge to twist and shout. The guitars chime, the bass sings, the drums dance, the instruments interweave in patterns, and the vocals hum right along. Like the song says, "Waste of time sitting still," and if you saw R.E.M.'s live shows around this time you knew they believed just that. Apparently, they still do, and "Murmur" is where they laid down the ground rules.
One of the things that makes R.E.M. a great band is that they try not to repeat themselves. The sound of their debut lasted for one more album and then they moved on, kept exploring their sound. They've made some magnificent music in the years since, and I can't fault them for trying new things, but this album is the one that sticks closest to me, when they sang about wide-open spaces found in small rooms. They've never equaled their first achievement, though they've come close at times, and they probably never will. Then again, most people can't even do it once.
Benshlomo says, Don't ignore the small spaces - you never know what you'll find.
Free Music Review: This is Still the One
Hit: 5 Stars
This LP is a sanctified relic. The songs breathe life, poignantly document what it felt like to be a young person toward the end of the 20th century. The music was kind and gentle, it suggested joy, it implied mystery, it ignited passion. As a sophomore in high school, I bought this album when it was released in 1983. IRS originally distributed it with a [price] list price, and I purchased it on a lark. After spending a week with this sublime riddle of an album, I worked backwards and purchased "Chronic Town" (the 5 song EP the band had release in 1982). With "Murmur" and "Chronic Town" under my arm, I moved into a different future. I thought new thoughts, I met new people, I dreamed new dreams, and I had new destinations.
The indecipherable lyrics and murky cover art of "Murmur" only perpetuated the elusive beauty of the music. Everything implied, nothing handed over. Sun shining through a canopy of branches, never full exposure.
RADIO FREE EUROPE: My least favorite song on the album. The song that plays while people are finding their seats. PILGRIMAGE: Here is where the journey begins. The REM aesthetic was all about discovery, passion, mystery. If it's good enough for Chaucer, it's good enough for me. "Take your time...pilgrimage has gained momentum!" Are we looking for the two-headed cow? I'm in... LAUGHING: A gentle song about who knows what. Lighted, laughing at you, with you. Who knows. TALK ABOUT THE PASSION: A simple song, statement of purpose. Let's talk about the passion. Reagan may be in office, but let's explore the unspoken, our hearts and loins so full of passion we must speak. "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world". MORAL KIOSK: It wasn't conservativism, but REM implied a morality. A spirit of community. "So much more attractive inside the moral kiosk". Higher, twilight, but instead... PERFECT CIRCLE: "A perfect circle of acquaintances and friends. Drink another, coin a phrase". A song about friends, and spending time randomly with drunken exuberance and subtle commitment. "Take your dress off and stay real close". CATAPULT: REM's world (from 1982-1984) was very childlike. It evoked innocence, it remembered the youthful skin we were in the process of shedding. Did we miss anything? SITTING STILL: The REM call to action. One of the highlights of REM's early shows. Warned us all to not "waste your time sitting still". I can hear you. Can you hear me? 9-9: Didn't like this song for the longest time. Then it grew on me. And now I've forgotten it. SHAKING THROUGH: Yellow like a geisha doll, wandering, shaking through, pointless discovery. This is a sparkling gem. Could it be that one small boy doesn't... WE WALK: A lilting little ditty about walking, with friend, up the stairs & to the home, through the forest. A favorite for most. WEST OF THE FIELDS: Album closes with a darker feel than at any previous point in the album. The most haunting & memorable bridge on the album. Don't have any frigging idea what this song is about, but sounds like termites are in the foundation, the wells dried up, the truck has been repossessed, sissy ran off with a travelling salesman, and all that's left is whatever the hell lies west of the fields.
I have no idea what this album would sound like to the uninitiated or someone who already knows REM post-1985, but I would like to think that some 17 year old kid could still tap into the magic this music implied, promised & produced back in the day. Oh, and "Reckoning" (which is the electric brother of this album) is every bit as stunning. However, the band's music produced diminishing returns from that point forward. I have enjoyed occassional songs from occassional REM albums since this period, but am usually saddened that the golden sounds of my youth were supplanted by the diamond-studded cash cow.
Free Music Review: Easily the best album from the 80's.
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is extraordinary for a debut. This "garage band" from my homestate of Georgia made the best album that came out of the eighties. The cool thing about this album though is that it does not sound like eighties music it sounds like it has alot more heart and mind than any other eighties album or song. I've heard that it is supposed to be the first alternative album and I believe it because it sounds alternative. The truly great thing about this album is that all of the songs are just so good in: creativity, composition, singing, drum-work, bass lines, chinging guitar, and words(if you can understand what Mike is saying...it's not that bad.) But all of the songs are just awesome, awesome, awesome. I liked the song "Talk about the Passion" on REM's "Eponymous." That was the first time I had heard it and it was my favorite song on that album. However it is NOT my favourite on this album. THAT IS HOW GOOD THIS ALBUM IS! My favourite song on this album, although it is hard to say which is my real favorite, is "Catapult." This song just has great singing in it by Michael and I like the chord changes. "Perfect Circle" is another highlight of this album. All I can say about this song is that it is very beautiful and captivating. It gets better with every listen. Other great ones on this one(even though they are ALL great) are: "Radio Free Europe", "Laughing", "Sitting Still", and "We Walk." The other thing I like about this album is that each song sounds different from the last one. "Pilgrimmage" has some really cool drum work by Berry. "Talk about the passion" has a cool guitar riff. The piano work on a "Perfect Circle" is serene and lovely and just so beautiful. Everything about "Catapult" is WONDERFUL. "9-9" is very different sounding and just plain cool. "We Walk" reminds me of "Stand" because it sounds kind of immature but it's really just a fun song. On this album every band member is at their FINEST. Michael is brilliant on vocals. I was actually surprised when I heard some of his singing on this album becasue I heard it was supposed to be incomprehensible, it's not that bad at all people seem to exagerrate. His singing on "We Walk" is the best on this album he does an excellent job. Mills bass work is very creative and just great to listen to on this album. Mills is very talented. Berry's drumming is just perfect on this album and almost all the songs are up-tempo and good for dancing or whatever. Peter Buck's guitar work on this album is wonderful. It is one of the best things about the album. The cool thing about the guitar work on this album is that it is all very creative and I could tell that REM was being experimental with the chords and notes. There isn't much else I can say about the greatest album of the whole 80's decade except that I wish I had purchased it sooner. I've been an REM fan for a long time now and I just waited too long to purchase perhaps their greatest album (well, this and "Automatic", of course). I would recommend this album to ANYONE who likes music. I think any person who listens to this album will enjoy it. Do yourself a favour and go ahead and buy it, trust me.Free Music Review: Emerson would be proud
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm shocked. It's amazing how bands can change. In 1991, they released Automatic For the People, an unlistenable piece of _____. in 1983, they released Murmur. Why does this album warrant five stars. Read on to find out.
Alright, forget AFTP. This is what R.E.M. is about. Such a break to here that good music like this was released in a time of horrible hair metal bands and arena rock. These college students were just doing what they were doing from Athens, Georgia. Murmur has beautiful melodies with an overall shady atmosphere, like the band is seperated from society by nature a-la Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nothing but themselves and their thoughts and human emotions. @$$ kicking 101, indeed. In fact, it does sound like their playing in a log cabin, jamming for no one except themselves (. Best of all, we are the audience. Alright, ________!
Michael Stipe's voice is the best improvement. He still does have a low voice, but it just doesn't whine and has such a great range of emotions. His murmur like voice has singing traits, so it automatically becomes more bearable. He never sounds whiny, and doesn't talk and say yeah yeah yeah (ala Man On The Moon). It truly was at it's peak here. I hardly recongnized his voice when hearing this, and that was a good thing. Surely, just a whole lot better during the early years. His lyrics are also quite abstract, so you can draw your own conclusions and figure out what you want to believe, not what others say. How's that for a concept?
Oh, and the music is also top notch. It's a simple set up, but each member has their own sound. Bill Berry's drums are driving yet not loud. It's like a metronome, but it sounds like he's drumming with meaning. He's a rhythm man, and a _________ good one at that. Peter Buck's guitar is the best, it's melodic and quite beautiful, and he seems to crank out one after another. Mike Mills once said he wanted to play his bass like a piano: Melodic, easy to pick out, and goes along. He's right. This was a refreshingly good set up then, sure, but with today's nickelbacks and creeds, it's even better.
This is why Murmur sounds so great. They spread it out in the 12 songs on here, and it sounds excellent. You got Pilgrimage, Radio Free Europe, We Walk, and more! It may have a bit of a country sound, but a lot of people can draw a lot from the music as well. Indeed, they were trying to make music that they made without letting people try to call out influence. That's impossible if you look deeper and think deeper (or if you can easily recognize genres), eh whatever. It is shrouded in great melodies, I'd even say the guitars sound a bit like Nick Drake, but upbeat. That's just me.
YOu can call Murmur what you want however. All I can really say is no matter how much you've been exposed to later R.E.M. your still in for a surprise. From the truly blended production, the lyrics, the music, R.E.M. had talent. This proves it.
Disclaimer: I do not support Trancendentalism. A dog is a dog, or do we say that because we are expected to? Surely, Mysticism for Mysticism's sake (aka _____). I do like it for establishing the civil rights movement, so I guess it wasn't that bad.
9/10