Rem - Murmur
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Free Music Notes for Murmur
Free Music Review: R.E.M.'s First Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
It's amazing how fresh and distinctive Murmur sounds nearly 25 years after its release. This was R.E.M.'s first masterpiece and every music fan should have a copy of this album in their collection and listen to it regularly. It really is that good and that important.
If you listen to their debut EP Chronic Town first, it's clear that the band was holding back a bit when they recorded that EP. Don't get me wrong, Chronic Town is great fun, but Murmur is far more advanced. It's like the band jumped directly from Algebra to Calculus.
The experimentation on Chronic Town is still here (that thunder noise on "We Walk" is really the sound of balls on a pool table) but it's dialed back just a touch so the album doesn't sound naive and gimmicky. Michael Stipe's lyrics (when you can hear them) improved tremendously between the two albums. And while all of the songs on Chronic Town sounded similar, the band purposefully gave each and every song on Murmur its own distinctive flair -- from the country-twinged "Talk About The Passion" to furious rave-ups like "Moral Kiosk" and "9-9" to folk rock numbers like "Catapult" and "Shaking Through" to the nursery-rhyme charm of "We Walk." There are no defined musical boundaries here.
Most of the songs on Murmur were written pre-Chronic Town and tucked away for the band's first full length album. Two songs ("Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still") had been released as a single before Chronic Town was released. "Radio Free Europe," largely at the record label's request," was remade for Murmur, while "Sitting Still" was basically the same track. Two more songs ("9-9" and "Shaking Through") were originally recorded for Chronic Town, but were set aside for Murmur. Another song ("Pilgrimage") was a demo that the band liked enough to put on the album as-is. Peter Buck claims the band knew exactly how they wanted the album to sound like, right down to the track order, before they even entered the studio. I don't know if that's true, but it's apparent the band was well-prepared for their first album.
Nearly everything is turned upside down here. This is why Murmur was so revolutionary. Most groups put the lead singer and lead guitar at the forefront -- here you hear Berry and Mills more clearly than Stipe and Buck (maybe because Berry and Mills were more accomplished musicians than Stipe or Buck). Most groups follow that strict verse-chorus-verse song structure. Here, you have several unique combinations -- like a verse-bridge-chorus, or something like "Pilgrimage," which starts with Stipe shouting the chorus from a distance. All of this, coupled with Stipe's mysterious vocals, gives Murmur its unique feel. It really is fascinating stuff.
Despite all of this mystery and deception (or maybe because of it), Murmur really grabs your attention and just doesn't let go. I can't listen to "Perfect Circle" (which is still probably the most beautiful song R.E.M. has ever recorded) without getting a tear in my eye, or "We Walk" without smiling and bobbing my head back and forth. Moody, mysterious and charming -- Murmur is simply an astounding piece of music.
Free Music Review: it's a great album
Hit: 5 Stars
Unfortunately, I can't quite give in to majority opinion and declare Murmur to be one of REM's greatest, most underrated efforts. I say "underrated" because you never actually hear any of these songs on radio stations, which is definitely not the same story when it concerns OTHER REM albums (such as every album they created from the late 80's to the early to mid 90's).
However on the internet, Murmur is certainly a popular album and many consider it one of REM's best.
Murmur honestly feels like yet another beginning effort by an aspiring rock band before eventually moving on to bigger and better things. In other words, while the songwriting on here is memorable enough to get the job done (and on some occasions -such as the first four tracks- REALLY terrific) the album as a whole doesn't actually scream of greatness like, for example, Automatic for the People does.
Another complaint is that some of these songs are predictably written and that doesn't help matters either. Of course it's possible this is just an example of me being really familiar with their later albums to the point I have a really good idea what the bands style is like by now.
"Radio Free Europe" reminds me of Tom Petty quite a bit, though to the bands credit, 9 out of 10 times Petty would *never* make something this melodic. Other moments like on "Pilgrimage" the chorus isn't quite as strong as many people would have you believe. It's a good effort obviously, and it grows on you with repeated listens.
Another problem is that many of these songs blend together. I must have heard this album at least 10 times by now and I *still* can't remember how any of it goes when it's finally over. Some of the tracks like "Laughing" and "Shaking Through" really blend together which therefore means I have trouble separating them in my mind. Of course while they're playing I LOVE them.
"We Walk" has an AWESOME vocal melody though, and "West of the Fields" ends the album on a really good energetic note.
Murmur has one more flaw, though not necessarily a major one- I don't quite understand how this album is supposed to sound way ahead of its time. Sure, the production is good, but then again, early U2 albums sound excellent as well and yet THOSE albums never get the same amount of credit or recognition that Murmur does.
To sum up the experience- the songwriting is good half of the time, great during the other half (hence the 5 star rating). Murmur doesn't sound drastically ahead of its time like many people believe. I realize REM is considered one of the founders of the alternative rock movement, but this album doesn't really reveal any alternative rock tendencies (and if it does, I can't hear them). Many of the songs blend together because the band hasn't yet developed an ability to thrown down a creative set of songs (something they'd improve upon in the future).
As a result of all these flaws, I can't help but think Murmur is somewhat overrated. Just a tad. I still love it.
Free Music Review: R.E.M.'s classic 1983 debut album still stands up today
Hit: 5 Stars
One of the problems with "Eponymous," the 1988 album that is a collection of singles from the first five R.E.M. released on I.R.S., is that it stops a lot of people who jumped on the bandwagon when the Athens group switched to Warner and made it to the top of the music world with their hit "Losing My Religion" from going back and listening to those earlier albums. That would be a mistake, because that would mean missing out on "Murmur," the 1983 album that created R.E.M.'s distinctive sound and which, in retrospect, can be seen as an important album in the history of music as representing the move from post-punk to alternative music. "Murmur" only made it to #178 on the Billboard 200 chart (#36 for the Pop Album version), but this is clearly a case where the tree in the forest most definitely makes a sound, regardless of the number of people there to hear it. Remember that "Rolling Stone" named "Murmur" the best album of 1983, which was the year of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the Police's "Synchronicity." R.E.M. was formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, originally playing under the name Twisted Kite and performing garage rock covers and original folk-rock songs. "Radio Free Europe," their first single, was recorded in 1981, released on the tiny Hib Tone label, and showed that all of the pieces that would becoming familiar, the jangle pop sound and cryptic lyrics, were already in place: you cannot help singing along with the chorus even if you have no clue what the rest of Michael Stipe's lyrics are saying. The single topped the "Village Voice" poll for Best Independent Single, and landed the group the I.R.S. contract. After an EP, "Chronic Town," the full-length "Murmur" constituted the group's debut album. While there is not another track as solid as "Radio Free Europe" on the album, the rest of the songs are clearly in that vein.
The songs on "Murmur" have an atmospheric quality that is quite distinctive, although you can certainly see strong folk-rock, post-punk, and garage-rock elements throughout, although what R.E.M. does with those elements is unique as well. "Talk About the Passion" is the other signature song from the album, and a prime example of how Stipe's lyrics attain great depth by refusing to be pinned down (although having some lyrics in French is adding insult to injury for those of us who always have trouble understanding what exactly he is singing). "Catapult" is a good example of what a pop song sounds like in R.E.M.'s hands (and the effective way in which bassist Mike Mills often responds to Stipe's vocals in the chorus), with "Pilgrimage" and "Perfect Circle" showing their expanding musical range. This is not to say all of these songs hold up; "Moral Kiosk" sounds rather dated as the exception to the rule. But overall this is a landmark album should end up being one of your favorite R.E.M. albums.
Free Music Review: Treble Classic Indie Milestone
Hit: 5 Stars
As I remember, the first time I listened to this album, I was in a profoundly bad mood. Whether this funk was occasioned by lack of sleep, or having missed out on a dessert (though, at sixteen, I was more than entitled to one), is irrelevant. I popped this LP on my brother's turntable, and a strange thing occurred. It would, of course, be a common reviewer's statement that I instantly felt popping good, went out, flagged down a space shuttle, and conquered galaxies. That wasn't the case. No, but the second I heard "Radio Free Europe", the second those jangling guitars picked up and an undercurrent of rebellion and nonconformity sprang full-fledged in the room, I did indeed feel better. But it was only years after, when I again listened to the album, that I realized that subtle reactions are worth ten-thousand more explosive ones. By that time, I also knew some of the history. In 1983, college rock was a fledgling field, but it was growing. Back then, R.E.M., in conjunction with such worthy bands as Husker Du, Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, et al, were making new gold from old copper. Many reviewers have opined that R.E.M. were creating nothing unduly innovative, that they didn't in fact invent the American Underground scene. To a sixteen year old layabout whose only previous taste of true underground genius resided in his sister's Ween tapes, though, this was big, almost revolutionary stuff. Years later, when I got "Life's Rich Pageant"...That's when the epiphany hit me. R.E.M. has been my favorite band since, but the seed of the passion is in this album.
The first song is the mere inception of the beauty. "Catapult", with a plunging bass line, a bouncy tempo, and obscure lyrics ("It's 9 'o clock, don't try to turn it off...), grabs listeners immediately. "Pilgrimage", with the presence of piano, is a slow-paced, gorgeous oddity. "Moral Kiosk" is an energetic, confounding little rocker, and "Perfect Circle", with perhaps the most lucid and understandable lyrics on the album, stands in relief as the most haunting song on the album. Other tracks, such as the hectic "West of the Fields" and goofy "We Walk", are just par for the course.
As stated, the first time I heard this, it wasn't a matter of Christ descending in Michael Stipe's skin, redefining music for a Buzz-Band sick, wall-eyed teenager. It was a matter of a young man discovering one of the most accessible, and yet still uncompromising underground records in Indie rock history. By the time I downloaded "Chronic Town", and had heard the stunning "Automatic for the People", I realized: For however gratifying a volte-face over a brilliant album can be, a humbler and more gradual appreciation can be many times better. The longer it takes to digest this, the longer it stays with you.
Free Music Review: Murmer
Hit: 5 Stars
R.E.M.-Murmer *****
It's hard to dissect, so why would you even want to try. You Can't understand the lyrics and yet you know every "word" to every song. How is possibe when the only audible part of the whole album is the chorus to 'Radio Free Europe?' Who cares is the real question. It's dark and quite and yet so damn powerful you can't help but lend an ear.
The amazing thing is that even when this album was released and you couldn't understand any of Michael Stipes lyrics people were still calling him a poet, which don't get me wrong I'm no saying that he isn't becuase he is, my point is that this is how powerful this album is an what an impact it had on people. This is where the term college radio, and idie, and underground, and soon alternative earned their names from.
R.E.M. is one of those rare bands like U2 where the members of the band, the musicians are amazing and are some of the best at their craft and are not held as icons, not because they are ignored but because instead they are held as genius. Like U2 only the front man is really known by name, Michael Stipe. Which is sad in one respect but honest in another, I'd tell you the names but a little research will do you good.
Songs like 'Pilgrimage' 'Moral Kiosk' 'Perfect Circle' 'and 'Catapult' are among some of the best that R.E.M. would ever record. other songs such as 'Laughing' and 'Sitting Still' are not far behind. There is a reason why this concedered not only the bands very best album but also one of the better albums ever, not just hype. And no this may not be the very best, a top 100 list would maybe only run this in the 80's or 90's but there is something to be said about honest underdog albums like Murmer.
Murmer is the kind of album that upon first listen blows your mind in such that your not sure why or how and must instantly listen to again. It is the sort of album that you will keep coming back to again and again, not too often but when you do it is bliss. Yes, murmer is the kind of album that will change the way that you listen to music and possibly the music you listen to as well. Highly reccomended for all, even those who are not interested in the album. I wasn't really interested in the album but did buy it because of it's legand and hype and I was not dissapointed, and please, please believe the hype, because you won't feel cheated.