Rem - Murmur
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Free Music Notes for Murmur
Free Music Review: Astonishing Album, But Not The Best Starting Point
Hit: 5 Stars
In my own opinion, "Murmur" is one of the greatest albums of the rock era, and completely dwarfs everything else in the R.E.M. catalog. And that catalog is very distinguished, so I don't give this praise lightly. R.E.M took rock influences from the 60's, blended them with a dreamy, contemporary 80's musical backdrop, and folded in the elliptical lyrics and vocals of Michael Stipe, creating a masterpiece for the ages. The songs on "Murmur" are full of sharp hooks that will latch on to your brain, yet they are full of mystery, and will keep you wondering what they are all about. "Radio Free Europe" with its great hook and insistent rhythm is the obvious single choice here, but it's the wonderful harmonies of "Pilgrimage", the acoustical beauty of "Laughing", the chiming guitars of "Sitting Still", and the psychedelia of "9-9" that will keep listeners returning for more.As good as "Murmur" is, I would definitely not recommend it as the starting point for someone new to R.E.M. who has only been exposed to "Losing My Religion", "Man On The Moon", and other latter-day hits. "Murmur" is not a difficult album to embrace, but it sounds nothing like the 90's version of R.E.M. For those just starting to learn about the group, or for 90's R.E.M. fans wanting to sample the band's 80's work, without too large of a stylistic jolt, a better starting point would be "Lifes Rich Pageant", perhaps R.E.M.'s most accessible album from start to finish. That album features the group working a variety of different styles that they covered in more detail before and since. From there, it's an easier step to work both backwards and forwards in the band's catalog to discover all of the rich treasures that await, including the astonishing "Murmur".
Free Music Review: Resusitated the Heartbeat of Music
Hit: 5 Stars
If you don't count R.E.M.'s first long E.P (extended play) beginning 'Chronic Town,' then their debut starts here. 'Murmur' their first album is brilliant, deserving all the accolades that are heaped upon it. With brilliant echo effects, a repertoire of ecclectic guitar, including folk, rock, punk, and new-wave patterns, 'Murmur' would be the crowning achievement of any other band. Having romantic, religious, and surreal images, R.E.M. propulsively and hypnotically lives up to the band name with a solid set of songs that work well together. Before alternative was a household world, R.E.M. came up with an avant guard folk-rock, new wave masterpiece before anyone could give the genre a name.
Their pell-mell approach is progressive, but hardly conventional. The opener "Radio Free Europe" and the latter "Sitting Still" stand up to the best punk. But, "Moral Kiosk," "9-9," and "Shaking Through" contain complex, yet mesmerizing fast-forward appeal. They can also bring "dreams of elegian" with the depths of hypnotic songs like "Pilgrimage" and "West of the Fields". (One shouldn't forget that they are an art band among other things. Their rendering of "Pilgrimage" is done with echo effects that resemble Gregorian Chant, and the music to "9-9" musically refers to NFL music used during highlights in the eighties.) If the variety weren't enough, then folk-rock is mastered on the celestial "Talk About the Passion" and "We Walk". Variety is underscored with some intricate musicianship on the exquisite "Perfect Circle". Song for song, 'Murmur' is a throbbing, heartfelt album of excellence. Later, albums would reinvent the band like no other since The Beatles, but on 'Murmur' they already showed they were perfectionists with every aspect of their music.
Free Music Review: Mysterious silvery hazy morning sunlight music
Hit: 5 Stars
Sometimes a band has all their elements aligned in such a way that they create magic. Their music, their way of dress, and their choice of album packaging come together so well that a phenomenon is born. It is this coming together of the spheres that seperates the next big things from the another in a long lines. R.E.M. were unlike anything that ever happened when they put out Murmer. They were southern and they were new wave at the same time. Peter Buck had his Patti Smith haircut and Michael Stipe wore T.S. Eliot glasses with Grapes of Wrath clothes. At the same time Murmer came out, Duran Duran were doing the Reflex and Sammy Hager was addressing his problem with the speed limit in parachute pants.Murmer is an electric folk record basically. The only exception being "9-9" which sounds like Gang of Four. Nothing on here sounds like "The Great Beyond" or "Losing my religion." Almost every song is superb. The melodies are enchanting and sink in gradually. Stipe would later have higher pitched (even whining) vocals, but here his voice is rich and warm. The lyrical content is always a big deal for anyone discussing the album it seems. They are, in fact, irrelevant. The vocals are just another instrument on this record. Whatever words you can't make out are made up for in the emotion of Stipe's singing.
I am always impressed that this is their first full length album. Stipe and the boys had a vision, no matter how much they play this album down in interviews. Their recent work is good, but no where near as revolutionary. You can't blame them for changing, because everyone wanted to be just like them by the late Eighties. It's kind of like having a sibling who emulates you by using all your stuff. Eventually you just find a new you.
Free Music Review: The Best Album of 1983
Hit: 5 Stars
I can't believe that I first heard a song from this album on the radio in North Carolina in 1983 - twenty one years ago. Of course, I immediately bought it. At the end of the year, Rolling Stone Magazine proclaimed it to be the album of the year, despite the fact that the band was completely unknown at the time and up against the blockbuster Michael Jackson album, "Thriller." It was surprising even then - that Rolling Stone would bite one of the hands that fed it money and access and award the title of best album to Berry, Buck, Mills and Stipe. Surprising, but bona fide, fer sure.
I have listened to this on vinyl, on cassette and on disc. I have listened to it while patrolling the firebreaks of Ft. Bragg, while driving home through the Smokey Mountains, during Macroeconomics and College Algebra, and UCC Article 2, and Criminal Procedure I and II. In Egypt, the Sudan, Panama and Grenada. I listened again on my honeymoon, and on the first trip home with my new son, Joseph (although he had heard it in the womb, I'll wager). This album and its two brothers, Reckoning and Dead Letter Office, have been my most faithful companions - they are always there when you need them, and they never fail on their promise. They are true - as true as anything can be.
Murmur is not just the title - it is an apt description of the effect it has on you. Here's what you do - get a bottle of Wild Turkey, and fill up a glass with ice. Pour yourself a couple of fingers, turn this album on and turn out the lights. Close your eyes and listen to it - listen to the noises. Let it cover you like the salty water of a sensory deprivation tank. You will feel the murmur, gentle but demanding. Damn if it's not comfortable - but maybe that's just me.
Free Music Review: Where no Songs had Gone Before
Hit: 5 Stars
R.E.M.'s Murmur marked the beginning of something new. A merging of 60s jangle pop with the '80s modern rock sensibilities of the time, these songs moved us because of their mysterious and evocative lyrics. A sense of hope permeates this album--and nearly all those that follow it--such that no one listening to this music would ever quite be the same.
"Radio Free Europe" begins it with a spirited, driving beat, "calling out, in transit...calling out, in transit...radio free Europe, radio free Europe." And "Pilgrimage" follows it with a stirring call to "take our turn, take our turn...take our fortune, take our fortune" before proclaiming the "pilgrim-ah-aaahge...has gained mo-ment-uuuuuuuuhm!" Soon follow moments of poignant beauty in "Talk about the Passion" and "Perfect Circle." These four songs are the standouts, but truly all the songs are great.
The lyrics are often drawn out, so that at times they're hard to decipher, while other times they're indecipherable except for occasional words or phrases ("IIII...I can heeear" in "Sitting Still" or "conversation fear" in "9-9"); yet this gives the album its mysterious feel, plus a certain pull toward repeated listening. The frequent background choruses of "aaaah...aaaah" in different variations, along with the ghostly sounds throughout, give the album a cohesive and incredible sound--in a word: Ethereal.
It's different from anything (in terms of style or theme) the group has done since, yet it established something of the band's identity for the early IRS years, its trademark sound of stirring songs set to guitars, bass, drums, and the occasional interplay of other wonderful instruments.
Do not miss it.