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: Revolutionary
Hit: 5 Stars
R.E.M. were four young guys from the college town of Athens, GA. They had released one EP, Chronic Town, before they released their debut album Murmur in 1983. The album had the jangling guitar sounds of The Byrds, the energy and spirit of Patti Smith and a garage band sensibility. Yet it sounded completely original and like nothing else before it. One of the reasons is that the band buried lead singer Michael Stipe's vocal deep in the mix. In many cases his vocals are no more than a mumble and this created an air of intrigue and mystery as to what he was actually saying. Since the band doesn't print its lyrics, one could listen to songs over and over trying decipher them. Even the album's cover of an abandoned train depot covered in brush and bramble shot in distorted black and white adds to the band's mystery. There is also a nice contrast in vocals between the Mr. Stipe and bassist Mike Mills. Mr. Stipe's are deep and low, while Mr. Mills' are at the high end and they balance each other perfectly. Peter Buck provides the basis for the band's sound with his jangling Rickenbacker guitar playing and Bill Berry provides the backbone of the band with his steady beats. The band has the ability to move from the frenetic "Radio Free Europe" and "Catapult" to the beautiful "Perfect Circle" with ease. "Moral Kiosk", "Pilgrimage", "9-9" are all brilliant as is the amazing "Talk about The Passion" which still ranks as one of their all time best songs. Murmur was the basis for the 80's musical genre known as College Rock which then morphed into the Alternative Rock music of the 90's. Very few bands can claim such a revolutionary album as R.E.M. can.Free Music Review: Objective critic says "perfect"
Hit: 5 Stars
As a conservative Christian father, I find the group R.E.M. revolting. I find their political views, and some (although very few) of their song lyrics directly in opposition to everything that I believe is right. It is a shame that a musical group endowed with so much natural talent and brilliance has wasted so much on fruitless ends.Nonetheless, after twelve years of listening to the album "Murmur", I have to objectively acknowledge that I have not come across a work of modern popular music that is its equal. Perhaps if I understood more of what Stipe was singing, I might not rate it so highly. "Murmur" is a rare example of (in my mind) a work of art in which nothing need be added, and nothing taken away. It is also one of those rare works in which emotion is produced by the integrity of the music, and not by a calculated effort to draw on the listener's emotions (witness the dreadful music called "christian rock and alternative"). These songs could be about potting soil and I would still be amazed at the sheer beauty of the music and voice. I would venture that "Talk About the Passion" is one of the most beautiful pieces of pop music ever made. It is an exceedingly simple piece of music given enough orchestration and undertones to take it to a completely different level.
My son will not be allowed to listen, in my house, to the cesspool that is pop music today. However, I will put a copy of this record in his room and let him listen to it as an example of work well done. R.E.M.'s morality is depraved at best, but this music is not about those things, it is just absolute perfection.
Free Music Review: "Speak in tongues with a broken lip"
Hit: 5 Stars
Murmur was R.E.M.'s first full-length album released in 1983 to much critical acclaim. It includes one of their best singles, the classic "Radio Free Europe" (although I like the version off Eponymous a little better than the original). In my opinion, it would not be their most solid album (that would be 1985's Fables of the Reconstruction) but it is bursting with beautiful songs and Michael Stipe's "mumuring" vocals.
Besides "Radio Free Europe," my favorite track off Murmur is "9-9." The overall sound is amazing. It is exotic at times and then rocks at other times. The backing vocals are excellent on it as well. "Perfect Circle" is absolutely beautiful as is, to a slightly lesser extent, "Talk About the Passion." I remember hearing on an R.E.M. rockumentary that the band really felt like they had come together with the song "Perfect Circle" and I can understand why. It has a mature sound and, with the piano, is one of their best ballads. The upbeat "Catapult" is another one of my favorites. It has a "native" sound to it for lack of a better term as does "Pilgrimage" which is a little drawn-out with a bridge I'm not crazy about but is otherwise a nice track.
Of the rest of the tracks, only the rocker "West of the Fields" stands out. "Moral Kiosk" is my least favorite as there is just too much going on, and Stipe's yodeling part doesn't help. It lacks the simplified beauty of most R.E.M. songs. "Shaking Through" is another weaker track and "Laughing" and the cute "We Walk" are nice but not as memorable as the rest. Still, this album is solid and an excellent debut by the boys from Athens.
Free Music Review: Murmur
Hit: 5 Stars
REM fans find, in this album, the culmination of "fandom." Here is REM at its best, fuzzy, indistinct, tormented, political, and anti-establishment. Here is the rebellion that hatched the 90s, that defined Generation X, that begat the first wave of "alternative music" generated in basements and college radio stations across the country.In 1983, when this album was released, I was 6. Needless to say, it was a few years before I joined the ranks of REM fans, and perhaps for me, the social and political impact of Murmur can never be as poignant as it is to those older than me.
Still, Murmur is an epic of creativity, and an channel through which Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe forced a modicrum of genuine art and authentic liberalism. The album, so perfectly titled, truly is a murmur of wisdom. Stipe's voice is the background fuzz through which a few lines become clear, made all the more important by the indistinguishable haze of the vocal and musical meld.
If you pick this album up expecting pre-Monster pop, mellow hybrids of electronic thump and ballad melody, or even the existential lyrics of the late 80s, you will be surprised. This is a different animal, and a contagious one.
As many an REM fan will tell you, there is something special in this album, something that doesn't happen very often in this era of polished studio performances, airbrushed band photos, and hollow lyrics. It cannot be easily explained, but this album is addictive. Though it rotates in and out of play in my house, it has remained one of the few albums constantly within arm's reach ever since I first heard it.
Free Music Review: one of the best
Hit: 5 Stars
I think perhaps R.E.M. is somewhat of an aquired taste. Especially their old stuff, like "Murmur" and "Reckoning." I remember a couple years back when I didn't exactly like R.E.M. that much. I thought it was boring, slow, and it seemed like there were no distinguishable songs. They all sounded the same.About a year back, I got into Miracle Legion. I don't know if anybody knows who this band is, but they are one of the bands accused in the eighties of copying off of R.E.M. I didn't care if they did, because I didn't like R.E.M. at the time. But I loved Miracle Legion quite a lot... especially the "The Backyard" EP.
I heard "So. Central Rain" one night... and was completely surprised. "R.E.M. is a pretty good band," I thought.
I went to K-Mart one day and bought the import of "Singles Collected." It had all their old singles and their corresponding b-sides on one CD. The first song that played was "Radio Free Europe." Let me tell you -- the song was absolute perfection. It was insanely catchy, and had a wonderful creepiness about it.
I have been a hardcore R.E.M. fan since. I have just bought "Murmur" a couple days ago, and it's been playing nonstop on repeat ever since.
"Perfect Circle" is wonderful, as is "Catapult," "9-9," "We Walk," "West of the Fields," "Pilgrimage," and pretty much every single song on there.
Everyone should really get a chance and hear this CD sometime. I think it's R.E.M.'s best album, period.