Ryus
03.26.23 | some observations:
-yeah, i love murmur
-the b-side of document is just so incredibly weak compared to all of the other IRS stuff
-their album openers and a-sides in general are magnificent
-41 would probably be a lot higher but i overplayed the shit out of it as a kid |
Ryus
03.26.23 | D-tier: 61-55
C-tier: 54-48
B-tier: 47-31
A-tier: 30-14
S-tier: 13-1 |
ArsMoriendi
03.26.23 | 3 is my favorite REM song ever
61 is honestly VERY underrated, it's short and weird, but it fits mood setting in. way where I think it'd work well in a movie soundtrack
Also Fireplace in D tier? WHAT |
onionbubs
03.26.23 | love the good advices redemption arc good shit. respect the hell out of feeling gravitys pull in the top 3 too
glad lightnin hopkins is the lowest on document lmao fuck that song but i honestly love king of birds. blows the rest of the album out of the water imo. i never really dug the hits off that one tho that album to me is an ep of the first 4 and last 2 songs |
Ryus
03.26.23 | document ends with "the one i love" for me. theres a lot of great stuff up until that point but its my least favorite of their first five because of that last stretch |
ArsMoriendi
03.26.23 | Hmmm I find that so odd since the lowlights for me on Document are Strange and Lightnin' Hopkins, one of which is on the first half |
Ryus
03.26.23 | strange isn't great but its a kinda fun cover |
Ryus
03.26.23 | i just realized 3 of my top 4 are openers. damn they knew how to open an album |
onionbubs
03.26.23 | i rlly wish i could rally more behind the one i love bc its such a titanic hit for them but its always felt super autopilot to me. it is definitely the worst album of the first 5 tho yea and ranks pretty low for me in general
and yea absolutely amazing album opener band |
ArsMoriendi
03.26.23 | I like Document a lot more than you guys I think, out of their 6 IRS releases, I'd have it 2nd. It IS very indictive of their changing sound, so I get why people mostly interested in their IRS stuff might be underwhelmed by it though
1. Murmur
2. Document
3. Lifes Richest Pageant
4. Reckoning
5. Chronic Town
6. Fables of the Reconstruction (I find Green Grow-Good Advices to be a 4-song slog) |
Ryus
03.26.23 | for me its
1. murmur
2. fables
3. reckoning
4. chronic town
5. lifes rich pageant
6. document |
Ryus
03.26.23 | "It IS very indictive of their changing sound, so I get why people mostly interested in their IRS stuff might be underwhelmed by it though"
yeah, this is definitely the issue for me. chronic town + their first three is one of my favorite runs in all of music. lifes rich pageant and document are still excellent but dont have quite the same magic as the earlier stuff |
onionbubs
03.26.23 | id probably go pageant >= fables > reckoning > murmur > chronic town >>> document. pageant is probably my favorite in that run but only because fables has a dip for me (auctioneer). does a good job keeping the tight songwriting i love from the early albums and adding a lot of new textures in while still feeling cohesive
i agree that document is almost a precursor to what theyd become but it feels like a very half committal one. that and green have always felt like weird transition albums to me, but i do think they were necessary stepping stones to out of time and automatic and have a few songs each i love |
Ryus
03.26.23 | i've come around to "pageant" more recently. fables definitely needs more love, it has an incredible atmosphere |
robertsona
03.26.23 | I like radio free Europe—great swirling prechorus and overall energy—but prob like every one of the next songs up thru moral kiosk, and then also sitting still, more |
robertsona
03.26.23 | I imagine you’ve seen their first TV performance doing RFE on letterman but boy |
onionbubs
03.26.23 | my favorite on murmur is either perfect circle or shaking through but its hard to argue against most of those songs. its opening run and sitting still are perfect too |
Purpl3Spartan
03.26.23 | for a second I thought you were rating albums and was wondering how a band releases 61 albums |
onionbubs
03.26.23 | god if only lmao |
Ryus
03.27.23 | radio free europe is legendary in my eyes but wouldnt fault anyone for not considering it one of their best tunes. and yeah, amazing performance sona. they perfected their sound right out of the gate |
onionbubs
03.27.23 | i used to think radio free europe was just solid and then one day a lightswitch flicked and i now fully subscribe to the idea that its one of the best songs ive ever heard. think it was when i picked out mills's bass line in the pre chorus that i had my epiphany |
Ryus
03.27.23 | thats kinda how i feel about murmur as a whole. never appreciated it for what it was until relatively recently. the grower of all growers |
onionbubs
03.27.23 | ive felt that way about pretty much their whole catalogue (well more like 2/3rds lol all the albums i love from them anyway). i first heard automatic when i was like 15 and it was probably a 3 for me back then but all its beautiful subtleties began to stand out to me and it blossomed into my favorite album ever. even tho the older stuff sounds completely different, that aspect of the band is still intact for me in the irs days which i really love about these albums
buck and mills in particular come up with so much satisfying stuff that plays off each other in really cool ways. even with the fewest ingredients they were packing so much great shit in their songs |
Winesburgohio
03.27.23 | Incredible top 10. Rightly Murmur-centric |
Winesburgohio
03.27.23 | ...an album which I've matured into though |
Winesburgohio
03.27.23 | sorry to be """basic""" but nightswimming is something else should we consider other eras, like one of my favourite songs period. but yeah murmur's pop sensibilities + nous combined with that ineffable *something* that's wispy and as hard to grab as smoke but which exists on the level of things *felt* is incred (leaves me incredulous,) |
onionbubs
03.27.23 | nightswimming is one of, if not my favorite song period yea |
Ryus
03.27.23 | love nightswimming. my favorite from AFTP is the closer though |
onionbubs
03.27.23 | very fair find the river is a super close 2nd for me i adore that song, and they make up such an outstanding closing duo together |
onionbubs
03.27.23 | doing an rem binge bc of this list and god the chorus on moral kiosk is so cool |
Sunnyvale
03.27.23 | Pretty sweet list. As usual on the level of individual song rankings, plenty I'd rank higher or lower, but well done. Fables Of The Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant battle for my favorite REM album at the moment. |
robertsona
03.27.23 | T shirt that says “YEAH, I LIKE MURMUR (1983)” on it just for Ryus |
Ryus
03.27.23 | hell yeah w2c
@sunny thx mate. im kinda surprised to see all the love for lifes rich pageant as i always thought of it as a step down from their first 3 (but still great). guess i was out of step w the consensus there |
WatchItExplode
03.28.23 | Excellent ranking of So. Central rain |
Ryus
03.29.23 | hell yeah its a perfect song. all of the top ~13 is basically flawless |
Ryus
08.23.23 | what a band folks |
zakalwe
08.23.23 | The greatest |
Ryus
08.23.23 | chronic town + the first three LPs are all untouchable. one of the best runs in rock |
Ryus
09.22.23 | i think 53 should move up |
onionbubs
09.22.23 | i agree. hyena rocks |
Ryus
09.22.23 | the only songs that are below a 4/5 for me are 61 to 54. insane |
onionbubs
09.22.23 | the only song i really love in that run is king of birds but that song is my favorite on document lmao |
