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MURMUR by: R.E.M.

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Rating: - Part of the canon

There are a few records you have to have in your collection. This will be one of them. It stands next to Pet Sounds, Blood On The Tracks, In The Zone, Hunky Dory, Sgt Pepper and the rest of those immortals of popular music. When you hear this for the first time you'll realise where alot of other bands came from. This is the album that launched hundreds of jangly-guitared copyists. This doesn't take away from the fact that REM got there first and did it brilliantly.

I haven't a clue what most of this album is about. Well, it may involve some evocations of childhood. It may also suggest the mysterious obscurity of the young mind that sees the world as simultaneously exciting and unfathomable. Stipe and Mills sing wonderfully and, yes, from time to time you'll have no idea what they`re singing. It doesn't really matter.

The drumming is phenomenal and more than most of other bands, it's real and separate contribution to this record. Ditto the base playing. Seldom do you ever notice the bass guitar unless it's not there. So, what we have here is a case of a band of four equal parts when often a band is just a prop to occupy a singer's time. The thing with REM is that Stipe's talent does not over-shadow the others' creative contributions.

Everyone who hears this will have a different favourite track. It's that sort of an album. What does this record cost? 6 euros? If you're not about to starve to death, you owe it yourself to buy this record.

Rating: - Best Debut? Probably.

These days the statement 'Best Debut Album Ever!' gets bandied about a great deal by such hyperbole-ridden wagon jumpers as the NME and their ilk. However, it is this album that is probably the best debut album ever, and it's almost 25 years old.

A lot has been made of Stipe's 'mumbling' vocals. Personally, I don't see it - they are as comprehensible as any other indie-American band, and some of the lyrics are truly charming. However, yes, it is the music that makes this album what it is. From the child-like glee of 'Catapult' to the sorrowful yearnings of 'Perfect Circle' (far better than the band of the same name), this album is a triumph of simple melody and open chords.

The album contains all of the hallmarks of a 'typical' R.E.M. album. It has the silly stomper ('We Walk'), which laid the groundwork for 'Stand' and 'Shiny Happy People'. It has the epic ballad ('Talk About the Passion', a la the later 'Everybody Hurts' and the rock staple ('Radio Free Europe) which is the predecessor to 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?'. It is a precursor of things to come, and in retrospect we see a band that was laying down its blueprints at a very early juncture. For this singularity of purpose, R.E.M should be congratulated, as it has certainly paid off.

They Shook Through just fine.

Rating: - Best REM platter

I originally got this in vinyl many moons ago but subsequently lost interest in REM with subsequent releases. I got it again on CD a couple of days ago and listening to it reminded me of how good they used to be. IMO they've never released a single as good as 'Radio free Europe' nor have harmony vocals been as evocative as those on 'Pilgrimage'. If you got into REM late I suggest you go back and pick this up. I'd be surprised if you're disappointed.

Rating: - Timeless

Before REM lost their muse and their cult status, there was the pre-Warner days, there was Murmur. This is in every sense of the word, a 'timeless' piece of music. An album awash with mystery, beauty, depth and soul which inspired the more ambiguous nature of what a band can create, thus creating alternative rock (not bad for a debut).

The songs are constructed in recognition of the bands traditional folk inspirations, with winding melodies (Perfect Circle) and ringing guitar tones reminiscent of The Byrds, with a seemingly effortless and sublime sense of melody.

But to say the sound is derivative would be unwise, this is as an orginal and fresh - sounding an album that has been made in the history of rock music, thanks to the clean and smooth production and Stipes's impassioned, yet hardly comprehensionable vocals. However a look at the lyrics gives subtle imagery of geisha gowns, two headed cows and cists, and cites historical occurences ('We Walk' is about Corday murdering Marat in his bath)and greek mythology without the slightest bit of pretension, which is a remarkable achievement in itself.

Also, what's so suprising is the distinctive and assured sound the band managed to create for themselves in such a short space in time, it's almost as if these four men were born into the music and it is merely an extension of themselves.

And what's even more remarkable is how well the album has aged and how 'timeless' it is. I have no hesitation in stating that if this album was released this year it would sound as modern and important as anything else going (although with this tedious 'retro rock' craze going on at the moment this is not much of an achievement I suppose).

Goundbreaking, 'timeless', inspired, inspirational, traditional and modern all at once, that was REM.

Rating: - Sublime debut album from 1983....

R.E.M/ surfaced from Athens, Georgia in the wake of local-peers The B52's & Pylon and released initial works 'Radio Free Europe'/'White Tornado', 'Gardening at Night' & the 'Chronic Town' e.p. With producers Don Dixon & Mitch Easter (who would later work with Pavement & Ride, as well as producing follow-up 'Reckoning'), R.E.M. captured their sound which sounded like a collision of then uncelebrated acts like The Byrds & The Velvet Underground and post-punk acts such as Pere Ubu, Mission of Burma, Wire, Television, & Gang of Four.

'Murmur', which was a critical favourite at the time, remains a classic debut recording - the chemistry between Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe is fantastic. Standout tracks include 'Perfect Circle' (which predicts later songs like 'Nightswimming' & 'Find the River'), 'Pilgrimage' (which builds & builds to an oblique anthem- who knows what Stipe is mumbling?- it sounds great...), southern-gothic-closer'West of the Fields', the tight-acoustic shiver that is 'Sitting Still' & the Byrdsian-'Talk About the Passion'...

'Murmur' more than stands up these days, and forms part of a trilogy of R.E.M. albums with 'Reckoning' (1984) & 'Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables' (1985)- afterwards the band would rock out more and Stipe's vocals were clearer. The voyage to empty commercial band as found on 'Monster', 'Reveal' & 'Around the Sun' would begin...

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