It’s not easy to rate the things you love, so I feel Josh Jackson’s pain. As a fervent R.E.M. fan myself, picking the best songs of the legendary Athens band is an impossible task.
It was with great interest that I read Josh’s list on Paste’s Web site, because I’m always curious to see what other uber-R.E.M. fans think of their collection. Usually you discover most fans love the ’80s R.E.M. over the ’90s R.E.M., and that’s understandable since they were two different bands. When Bill left, it became yet another group, though Accelerate, the most recent offering from Michael, Mike and Peter, harkens to those earlier days (“Until the Day is Done” could have easily been on Green).
Josh has a nice list. “Talking About the Passion” is a wonderful song, and I can see why he ranked it first. There’s the obvious choices — “Losing My Religion,” “Man on the Moon,” “So. Central Rain” — and some inventive ones — “King of Birds,” “Finest Worksong” and “Cuyahoga”. Josh clearly bowed at the altar of Life’s Rich Pageant, as 20 percent of his list comes from that album, though he has three songs each from Document (but no “One I Love”) and Reckoning.
Nothing after Monster, which I found a bit out of sorts. I can understand (somewhat) not choosing a song from the Bill Berry-less selection, but to leave out a song from New Adventures in Hi-Fi is a mistake. The album is an absolute gem, and is the great album Monster should have been.
So here’s my list, and I cheated, I have 25. No doubt my list doesn’t jibe with others, but hey, it’s my list. As Josh noted at the end of his post, feel free for some “Second Guessing”:
- “The Lifting” (Reveal): It’s a great start to an album that doesn’t get as much pub as it should. For anyone who’s been stuck at a seminar or a meeting, desperate to escape, the song resonates. Sometimes you have to live in your own world to survive the one around you. I get that.
- “Leave” (New Adventures): It’s long and winding, and it just full-on rocks out. The gentle guitar tones at the start open to a cavalcade of sound. It’s so raw, alarming, the pleading tones of Michael perfect with Peter’s grinding guitar.
- “Man-Sized Wreath” (Accelerate): It has all the markings of an older R.E.M. tune, though a freshness for the time it was made. It was great to hear Mike’s harmony floating through the background of the chorus.
- “Get Up” (Green): This album came out during my junior year in college, when it was hard for me to get going. This song was my clarion call. And I love they chose to have 11 music boxes playing during the musical interlude. Why 11? Who knows but this one goes to 11.
- “Walk Unafraid” (Up): The first time without Bill was tough, but Up (aside from having its songs in the wrong order, that’s just how I feel) has some wonderful songs. This is one of the best, great, great lyrics (and I think Bono stole the lyric “walk unafraid” for one of his songs) showing a band ready to march ahead.
- “Letter Never Sent” (Reckoning) — It’s a love song to the town he’s from, and having lived in Athens for four years now, I have to agree. Peter’s guitar to start the song hits you right away, and paces the song nicely.
- “Losing My Religion” (Out of Time): OK, I know I’ll get crap for ranking this so low, and maybe it’s because I’ve heard it too much (which is why “The One I Love” is not on my list). Yes, it’s a great song, perhaps their defining song, but I’m such an ’80s geek with these guys, it was tough for this one to crack much higher with me.
- “You Are The Everything” (Green): This was the song my wife and I chose for our first dance together as a married couple. The lyrics are absolute poetry, and is such a beautiful song.
- “Undertow” (New Adventures): Again, what a rocking song. I love the distorted noise running in the background, and Peter’s just opening up the guitar throughout. Michael and Mike in harmony near the end, just great.
- “At My Most Beautiful” (Up): Is it a Beach Boys rip-off? Yep. But if you’re going to rip off the Beach Boys, it better be good, and man is this good. This is the song to point to when talking about the brilliance of Mike’s background singing. And his piano is stunning.
- “King of Birds” (Document): The jangling guitar, the marching drum, Michael belting out “I am the king of all I see, my kingdom for a voice” this song has it all. The second to last song on Document, it’s evidence that not paying attention to the entire album will have you miss some of the best parts.
- “Harborcoat” (Reckoning): A great first song for a sophomore album, with those puzzling lyrics (he’s referencing Lenin?) and it may be just me but when he spells out R-E-A-C-T, I stop what I’m doing and just sing along. It was immediate proof R.E.M. was going to be around for a long time.
- “Fall On Me” (Life’s Rich Pageant): The band’s first real hit (I think it got to No. 29). Only they could write a melodic song about the dangers of acid rain. The bridge sung by Mike is wonderful, and the multi-layered lyrics throughout make my day. I always sing along with Bill when he croons “It’s going to fall.”
- “Country Feedback” (Out of Time): This is the best song on Out of Time, weird and creepy with the recurring chord arrangement. Michael is in free form, and it serves as a slow version of “It’s the End of the World,” but he doesn’t feel fine here. “You wear me out, you wear me out” he sings, and yeah, I understand.
- “Talk About the Passion” (Murmur): A perfect pop song, with one of the greatest lyrics — Not everyone can carry the weight of the world. So true. This showed the band could vary song structure early on. I sing along to every word every time.
- “Nightswimming” (Automatic for the People): I think people forget how good R.E.M. is at writing songs that highlight the piano. A beautiful song about late night skinny dipping, it makes me think about the happiness of youth.
- “Exhuming McCarthy” (Document): Typewriters, recordings from U.S. Senate hearings, it’s just so different than anything that came out at that time. Mix in Peter’s surf-guitar lick, Bill’s determined drums, Mike’s backgrounds and the odd but great lyrics (who rhymes met with realpolitik?) and you have something no one can touch.
- “Begin The Begin” (Life’s Rich Pageant): It’s the song Michael wanted to be heard on, and opens up a stunning album full of beauty and beliefs. My friend Jon noted how he loves “Let’s begin again/like Martin Luther Zen” and I agree completely.
- “Maps and Legends” (Fables of the Reconstruction): I love this album with all my heart, and its songs such as this that make it so. I have a passion for traveling, and “Maps and Legends” puts my mind on the road. It’s to be reached, it’s not to be reached, Michael yelps in the background near the end. God how I dig that.
- “Find The River” (Automatic for the People): It makes me want to cry how well written this song is. The strings, the guitar, the understated singing. Many think Automatic is their best album, and while I don’t agree with that, this is certainly their best song to end an album with. They simply could not have followed it with anything else.
- “Swan Swan H” (Life’s Rich Pageant): Again, driven by the 12-string and Michael’s inventive lyrics, it’s like visiting another world for just under three minutes. I remember watching Athens Inside/Out in a packed theater, and after R.E.M. finished playing this song on the screen, the audience exploded into applause.
- “Perfect Circle” (Murmur): Another piano song, so gentle and mysterious. It’s a tune of pure elegance, and stands out in the stunning album that is Murmur.
- “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)” (Chronic Town): One of the first songs I ever heard from R.E.M. was “Box Cars,” and it hooked me right away. Michael sings it so well, I wanted so much to understand what he was saying, but after a while didn’t care because he sounded so interesting.
- “So. Central Rain” (Reckoning): It’s one of the top songs of all time, not just one of R.E.M.s top songs. A perfect chord arrangement, so definable, Michael’s moaning of sounds at the end paired with the band’s driving melody is awesome (yeah, like large mountain’s awesome). It’s hard to think there’s a better song from them.
- “Driver 8” (Fables): Well, there is one better song. For people who choose to play guitar, there’s always a song they want to play first after they learn the basics — and this was the song I wanted to play. I used to visit my best friend in Charlottesville quite a bit when I was in college, and on the train ride in I would listen to this song. Anytime I hear it, it takes me back to those happy, carefree times. It’s just the best song ever.
