release date: Mar. 12, 1991
format: vinyl (7599-26496-1) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Scott Litt & R.E.M.
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA
Tracklist: A) 1. "Radio Song" - 2. "Losing My Religion" - 3. "Low" - 4. "Near Wild Heaven" (4 / 5) - 5. "Endgame" (2,5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Shiny Happy People" (4 / 5) - 2. "Belong" - 3. "Half a World Away" (4 / 5) - 4. "Texarkana" (2,5 / 5) - 5. "Country Feedback" (2,5 / 5) - 6. "Me in Honey"
7th studio album by R.E.M. is their second for Warner Bros. and their 3rd collaboration work with producer Scott Litt. The vinyl release side A is labelled 'Time side' and the B-side 'Memory side'.
This is when things fell into place for the band, at least commercially. The album was and has always been a disappointing release in my mind, and it just doesn't come near the greatness of its three predecessors Lifes Rich Pageant (1986), Document (1987), and "Green" (1988). Music critics prophetised the band's breakthrough after every single studio album since Reckoning, and after Lifes Rich Pageant they said it was a certified fact... But it wasn't. In fact, it seemed it would never be, and instead the band should forever exist on the verge to stardom, at least up until this hit the stores and a whole world finally decided to embrace the band.
Listening to the album today, it makes perfect sense, and basically much like I felt back then. Gone were the mystique, the complex meanings of song titles, the alt. rock and jangle pop trademark with strong bonds to 1960s psychedelic folk rock, and instead they came out like... butterflies or 'shiny happy people' looking for a nice garden party to crash in on - they even remembered to bring the host a nice present. Before they were rebels and angry young men - now they had matured into every mother-in-law's dream-come-true. Well, there you have it - how could they not succeed?!
Yes, "Losing My Religion" is a mighty fine song, though I never found it truly great, and "Near Wild Wild Heaven" and "Shiny Happy People" are so cute and positive that it's hard to stay miserable. I also love to hear Kate Pierson's great additional vocals but... it's nearly too slick, so polished and without edges of any kind. Like: too round as it doesn't harm or stir up anyone or anything. I mean, even my parents probably liked it, which isn't that bad, I also enjoy Frank Sinatra, Astrud Gilberto and a lot of mainstream popular music, it's just hard when your 'edgy' and non-conformist heroes decide they wanna play tourists and they pick all-inclusive or just hit the highway like everyone else with a camper. I still love the voice of Michael Stipe so much that I couldn't fully reject it, but I was sad by this new progression into full-blown pop / rock and stadium concerts, which soon followed, and I'm not far from agreeing with Richard Cromlin of The Los Angeles Times when he states "R.E.M. Recovers as Boy George Goes Dancing".
Thinking of this album and the band at this stage of their career, I come to think of them as Coldplay, and I don't really mean that in a very positive kind of way, although, R.E.M. [in my mind much greater] proved to shine again later on [Coldplay, they still don't shine anywhere except from driving back and forth to the bank].
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Los Angeles Times 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]
Show lyrics <- click...
