I really like REM's IRS years - esp. Reckoning - what should I check out?

yes that is the one , thanks

 

Chronic Town, Murmur and Reckoning are my favorite R.E.M. recordings - all 3 are essential. After that it was a gradual decline in quality.

 

That's funny, I owned that album back in the day. How could I resist an album with Michael Stipe's sister doing the vocals?!? Amazing that it's such a rarity though and when I think of all the records I got rid of when I dumped my analog rig it still gives me pause... I also had the original independent releases of the 10,000 maniacs ep and first album which never made it to cd in the original masterings (just to clarify, that material was put out on 'hope chest', but in different mastering from the original discs). the 'record archive' back in rochester ny where i used to live really had an amazing indie music section!

 

Good call on those first 10,000 Maniacs EPs, included (in remixed form) on HOPE CHEST. Lotsa the same ringing, jangly guitars, inscrutable and often unintelligible lyrics, with the crucial difference of having a woman in front.

Before they became a vehicle for Natalie Merchant, they were more a loopy, gently psychedelic band with some reggae influences, very different from the professional pop band they became under Peter Asher.

 

Any of the first 5 albums should be fine. Personally I like Out Of Time and a few songs on Automatic For The People as well.

 

Fables Of The Reconstruction is every bit as essential as the first two albums. I think it is still Stipe's favorite.

 

Get all albums by The Smiths

 

The song "Watusi Rodeo" on the Guadalcanal Diary album is classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W9TgqWuJTk&feature=related


Evan

 

Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls

 

The dB's should also be considered. The first two albums are great examples of the jangle-guitar/college rock sound.

 

Agreed. It's a great record.

All of the first four R.E.M. records (Murmur, Reckoning, Fables, Life's Rich Pageant), plus the "Chronic Town" EP are amazing. After that, they were still a very good, sometimes great band. But those early ones are still the best IMO.

 

Uh-oh.

Thanks everybody!

Just to clarify: I already have a copy of every REM album up to 1995, I was asking for soundalikes or, uh, feel-alikes

 

Will start with this one

 

How about Game Theory? Their first three releases are classic and full of quirky jangly songwriting.

 

Hey!

I am at work (so I can't get the links) but I suggest you check out some Indigo Girls on youtube, stuff like Kid Fears, Closer to Fine and Tried to Be True. Stipe guest vocals on Kid Fears and Buck plays on Tried to Be True.

 

That's a very R.E.M. song. In a good way. I second the dB's also, especially the first 2 records.

 

Great choice but their CD's are priced out of this world now.

I forgot about the early albums by Toad the Wet Sprocket, they are definitely "influenced" by the Athens boys.

Three Walls Down - Building Our House
http://www.allmusic.com/album/building-our-house-r181156

 

If you like REM's cover of "Crazy" on Dead Letter Office, check out Pylon. They were one of the early Athens, GA bands that sprung up between the B-52s and REM, and the REM praised them in the media.

I've been listening to Pylon's recently reissued "Grate" and "Chomp" cds lately. While I like REM's cover of "Crazy", I enjoy Pylon's original version even more (two versions available on "Chomp" reissue).

 

I'll add Live to the list, especially the first album.

 

Definitely. Why didn't I think of that?

The Smiths didn't really make a bad album, but I think the best one to start with is either The Queen is Dead or Louder Than Bombs.

 

Louder than Bombs is awesome!

 

I thought the sophomore Throwing Copper with Selling The Drama was the most REM influenced album by them. The debut was also an excellent album.

 

I forgot-for whatever it's worth, my favorite R.E.M. album is the "Chronic Town" E.P., without apology. It has all been downhill from there (even if the slope has permitted us an amazing ride).

 

Really? I think that Mental Jewelry was a more direct handling of many of the themes in Lifes Rich Pageant. Of course, Live's treatment of political themes is much more general (something I always liked about them) and their songs tend to lean much more heavily on the spiritual side of life, but the spirit of both albums is similar. Live seems more focused on finding solutions to the problems it addresses. Some people find this preachy, but I guess because I so often agree with their viewpoint, I don't find it that way.

I guess what I think Mental Jewelry and Lifes Rich most have in common is that they are both incredibly inspirational, in fact because Live's message is more direct, I find it even more inspirational than Lifes Rich. I don't find Throwing Copper to be inspirational, but I do enjoy it. MJ and LRP are also both optimistic in the face of adversity, both are intelligent and most of all, both have a youthful fire and determination that is absolutely infectious.

I'll add that Live's writing did get more specifically thematically yet more cryptic lyrically, making their second album closer to Lifes Rich in that respect. However, I just always thought of R.E.M. when I got my first promo copy of their first album. The second album got ruined for me on the radio, another reason I never really equated it with R.E.M..

 

Yeah, my favourite two are The Queen is Dead and Hatful of Hollow. I like Hatful of Hollow because half the tracks were recorded live. The drums sound amazing!