R.E.M. Around The Sun - I was completely wrong.

well. I mean... you reassessed the album favorably... but that doesn't mean people are going to march in lockstep with your new opinion...

was this thread supposed to be a bunch of people congratulating you on your new assessment?

 

Loved it when it came out and I love it now! Like it more than their last two albums. On those I feel that they tried to recreate their youthful sound of the past.

 

No it was supposed to be a thread of albums that you disliked on release but later rediscovered the albums and it turned out you liked them. The question was repeated TWICE! I don't care what other people think of my opinions on albums. It's art. It's subjective. My lead in to the question was just my latest experience with this particular scenario happening.

 

BTW, to all the supposed R.E.M. fans who A) think they suck after the IRS years or 2) think they suck after Bill Berry left, let me tell you a little something. All true R.E.M. aficionados know that the best thing the band recorded was a cassette tape of a rehearsal when they were still thinking of using the name Cans Of P!ss. By the time the played their first gig they were a spent force. They took audience requests! Obviously sell-outs from the start. Unfortunately this cassette tape is in the hands of Bertis Downs, R.E.M.'s manager and he is only allowed to play it on every third blood moon in a field 15 miles outside of Athens, GA to an audience of 3 randomly selected members of REMHQ, their fan club. Apparently the music is so incredible it causes uncontrolled weeping, the rending of garments, etc...That's the real REM.

 

I personally felt like there last two albums were a return to form. Accelerate and Collapse Into Now are good records... to my ears.

 

I think between them there's a great album. As separate entities I think they are decent. They both have some great songs but they both also have some bloated filler.

 

Since this thread was derailed into an R.E.M. thread I'll mention that I'm listening to Reveal as I write this. I always found it weak aside from "Imitation Of Life" and "All The Way To Reno" but so far I'm enjoying it. It's kinda dreamy pop too. Maybe as I approach 50 I like this dreamlike pop music better. I'm not saying everyone should. Just my opinion, man.

 

It's easily R.E.M's worst record. "Around The Sun" suffers from having two of its best tracks - "Bad Day" and "Animal" - stolen off it for The Best of 1988-2003 and Warners making the band tour halfway during recording sessions. It's too long, too slow, with too many songs that are slow paced, melodically slight, and vastly overproduced. The only decent versions of the songs are from the live album.

 

After Leaving New York......it's all downhill from there. But, like you, I am a R.E.M. completest. Gotta keep it.

 

Fact.

As is Reveal.

 

I am listening to Part Lies, Part Truth, Part Truth, Part Garbage right now...

 

You posted it as an R.E.M. thread. You could have called it "albums you've reassessed and come to like"...
You have to expect comments about "Around The Sun" in the thread and you had to know there would be a lot of negative comments about it.

Relax and enjoy the nicer aspects of the thread.

REMember (see what I did there?), Springsteen, U2 and R.E.M. have always been whipping boys here on this Beatles /"Rumours" obsessed forum.
Don't get bothered by it.

 

It's all good. It was just everyone read half the original post and not the question at the end. I'm fine now. I said my piece.

 

Fixed that for ya.

 

I've always felt the album was unfairly maligned, even though, yes, it's not among their best work in my opinion. But "Electron Blue" is one of my all-time favorite R.E.M. tracks. "Leaving New York" is a fine single, and both "Aftermath" and "I Wanted To Be Wrong" also feature in my R.E.M. iTunes playlist.

 

I thought it was hot garbage when I first bought it back in 2004. My tastes must have mellowed a lot since then because I find it a delight now.

 

In keeping with the question, here's something I just did not get in 1990, but I sure dig it now:



Now I'm a huge waits fan!

 

Didn't like it in '75; love it now.

 

First listen, was perplexed. Grew to love it in time.

 

Still haven't come around to this one. I play it about once a year but it still does nothing for me.

 

"Bad Day" was not intended for Around the Sun. They recorded that specifically for the compilation album.

 

Apparently it ended up there because the new studio album they were doing in 2003 was taking awhile and then the "best of" compilation and tour broke up the recording sessions. That's why, in a way, "Around The Sun" is disjointed, meandering and directionless at times. It wasn't a focused recording session that produced it.
Unless you change up the tracks and rearrange some of them (or get rid of a few), it's a tough slog of a listen (and I say that as a huge R.E.M. fan who loved them from '85 until the end)

 

I

It actually dates back to the Fables/Pageant era

 

Maybe I misunderstood the info. I read and it was "Animal" and "On The Fly" that were intended for "Around The Sun".

 

... hence their willingness to record it for a retrospective. However, they didn't have any plans to put a 20-year old song on their new album.