I listened to the album in full this evening and taking into account I consider them a band in decline, was pleasantly surprised. The best they've managed in a decade imo.
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Excellent album. I love Uberlin and Mine Smells like Honey. Dont see them as a band in decline myself. Their last album ACCELERATE was very good too though the previous one AROUND THE SUN was poor. I thought UP and REVEAL were brilliant and underated. They are also the best band live I have seen...Although a friend of mine thinks they have been in decline since DOCUMENT though I dont agree. The only negative is I feel Michael Stipe's voice is not as good as it was,a bit hoarse,all the smoking catching up on him.
The first R.E.M album I listened to was "Green" and they were already on a more commercial trajectory. Personally, I felt the band began to disappoint with every release beyond that point although partly arrested that decline with "Accelerate".
I only started listening to "Murmur" and "Reckoning" over the last year or so and absolutely love both albums.
I've a huge interest in the IRS stuff currently which spans from "Murmur" to "Document".
What strikes me about those first two albums is how well they stand up today considering when they were recorded. There's not many albums recorded in the early 80's that escaped the gratuitous "Synths" treatment.
Apparently, the band deliberately wanted the sound as stripped down as possible.
Apparently, there's a best of the IRS years album entitled "I feel fine........best of the IRS years" which I'm going to track down.
I comepletely agree with your friend I have to say. They only made sporadically good music since that album. Automatic For The People is probably their best overall record since then. Murmer and particularly Fables of the Reconstruction are my favourite REM albums. They were just awesome back then.
Its either a feast or famine
The Vaccines – March 14th
The Strokes – March 21st
The Pigeon Detectives April 4th
Glasvegas April 4th
The Young Knives – April 4th
The Wombats – April 25th
New Arctic Monkeys single streaming on their website now - Sounds good :D
Picked up Beady Eye's album ahead of the gig last night, and Foo Fighter's offering.
Foo Fighter's is a lot heavier than anything else they've done, but well worth a listen. If you buy the cd (fcuk you iTunes) they've shredded the original master tapes they used to record and included a portion of it in each CD case.
Like a lot have said here, I'm pleasantly surprised by Beady Eye. It's a really laid back, chilled out Rolling Stones kind of an album. Was at the gig in the Olympia last night (they're playing tonight as well) and it was a great gig. Crowd loved Liam, and he loved the attention. Doesn't seem to have changed his clothes since Definitely Maybe, mind!
I had a seat in the upper level, and there was a bit of drama in front of me. A blonde woman came into the seats just before the gig started, and was clearly hammered, barely able to walk properly. Anyway, I took no real notice, she was in a seat two rows straight down from me. She sat down at one point, and the back of her chair broke off, and she went straight through. She was there with two guys and another woman, so presumably two couples. One of the blokes straight away started complaining to a bouncer, and it looked like he was trying to get another seat for them, but the guy was having none of it. Meanwhile the blonde kept sitting down in the seat, and going straight through every time, must have happened 4 times at least! I shouldn't laugh, but it was funny. Eventually the bouncer made some sort of arrangements for them, and they all moved on.
The entire upper circle was hammered. I blame the proximity to the bar.
Well the first album and and TCATS had their heavy moments as did One by One. By far the best offering since There is Nothing Left To Lose.
As regards the piece of Master tape, I was wondering what that was and checking my cd case and it seems I've lost it. :(
Very Much enjoying my fellow Limerickman Mark O'Connors new album 'Espero' ....which features some notable guest appearances -particularily one J Mascis of Dinosaur Jnr playing a blistering lead on Roll Back the Years.
http://www.myspace.com/markoconnor
http://www.hotpress.com/news/7750955.html
was not only at the gig but recorded the show for him! Mixing it last night and it sounds great.
Can confirm Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes is wonderful. Wild Beasts new one, Smother is fantastic as well.