life's rich POLLgeant

nights unfurl at the opening in the final act of the beginning of time

One of my favourite REM albums. "Begin the Begin" is a tremendous way to start an album but "Fall on Me" is hard to deny and "These Days" is one of their best rockers.

my fav r.e.m. video, as simple as it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_QG6tr9mjo

"Fall on Me" is hard to deny

how I went in the end, and, yes, the video made a definite impression when I was young

Lots of classics here, one of their best albums. Today I'm feeling "I Believe", tomorrow could be something different. I like its exuberance.

The hyperspace jump into a whole other song after the banjo intro on I Believe is still my favourite R.E.M. moment. The album reminds me of a very hopeful summer (1990), one of many highlights of which was someone making me a tape of this on one side and Reckoning on the other. First 2 R.E.M. albums I ever got. They’re still my 2 favourites.

Don't even have to think on these. "I Believe."

My favorite REM album. It's just so consistent and tight, I expect every song to get a vote. But the first one that played in my head reading the title is "Superman".

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract. Such a great line - and song.

This used to be one of my most listened to R.E.M. albums, but to be honest it's not in my Top 5.

This is 'These Days' now and forever. Hasn't this poll already been done, though?

The guitar solo on "The Flowers..." is everything. But for song as a whole, "I Believe".

My favourite REM record for spring/summer. Autumn/winter is Murmur.

There are times I think Fall on Me and Cuyahoga might be my two favourite R.E.M. songs.

First three songs = sublimity

otm

yeah this record really roars out of the blocks doesn't it. "Fall On Me" was probably in top 3 REM songs for years but I haven't listened to this for so long I couldn't tell you what some of the songs sound like off the top of my head and I have a feeling I would vote for "Flowers" now

chances are you'd still be able to sing along with them though. I know I did, when I revisited it on spotify an hour ago ("underneaththebunkerinthea-ia-iai!)

yeah i'd've stuck this on if I wasn't at work. "Underneath the Bunker" I remember well tho

actually looking back I can sing the "chorus" to most of them

Yep

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract. Such a great line - and song.

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 1 February 2018 05:49 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is so OTM BTW.

Good discussion here too: TS: R.E.M.'s "Life's Rich Pageant" vs "Document"

yeah, good thread. The "boring" parts of Document do have their charm though. But they're not perfect in the way that even the minor songs on LRP somehow are.

I enjoy Document far more than it deserves.

This is one of those albums I can look at the song titles and hear the whole thing in my head. I listened to it SO many times.

Tru

begin the begin 4ever. love the john cougar era.

the show i went to. great show.

8 November 1986 - New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT
support: The Feelies
set: These Days / Harborcoat / Lightnin' Hopkins / Sitting Still / The One I Love / Feeling Gravitys Pull / The Flowers Of Guatemala / Riders In The Sky / (Don't Go Back To) Rockville / Tired Of Singing Trouble - Finest Worksong (one line) - I Believe / Swan Swan H / 7 Chinese Bros. / Superman / Can't Get There From Here / We Walk / 1,000,000 / Pretty Persuasion / Auctioneer (Another Engine)
encore 1: Oddfellows Local 151 / Driver 8 / Long Legged Girl (With A Short Dress On) / Just A Touch
encore 2: (Stipe tells story about Elvis) / Fall On Me / Cuyahoga / Radio Free Europe

plus everyone there knew LRP backwards and forwards by November so we could all sing along.

Voted “The Flowers of Guatemala”, feels like as always. My favorite part is the collision of voices and feedback, all out of joint, going into the solo.

This record and Reckoning are my go-tos when I need an early R.E.M. fix (which is often). Well, these and Dead Letter Office, my sentimental fav.

For whatever reason it always feels like this one came out before Fables of the Reconstruction. Fables, Document and Green all seem like a consistent progression; Pageant sort of feels like more of a direct sequel to Reckoning.

Those of you there at the time: was there any reluctance to embrace Don Gehman's production and the band's rocking direction? I know when I discovered them in the Poppy Bush era that the album was mentioned as the transitional thing before the later I.R.S. albums, if at all.

Yeah, I think there probably was some grumbling but overall everyone was just happy with the new sound. It was a bit before my time though so I haven’t got the first hand information.

The weakest second side of any of the IRS albums. Following on from one of the strongest.

(at least Document's second half is somewhat bizarrely OTT in its attempts to get away from 'REM'...better that than nonentities like "What If We Give It Away" and castoffs from 1980)

thinking cuyahoga, gonna listen again to make sure

imagine Don Gehman client John Mellencamp singing "I Believe" or "These Days."

Yeah imagine! I was a big fan of the Scarecrow album at the time. He would probably have nailed it and slipped away from Springsteen’s shadow.

Swan Swan H, Underneath the Bunker, and Superman are the gems on this album

Voted "These Days" narrowly over "Just a Touch"

but there's so much incredible detail on this, the little guitar squiggle after "Let's begin again" at the end of "Begin the Begin," jesus

I guess you can tell I like the rockers on this

Voted Cuyahoga but just because I really wish we could put our heads together and start a new country up.

that would be so great, yeah

the "Cuyahoga" on the 2001 Unplugged set is gorgeous and I'd say I prefer it over the original if Stipe didn't change the lyric from "we are not your allies, we cannot defend" to "we cannot pretend" bc THAT'S NOT THE SAME THING & in fact is way less cool. but ow that 2001 version is great

i can't get over the bungled pronunciation of the river but that song is good regardless

can't think of any better songs about rivers that have caught on fire

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Begin the Begin.

Impulsively voted for "Fall On Me" just now. I thought I had already voted for "I Believe" before, but I guess not?

I love this album. It's a toss up between this and Murmur for best one.

last time - Don't POLL On Meeee (It's Gonna POLL): REM's "Lifes Rich Pageant" - i seemed to think this was a tossup between "Superman" and "Fall on Me." well, "Superman" is a ton of fun but god damn "Fall On Me" is amazing, one of the greatest things they ever achieved, and certainly the best use of the new oomph they were putting behind their existing bag of tricks at this point. don't fall on me DON'T FALLLLLL - gives me goosebumps. voting for that, again.

My fav albums are this one and Murmur too. I love so many of the songs here, but I think I could run a marathon if I was listening to I Believe on repeat.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

nice result, and nice turnout!

Begin the Begin wuz robbed!

Can't argue with the Top 3. No votes for 'Hyena', though? My second favourite on the LP!

happy throngs, take this joy, wherever, wherever

Begin the Begin wuz robbed!

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, April 19, 2018 9:41 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This album kind of has the perfect set of songs to run 2 miles, row 4-5k to: Begin the Begin, These Days, Hyena, I Believe, Just a Touch, Superman.

HYENA is ambassador to here

i didn't vote for it, but flowers of guatemala deserved better

Maybe there should be a runoff taking out the top 4.

Wow, I just realized how many votes Cuyahoga had...unexpected. But I guess it has a certain Reckoning appeal.

Is there a loose consensus on where fans rank this album? Do people generally like it more or less than Reckoning?

back in the day, fans were pissed that gehman made them rock too hard. at this point i think everyone loves them both

This album was panned in Spin. Same issue where they were on the cover with a somewhat unflattering feature article.

I asked that question upthread, Evan. To my ears in 1997 when I bought the record sounding like late eighties Mellencamp was a good thing.

"Maybe it's the critics' fault for coddling this group. They led them into maturity without an ounce of healthy self-doubt. The freshmen at the University of R.E.M. were holy defenders of their school spirit, that soft-focus, pre-Raphaelite, dance-barefoot-in-the-kudzu utopian vision. Murmur demanded that. It was intoxicating. But soon that class will graduate to the real adult world, where self-righteous rock bands lie that they are Superman, that they can do anything, even preserve our faith in romance. So when they serve the commencement spoonbread, you can have my piece of Lifes Rich Pageant. I'm on a diet."

lol

Imagine tweeting that in 1986.

I was just trying to formulate a tweet about how embarrassing some things that were written pre-social media filter are now. I think I read all of these reviews and interviews on microfiche.

ha not a tweet a post. argh.

omg that quote. i'm imagining them performing "superman" at a club and someone shouting "you LIE!"

Haha Christ.. i had no idea they got ANY negative American reviews in the 80s.

Reckoning is one of my Top 5 R.E.M. albums. Lifes Rich Pageant isn't. I don't think side 2 is one of their stronger sides, much as I like it.

Murmur, Reckoning and LRP usually routinely rotate their spots in the top 3 for me.

I remember this album feeling like a bit of a letdown at the time. 3 songs that had been around on boots for quite a while (Give it away, Hyena, Just a touch) + a cover and an instrumental. Time has obviously revealed it to be a somewhat top heavy classic for me, but still too inconsistent for me.
adore that unplugged version of 'Fall On Me'.

Setlist for the show I saw on that tour below, I remember 'Life and How To Live It' being electric.
support: Fetchin' Bones
set: These Days / Begin The Begin / 1,000,000 / The One I Love / Cuyahoga / Fall On Me / Shaking Through / The Flowers Of Guatemala / Driver 8 / I Believe - I Believe / Swan Swan H / Can't Get There From Here / 7 Chinese Bros. / Superman / Pretty Persuasion / Little America / Just A Touch / Femme Fatale
encore 1: Feeling Gravitys Pull - Just A Touch - Feeling Gravitys Pull / Strange / So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) / Auctioneer (Another Engine)
encore 2: Lightnin' Hopkins / Old Man Kensey / Life And How To Live It
encore 3: Time Was - Second Guessing

I saw them later that month. They were so good on that tour! I wish there was some footage of it - they had a cool stage design. The year before was the first time I saw them where they had film projections behind them.

yeah they had like the weird church like thing didn't they? I didn't see Fables but saw Little America tour, still my all-time favorite show.
I think it gets lost to history how great Berry/Mills/Stipe were singing together. Just a huge sound.

Yes! I don't know what it was, but I think I remember doors behind them and the lighting was cool.

Saw them with an audience numbering about 50 at a venue meant to hold 500... they still threw down.