Album Rating: 4.5

Green is the only 80s REM I don't have rated, I remember not liking it as much as Document but I haven't listened to it since like 2017 and I had a lot of wacky opinions in 2017 so idk

Album Rating: 4.5

document has some of the best rem material imo, it's just not as good as it could've been due to the likes of strange and the closer

I tried giving Document another shot but I kinda recoiled and now I’m listening to middle era Feelies, sry

Album Rating: 4.5

huh i don't have this rated lol, let's fix that

i never really thought of document as overly slick or anything, iirc they actually promoted it as a kind of messier, weirder counterpoint to lifes rich pageant. it's just not as good as LRP and their most inconsistent till that point. feels transitional

i draw a pretty big line after the first 4 albums but can still enjoy REM well into the 90s

Album Rating: 4.5

I like all three of the first Warner Bros records more than Document. I prefer the IRS albumsas a whole, but still really like the WB+Berry years. Once he leaves, they kind of lose the plot for me (other than the last two albums, which I, a fan of big dumb rock songs, really like).

chronic town thru fables is easily my fave era, the most distinctively southern and murky and evocative, before stipe felt he had to clearly enunciate and say something more conventionally meaningful. before he started hanging out with that fat rapist chef. just writing about local weirdos and getting entombed inside trees. the dead letter b-sides like bandwagon and the pylon cover are dope too

lifes rich pageant is such a huge switch up from what they were doing the year before. must've been jarring at the time but they pulled it off

listening back to document again yeah it's a hit and miss listen for various reasons but i still appreciate that whole 83-88 run, an album every year

gr8 band

Album Rating: 3.0

𝙈𝙐𝙍𝙈𝙐𝙍 never convinced me as one of REM best albums. In fact, i consider it one of the weakest ones they ever did. Might be because of production or Michael´s singing, i dont know. I understand its importance in the alternative rock scene, but when I feel like listening to 80s REM, this is rarely the album I go for.

My positive rating is just to protect my family because I've been threatened before for speaking my mind about 𝙈𝙐𝙍𝙈𝙐𝙍.

Album Rating: 4.5

"before he started hanging out with that fat rapist chef."



wait what?

edit: nvm it was Mario Batali

Album Rating: 5.0

best band

Hell yeah it's REM weather

Album Rating: 5.0

yea its a 5



the definite blueprint for alt rock. i kinda cant believe "automatic" is considered their defining album at this point. jagride's comment [2]

Album Rating: 5.0

Automatic isn’t as good as this but it’s still prob my 2nd fave REM



It just does that sad 90s pop rock thing so well

Album Rating: 4.0

i way prefer automatic to this but they are very different beasts and check off different boxes. this is still brilliant and deserves to be cherished for both being the template for so much music that followed and also just as a standalone really good album

Album Rating: 4.0

Automatic isn't even a top 5 rem album

Album Rating: 4.0

i mean i would say the same about this lol this is like 6th or 7th for me. depends what you want out of this band

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah I like both sides of the band tbh



Only REM album I’ve had a problem with is Up (I haven’t heard past Up tho)

Album Rating: 5.0

dam

love to see the 4.5 though



honestly i havent heard anything outside of their first 5 and AFTP in forever. need to jam

Album Rating: 4.0

only thing that really holds this back from placing higher for me is that ive never been big on west of the fields. prob my least fav song of theirs pre document. even without that i do generally find lrp/fables/reckoning to be a little tighter on the whole, and im a reaally big fan of new adventures bc it sort of feels like a sonic retrospective on all the musical ground theyd covered at that point. those albums are all pretty close in quality w this tho for me



i think what makes 90s rem click so hard for me is their constant willingness to push their sound and boundaries as a band. i remember reading about out of time and automatic and how for both those albums they just didnt want to make anything that sounded like what r.e.m. had done before and that is an attitude i admire the fuck out of. i even dig up a lot

Album Rating: 4.0

happy 40 years to this incredible album