Well you nailed that. The band I grew up with and a song originally off what's probably my favorite album of all time. I just posted about buying up the Beatles catalogue, and R.E.M. will be next I think. I missed out on some good stuff in the later years (and some pretty weak stuff to be fair.) Thanks for the tip of the hat!
A coworker passed me a copy of the next-to-last album "Accelerate" and I was really happy with it. It seemed like the "rock" album I always wanted "Monster" to have been.
Yes, it is definitely better than I thought it was at the time. Based on the pre-release hype (Back to Rock!) I was expecting something more like "Document." Needless to say "Monster" was something else entirely so I was never going to like it right out of the box. I've heard live versions of some of the deeper cuts that made me re-evaluate it for the better.
Upon hearing Faith No More is working on a new album, I dug out their last album from 18(!) years ago, "King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime", and gave it a new listen. I remember hating it when I first got it, but it's been playing constantly these past few days, and while it's not my favorite FNM album (Angel Dust!), it's really good on its own merits. I think my initial disdain for KFAD,FFAL was the lack of Jim Martin on guitar, but I can see where he and the band had grown apart stylistically.
The title track, "Richochet", "Take This Bottle", and "Caralho Voador" are my favorite songs.
Yes, it is definitely better than I thought it was at the time. Based on the pre-release hype (Back to Rock!) I was expecting something more like "Document." Needless to say "Monster" was something else entirely so I was never going to like it right out of the box. I've heard live versions of some of the deeper cuts that made me re-evaluate it for the better.
TBH, having been introduced to them through their first couple Warner Bros albums, I struggled for a long time with most of their IRS albums. I loved Lifes Rich Pageant straight out of the gate, but the other four took a lot of listens to appreciate. Challenging music can often be rewarding.
Thanks to Fickles, I've been on a Beatles kick this week too. So much I'd not really listened to before. Not to mention so many influences I can see on other bands. Chemical Brothers was the obvious one I'd not picked up before as their Let Forever Be is eerily similar to the Beatles Tomorrow Never Knows.
I've not listened to REM for a long time. I seem to recall thinking it was all getting a bit samey after over a decade (an opinion based on a passing thought probably). I remember The One I love being on a tape that my brother was given. So, when I saw an album at a second hand store I asked for it. That turned out not to be Document but Life's Rich Pageant going quite cheap for some reason.
As for Faith No More: musically some great stuff, but I never quite thought the vocals quite compared. Mind you, the lead singer must have passed puberty now, so that my well have got better too.;) What was the reason the old lead singer was dropped? Not that I thought that compared too well either to the music.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
Thoth, glad to learn I inspired you to reacquaint yourself with the Beatles.
Regarding REM, I think albums like 1994's Monster and 1998's Up were a deliberate effort to prevent their sound from getting codified into formula. When audiences proved resistant to change, they retreated to safer ground on those albums' respective follow-ups, 1996's New Adventures Hi-Fi (one of my least favorite albums of theirs) and 2001's Reveal.
I liked "Up," it has a nothing-to-lose vibe since it was their first album without Bill Berry. I think some of the drift after that may have also been due to not having a permanent drummer. Having Bill Riflin play on their last couple albums gave them a more coherent "band" feel.
I am waiting patiently for a Mike Mills solo album, I'd be more interested in that than a Michael Stipe one to be honest.
Bah! Must be a locational thing, as I've just watched it.
Mind you, I heard they didn't like Mondays because they didn't like the Reading, Writing & Arithmetic. I had to tell them that they were thinking of the Sundays, and they disbanded in the huff.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
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