Reckoning | 
 enlarge | Artist: Rem
Label: Polydor Group
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £4.53
You Save: £4.46 (50%)
New (16) Used (8) from £1.96
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 10669
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 37 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 082839719629
EAN: 0082839719629
ASIN: B000026H1G
Release Date: October 13, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Harborcoat | | • | 7 Chinese Bros. | | • | So. Central Rain | | • | Pretty Pursuasion | | • | Time After Time (Annelise) | | • | Second Guessing | | • | Letter Never Sent | | • | Camera | | • | (Don't Go Back To) Rockville | | • | Little America |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Reckoning, the 1984 follow-up to REM's brilliantly murky debut, features Michael Stipe's ambiguous moan, drummer Bill Berry's strong backbeat and guitarist Peter Buck's endless wave of catchy, jangling riffs. They wouldn't fully beef up their hard rock until roughly 1986's Life's Rich Pageant but the swimming melodies of "Pretty Persuasion", "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and "Rockville (Don't Go Back to)" recall why the band frequently earned comparisons to a power-pop Beatles and the country-rock Byrds. Also, the jittery rhythms and deceptively simple guitar lines make the underappreciated "Harborcoat" and "7 Chinese Bros." worth revisiting. --Steve Knopper
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Great August 30, 2008
Brendan O. Clarke (Edinburgh)
With producers Don Dixon & Mitch Easter, R.E.M. captured their sound which sounded like a collision of then uncelebrated acts like The Byrds & The Velvet Underground. 'Murmur', which was a critical favourite at the time, remains a classic debut recording - the chemistry between Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe is fantastic. Standout tracks include 'Perfect Circle' (which predicts later songs like 'Nightswimming' & 'Find the River'), 'Pilgrimage', southern-gothic-closer'West of the Fields', the tight-acoustic shiver that is 'Sitting Still' & the Byrdsian-'Talk About the Passion'...
'Murmur' more than stands up these days, and forms part of a trilogy of R.E.M. albums with 'Reckoning' (1984) & 'Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables' (1985)- afterwards the band would rock out more and Stipe's vocals were clearer. The voyage to empty commercial band as found on 'Monster', 'Reveal' & 'Around the Sun' would begin.
 REM,s second is an album to be reckoned with June 21, 2008
russell clarke (halifax, west yorks)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
After the release of their debut album Murmur in 1983 REM primarily, though there were others, changed the face of American rock music. And thank the lord for that . Though it would be years before the band were ushered into the mainstream their instinctive take on traditional rock refracted with gentler looser meaning .
Where a lot of the new US bands would empirically opt for the harder edged extremes of rock REM instinctively had a gentler , looser take on American rock that embraced the past while simultaneously taking it into a new direction. They eschewed rock cliches like extended solo,s or the integration of electronic instrumentation and the almost hesitant mumbling vocals of Michael Stipe while virtually incoherent, sometimes frustratingly so, were a refreshing change from the usual histrionic screeching associated with rock music.
Reckoning , The follow up to Murmur .again released on IRS and again produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon came out in April 1984 . Stylistically it,s a more consistent album with Peter Bucks chiming guitar dominating though Mike Mills melodic carousing bass and clever vocal harmonies , a pivotal aspect of the bands sound , again featuring heavily.
In terms of the song writing Reckoning is right up there in the REM canon. From the hypnotic harmony overload of opening track "Harbourcoat" Reckoning is a flawless album. The dense cascading chord arrangements of "Time After Time (Annelise)" and "7 Chinese Brothers" slot perfectly against the breathless rush of "Second Guessing " and the drawn out teasing drama of "Camera". Best of all is the triumvirate of "Pretty Persuasion " - a galloping blur of white hot Byrd,s like notes , "(Don,t Go Back To ) Rockville"- a truly nagging melodic overload driven by giddy piano , and the sensational "So. Central Rain" , still one of the greatest REM songs ever and an truly extraordinary melding of melancholy and the sort of tune that would make chocolate swoon.
Even the less than arresting songs like "Letter Never Sent" and "Little America " - a song that,s fascination with rural America was a signifier for the themes on their next album "Fables Of The Reconstruction"- slip satisfyingly into the album inexorable narrative. Sometimes this is my favourite REM album, usually when it,s playing ....other times it its,nt . For a sophomore effort it,s staggeringly consistent and though it does,nt take REM anywhere new it,s still an album to be reckoned with.
who said the second coming was treacherous? October 31, 2007
M. Shobbrook
Reckoning has the unfortunate role of playing second fiddle, or even an epilogue to the seminal masterpiece that is Murmur. It is overlooked, yet in many ways is a classic, and a slightly poppier continuation of the Murmur sound. Reckoning displays similar sensibilities to murmur - Buck's Rickenbacker still jangles, Stipe still mumbles over oblique lyrics, the production is murky - yet nonetheless it is quite a different album. The first four songs from 'Harbourcoat' to 'Pretty Persuasion' serve up one of the best introductions to an album i have ever heard, the latter being incredibly infectious and catchy, yet still retaining the trademark murmur and jangle. 'Harbourcoat' bears a jaunty, danceable rhythm not a world away from Talking Heads, whilst Stipe keeps up his penchant for oblique story telling on '7 Chinese bros' and 'So. Central Rain'. The album is more catchy than Murmur, yet the mood is still melancholic and introspective, and showing little sign of the clean gloss of mainstream production that would blight later work.
I am one of those who think that murmur is REMs finest, but Reckoning comes agonisingly close in my opinion. The first four songs together make up the best opening section of any REM album in my opinion, but unfortunately Reckoning goes through a lull mid album. I concur with Stephen Malkmus that 'Time after time' is "my least favourite song on the album". No song is bad, but the three middle songs make Reckoning a slightly disjointed album, and sadly are not as consistently engaging as the album's opening. The album picks up again with the melancholic 'Camera', through the country-esque 'Don't go back to rockville' and the REM staple closer 'Little America'. Reckoning stands with Murmur as an early classic which draws influences from the Byrds, country, post punk and garage rock. The album is moody, melodic, and above all deep; their sound has never sounded so pure since.
One of my fave REM's January 20, 2007
Mr. G. J. Smith (Somerset, UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Now, I'm a fan of a lot of their work but not all and they're certainly not infallible as they've released (in my opinion) some real tripe through their whole career. But this one is my fave early LP, along with Life's Rich Pageant. Its got great songs and some real standouts in the from of So Central Rain and Harborcoat.
If you want to check out early REM, this would be my place as advice to start.
Follow-up to 'Murmur' May 23, 2005
Jason Parkes (Worcester, UK)
4 out of 13 found this review helpful
'Reckoning' came quickly on the heels of celebrated-debut 'Murmur', R.E.M.-guitarist also finding time to guest on The Replacements' classic 'Let It Be' album. At this point R.E.M. were one of the key U.S. cult-college-rock bands - with peers such as the aforementioned 'Mats, Husker Du & Violent Femmes (the latter veered from Velvets-Modern Lovers sound to the Southern Gothic inflections of 'Hallowed Ground')There was a wider set of bands who drifted between what would be termed Americana, the influence of The Byrds-Parsons-Burritos & a nod back to psychedelia (sometimes tagged 'the Paisley Underground'): The dbs, The Rain Parade, Jason & the Scorchers, The Dream Syndicate etc...and then a wider set of acts who made similar Byrdsian-literate songs, notably The Go-Betweens, Orange Juice, The Smiths, & Aztec Camera...'Reckoning' feels very much like a sequel to 'Murmur'- it has the same-producers and so isn't quite as arresting as R.E.M. had delivered a sophmore album rather similar to their debut. A few of the songs sound throwaway- 'Little America', single '(Don't Go Back to)Rockville', 'Murmur'-retread 'Letter Never Sent' & jangly-standard 'Second Guessing.' None of these tracks are essentially bad- just not that fantastic... But there are great moments too- 'South Central Rain (I'm Sorry)', the Velvets-inflected 'Time After Time', the bleak-elegy 'Camera', gorgeous piano-inflected opener 'Harbocoat' & the Byrdsian-rush of 'Pretty Persuasion'- which is as great as 'Gardening at Night', 'Radio Free Europe' & 'Sitting Still.' 'Reckoning' then offers no surprises to listeners of 'Murmur', but would be a fine release until the following year's masterpiece 'Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables', which was in many ways the end of a band called R.E.M. and the birth of a band called R.E.M...
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