Customer Reviews:
 Arguably their best album. June 24, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Having previously only owned Out Of Time, Automatic For The People, and Best Of, I was thinking "REM don't do rock". But I was wrong! People who like Monster or New Adventures will probably also like this. Ranging from medium-pace ("Begin the Begin") to frantic ("Just a touch"), the rock tracks have a vibrancy and freshness somehow lacking in the later works. But there is so much more to this album. "Cuyahoga" is arguably REM's best ever track. Simple, understandable lyrics, which make a political statement (like John Lennon) but are at the same time poetic (like Bob Dylan or early Paul Simon). Wonderful! Other highlights include the dreamy "Flowers of Guatemala", upbeat "I believe" and more political anthems - "Fall on me", "What if we give it away?" and the acoustic "Swan Swan H". All the tracks gel together really well, and there is not a duff track on here, with the possible exception of the strange instrumental. But even that fits onto this album better than the funny lumpy ones they put on Automatic and New Adventures. This is a much more musically diverse and interesting album to listen to than Document, which followed; and if, after having listened to Out of Time and Automatic, you're feeling depressed, this album is the perfect antidote. Oh, I also forgot to mention, the distinctive Stipe/Mills vocal harmonies are superb too. It's a must-have album, and 16 years after its release, I think it is still one of the best, if not the best, REM album.
it was there fourth album actually January 12, 2002
jonjameshall@yahoo.com (uk)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
needs to be bought...an essential album of the eighties and probably REM's best - maturity and compassion abound to make this album a touching statement and testament to the world we live in - it has never lost its relevence - especially in todays troubled times...
After this, the world would be theirs. June 27, 2000
Still on their political edge, R.E.M.'s third album is arguably their masterpiece. A complete, compentent work which bridges their early folk music influences, newly found rock structure's and punk themes. The album gleams with talent, Stipe's vocal skills, both auraly and lyricaly, blossom into the potential 'Murmur' and 'Reckoning' had promised. Buck, the king of the easy riff, joins Stipe in a musical partnership that would be almost unbeatable for the next ten years. This album, despite the missing apostraphe, is R.E.M's first great album. Some would say it owuld be their last.
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