Letter Never Sent

After the brilliant bright light of "Second Guessing" I guess we need to anticipate a turd. This song is lame, no getting around it. Do I need to dissect it? Well, for starters it's built around an amateurish riff, the vocals are Michael doing a caricature of himself mumbling, and Mike just figured, "what the hay, I'm gonna sing whatever I want!" God bless Bill, he's trying so hard to salvage this crap-fest with solid and even interesting drumming.

Ok, to be fair I do enjoy the bridge, but only because it's pretty much a different song: key change, the melody and harmonies mesh, and Pete has the good sense to just strum at the top of the measure. Then it's back to turdsville. BUT... fourth unresolved ending on the album so far!

Second Guessing

Is it possible this is one of the great, underrated REM songs of all time? I mean, let's go back and go over why we connected with these guys in the first place: Driving, rock drums with pop sensibilities - check. Tunes with a "live" energy that work in studio and on stage - check. Bright, big guitar - check. Smart but not too linear lyrics (who will be your book this season?) - check. Harmonies with personality - check. Choruses that lift and invite us in - done and done.

Time After Time (annElise)

I read once where Mike Mills stated that while this song and Cindy Lauper's song of the same name came out about the same time, he thought hers was better. Really? I don't know about that - especially coming from the guy about whom at least part of this song is. I'm referring, of course, to the "water tower" thing (apparently young Mike had a romantic liaison on a water tower that resulted in a sunburn and criminal record).

Nonetheless, here is a great haunting song, complete with eastern inspired drone sounds. Bill seems to be playing a different song, but I think the rolling toms kind of work. Oh, and this is the third song out of the five so far on Reckoning that ends unresolved.

Pretty Persuasion

If Reckoning has a signature sound, I think it's the opening eight bars of this tune: bright, jangly guitars, well-defined bass line, and something a bit unusual (in this case a random harmonica blow). The song is loaded with some, uh... intimacy issues. I choose to ignore that and just grin along with the happy tune.

There's one part I've always particularly thought was cool. Just prior to the second chorus, Michael changes up the melody line just a smidge - "wear that on my sleeve" has a couple blue notes and gives the melody a brief minor feel. Doesn't do it the first and third times. I know, not exactly Bach, but it's just sort of cool.

So. Central Rain

This was the song of my youth. The song carves a path of winding shifting emotions: melancholy, hope, regret with moments of rest and reflection. These shifts come at measure intervals, but the song as a whole remains focused and concise. It plays out like a narrative with a menagerie of jangling chords - Many more chords than you're likely to find in another pop song, but even with the open pallette, there's no fluttering off into jazz territory.

For a few years in a row I made sure that on New Years Eve, this was the first song that I listened to after the clocks turned midnight. In retrospect, that looks like some serious OCD playing out, but for me it was a sort of creative anthem. At a time when I was trying to figure out where to go and what to do and what to strive for, this song gave me a sort of tone to approach my highschool graduation.

Check out this video of the song. The vocals are live and so are the goatees.

Seven Chinese Brothers

Here's a classic example of the dual texture of REM: musically, this is a straight ahead pop song. There are big fat drums, droning bass, simple shimmering guitars, and a sweet lift in the chorus. Lyrically and emotionally this song is conflicted, murky, and just plain odd. Try this, keep Michael's melody line but replace the words with the lyrics to "Eight Days a Week". It kinda fits... sorta.

Harborcoat

The first track on Reckoning is a song that I'm convinced exists simply to confound. I have no clue what's going on with this tune. I've purposely avoided looking up the lyrics because I enjoy the ambiguity. Take the first line - does it say:

The crowd, it was delayed because their noses wore off...
or
The crap it was to Lenon was the Moses runoff...
or even
We crept up there delighted, but he knows we want off...

Oh the song is fine, very catchy, very REM, just an odd way to kick off the album. Then again, the chorus swells to something approaching a mainstream pop song: Find my harborcoat, can't go outside without it. It's almost sweet. But then again, maybe it's dark. I don't know.

One other conundrum: on the last chorus, the guitar just sings. Where have you been the whole song, Pete? Was it there before, just buried in the mix? Is it a totally new track? I'll defer to Tad on that.

Reckoning

I know this will frustrate some purists, but rather than going to the beginning of the REM catalog, I've opted to cover each album according to my own chronology, that is, the order in which I encountered them. It just so happens that after Pageant, the next album I gravitated toward was indeed the guys' second studio album: Reckoning. If it's any consolation, starting with Document, I'll be in step with the release dates.

Reckoning was released in April of 1984. As with Pageant, it's rather odd to think of this recording in light of its contemporaries. Big in 1984 were Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), and the Footloose soundtrack. And even though it didn't chart in the US the year of its release, Reckoning turned out to make a huge splash, setting the bar for college rock and southern art bands for years to come. Reckoning is really the definitive sound of early REM - not quite as experimental as Murmur, but didn't need to try as hard as Fables. I don't know if anyone tracks such things, but I would venture it's one of the best sophomore efforts ever of a rock band. It's the "Empire Strikes Back" of alt rock.

But more than any of these things, this album is heavy with memories and association of friends and events. I look forward to hearing some of yours.