Don’t know if there are enough R.E.M. fans to make this worthwhile, but I’ve been enjoying the Beatles album threads, and thought I’d start my own. I also included the original single version of “Radio Free Europe” here, since I didn’t know where else to put it.
I’ll go with RFE(album version), followed by Moral Kiosk and Catapult.
I voted for Catapult, but freely admit my choice may be colored by the fact that I don’t hear it as much as RFE.
I don’t really approach this record as a collection of great songs as much as one continuous, really interesting vibe (like, say, The Feelies’ The Good Earth). If I had to cover one of these, it would be “Sitting Still,” though; the guitar part really does it for me. What I would sing is anybody’s guess.
I’m with you, Ichbin Dubist, on both counts. Still, there are some songs that stand out more than others as songs, IMO.
Close call, for me, between “Laughing” and “We Walk”. I went with “We Walk”, because it’s so much fun to sing along to, and it reminds me of being a child and reading A. A. Milne books (with some French Revolution imagery thrown in, and what are those sounds, thunderstorms?).
“Laughing” seems like such a first-girlfriend-in-college-dorm song.
The sounds in “We Walk” are balls being hit on a pool table; they apparently recorded a game the band members were playing during a break in the studio as use for possible sound effects.
Surprised the album version of “Radio Free Europe” is beating the single version (so far), as I consider it so obviously inferior.
I picked Moral Kiosk. I must have made up my own lyrics because that album should have been titled Mumble. It sure sounded like it meant something.
Laughing
Runners up are Perfect Circle, Talk About the Passion, and Sitting Still
I voted for “Talk About the Passion”, but I really love “Sitting Still” and “Perfect Circle” almost as much.
It’s “Perfect Circle”, and anyone who thinks differently is a deluded fool. Mind, “Talk about the Passion” is great too, as is “Moral Kiosk”, and there’s always “Radio Free Europe”. Ah. Fuck.
Anyone want to hear my anecdote about Peter Buck buying me a pint?
Peter Buck bought me a pint, once
It wasn’t as good as the pint Dave Grohl bought though. That was a good pint.
Dave Grohl is a splendid chap, btw. Kind, funny and generous.
I voted for Pilgrimage because how many pop songs reference two-headed cows?
(There used to be a museum in the Georgia capitol which featured bits of Georgia natural history, including, oddly, a stuffed two-headed calf. Probably where Stipe got the idea.)
Truthfully though, Radio Free Europe was a revelation when I first heard it, and is IMO the best song in the band’s history. It’s just that I’ve played it so much the new has worn off.
And I like the album version best. Mitch Easter had a fine touch in the studio.
I voted *Pilgramage * because it was the song that I really felt fleshed out the band’s identity in my mind. It was so purposefully a word salad and hip but with rock cred - it just clicked.
If you have stories, BG, bring 'em. No need for the drive-by postings…
The late night/early morning drive-by postings? 
Peter Buck bought me a pint in a pub in Stirling. (The Bistro, if you remember that from your time at Stirling Uni*) REM were playing at the castle. So there was a bunch of us in this pub and I’m looking at these Americans at the next table, thinking “That’s REM!” (Minus Stipe). Turned out it was REM, and Peter Buck bought a round for everyone. I think everyone in the whole place. That’s it really. Dull anecdote is dull.
Dave Grohl is a friend of a friend kind of thing. When I met him I didn’t even realise that he was Dave Grohl for ages, despite having seen Nirvana live three times. Well, the drummer isn’t necessarily the most visible member of a band, in my defence. A top bloke though, really funny and nice. Dude has charm to burn.
- I’m 90+% certain it’s you who was at Stirling Uni. There aren’t all that many posters I’ve looked back at the posting history of, but you’re one of them. For your opinions about music, not any kind of weird stalker campaign I hasten to add.
This is another album where I’m like, “Wow, all those awesome songs were on ONE ALBUM?” Hard to pick, but Perfect Circle is one of my sentimental favorite songs of all time, so that’s the one I chose.
Not a huge fan of the individual songs on this album. They are pretty much interchangeable. They would be nice as a ‘early eighties REM/Gin Blossoms vibe’ background music that is pleasant without being so enjoyable as to distract from whatever you are doing in the foreground.
Since the album doesn’t seem to be intended to be in the same style as the REM songs I really like them for, I considered Radio Free Europe to be ineligible. Of the ones that are left I like Talk About the Passion the most. But I probably like it because it’s the most like a conventional REM song of the bunch.
I do also like the one with billiard balls, for that effect.
If I were really to choose, Radio Free Europe. But even then, I prefer the version from the other album.
The album has got great ambiance, but trying to pick a stand out track on an ambient album is kind of missing the point…