I gotta find my copy and give it a listen. I loved this album when I first got into REM, I’m not sure they ever surpassed it.
I had to go find the single version of Radio Free Europe to compare (I’m really only very familiar with Murmur, as far as REM goes), and I could see arguments for both of them, but the single version is certainly more energetic and impassioned, so I voted for that one. I’d could use a touch better production, though. I think Murmur on the whole has a good dose of production without sounding too polished. If we could combine the single’s energy with the album’s production, that’s the one I’d go for.
My (very close) #2 would have been “Catapult.”
“Sitting Still”
One of the few lines I could ever understand off this succession of mumbles was “…wasting time, sitting still.”
I can relate to that.
I was looking on You Tube and stumbled on this - their first appearance on network television. Lots of fun and they look like such kids.