KoL and REM

dunkman

If people dont start to twitch and feel like jumping around when listening to Kings of Leon then they must be clinically dead...

KoL are only two albums in to what is hopefully a long and magnificent career... I fookin love them!!!

The last 2 REM albums have left me a bit cold, but as i have always been a huge fan i'll keep on perservering with them... they'll always come good

sadprofessor

mrwalkerb wrote:

I agree with Around teh Sun sounding good live, but I was listening to it this morning as it had been on my mind (this Ipod shit is amazing) and I do really like a lot, whereas Reveal leaves me dissinterested about halfway through. what is teh plan for them now anyways? are they working on stuff or just hanging out?

Supposedly they were writing a bunch while on the road, there were supposed to have been some new songs soundchecked. That had me really excited becaue the last album that was written and recorded on the road, was one of my favorite records in the history of time, New Adventures in HiFi. Peter actually said recently that he wanted to get right in the studio and keep working but the other guys didn't. I know Peter is doing his usual bunch of side projects, but as far as R.E.M. goes, I don't think they could possibly be more dormant than they are right now.

PJ_GA

Dick Jones wrote:

Aha is definately more mature. Check out the lyrics, really good. But I can't say it is better than Y&YMH, not with songs like Trani, Dusty, Joe's Head, etc...

I agree. They even said, y&YMH was written about things they imagined, and the 2nd was more things they have experienced. Makes ya wonder who "Soft" was about,lol... But anyways, they're both great in their own way....

dunkman

PJ_GA wrote:

I agree. They even said, y&YMH was written about things they imagined, and the 2nd was more things they have experienced. Makes ya wonder who "Soft" was about,lol... But anyways, they're both great in their own way....

Caleb has admitted that "Soft" is about him when he met a model one night and due to over indulgence in the booze he was "sooofffhhttt"

True

jumpin cat rival

Boy, do they really miss Bill....


Up was a good album.....so good that u kinda forget the fact that it didnt have basically any drums on it.....
but after that they went too dull on their music.......Reveal( which think is their worst album) was pretty weak. Asides from the singles(all the way from reno, lifting, imitation of life) i didnt find anything else interesting to listen to it. Around the sun was a little bit better,,,,,,but still their whole vibe just seem too tired, heartless, and well boring....its been like centuries since we have listened to Peter's trademark electric guitar sound......

in the end it seems that it was case of lost chemistry......once bill left they were doomed---

Dick Jones

dunkman1974 wrote:

Caleb has admitted that "Soft" is about him when he met a model one night and due to over indulgence in the booze he was "sooofffhhttt"

True

It was in some tabloid or some shit, and he was pissed. So he put it on record, and made an amazing song out of it. Pretty much a fuck you to the writer.

"I'm passed out in your garden, I'm in, I can't get off, I'm so soft"

bucket1988

I feel I must take a step back for a second and observe the humor of this thread. There are only a couple of posts dealing with both REM and KoL, so instead we have 2 separate conversations happening in the same thread, at the same time. Its rather comical to read the whole thing. Now I shall continue with the trend.

I admit I have only heard a couple of songs each off Around the Sun and Reveal, but I don't like them. Up was overall good with a few excellent songs, but too inconsistent. New Adventures in Hi-Fi, I agree, is their best. It probably breaks my list of top 10 or 15 albums by anyone. Losing Bill Berry hurt bad, but I just think that after so many albums they are just out of good ideas.

Porsuk&Co

bucket1988 wrote:

I feel I must take a step back for a second and observe the humor of this thread. There are only a couple of posts dealing with both REM and KoL, so instead we have 2 separate conversations happening in the same thread, at the same time. Its rather comical to read the whole thing. Now I shall continue with the trend.

Well I was just too lazy to open 2 threads instead of 1!(c'mon everyone does that!!)
anyways; dead thread resurrected..(?)

walkunafraid

I'm not very familiar with KoL, so I can't add much to that conversation, sorry.

However, R.E.M. is right up there with Pearl Jam in my book (the username is a dead giveaway), so I do have a lot to say about them.

First, "Up" is quite possibly my favorite album by any band, ever. Sure, all of the drums on the record are machine-created, but that's not what the album is about. What it IS about is an eloquent, beautiful, minimalistic introspection of the self that is absolutely stunning in its achievement. The album is an album of moments -- brief, brilliant bits and pieces of songs that, together, create a tone, atmosphere, and mood that is absolutely breathtaking. Pay attention, for example, to the Hawaiian-ish guitar twang that makes up the bridges in "Diminished"; the lovely chorus in "You're in the Air" ("I'm what you found / I'm upside down / You're everywhere / You're in the air / And I am breathing you"); the quietly heartbreaking beginning of "Sad Professor" ("If we're talking about love / Then I have to tell you / Dear reader, I don't know where I'm headed / I've gotten lost before..."); the roaring crescendo at the end of the final track of the album, "Falls to Climb," in which Michael Stipe repeatedly proclaims "I am free" -- a perfect ending to an album in which he disrobes his mental and emotional armor and reveals his inner self to anyone who wants to listen. That's not to mention some of the other brilliant tracks on the record, such as "Suspicion," "At My Most Beautiful," "Hope," "Why Not Smile," and "The Apologist." Sheesh, I could go on forever. I wish I could describe it better, but obviously words just aren't enough. Try listening to the record three or four times in a row, with your ears pressed as close to the speakers as you can, to truly understand what I mean. I seriously love this album.

Then came "Reveal." Although there are some good songs on this one ("I'll Take the Rain" is my favorite, and "Imitation of Life," "All the Way to Reno," "The Lifting," and "I've Been High" are all excellent), the album is a bit too repetitive to be considered among the band's best. I never fully got into it, which is a big surprise based on how much I was looking forward to it after a multi-year love affair with "Up."

"Around the Sun," though, is very underrated, in my opinion. The first few times I listened to the record, it didn't strike me as anything special. Then, on the fifth or sixth listen, I completely fell in love with it. It's one of those albums that REQUIRES multiple listens, because it's not especially catchy or hooky -- yet, once you DO get it, it grows and grows and grows on you and doesn't let go. It opens with "Leaving New York," which includes a gorgeous three-layered chorus of Stipe's vocals (you can hear him singing three different parts at once), and includes some politically-charged songs that capture some powerful moments of urgency and anger ("Final Straw" and "I Wanted to be Wrong" being the best of those). More than anything, "Around the Sun" is a showcase of Stipe's lyrical and vocal abilities -- never before has his words or his voice sounded so good. I wouldn't quite put ATS on the level of "Up," but I do think it is under-appreciated by fans who largely have not been willing to give it enough of a chance.