What Is R.E.M.'s Best Album?
From baffling Georgia square pegs to alt-rock global stars: tell us how best to navigate the catalogue.
THIS MONTH WE’RE looking back at the discography of R.E.M., who can surely claim the most civilized split in recent rock history when they called it a day, casually on Facebook, in September 2011. Having released debut single Radio Free Europe back in July 1981, they could look back at three decades of studio work. So what’s the best way to appreciate it? Who’s voting for the early obfuscatory rock thrills of Murmur and Reckoning? How about the mid-’80s breakthrough years of Lifes Rich Pageant and Green? What of the early ’90s mega-selling Out Of Time and Automatic For The People, and the more contentious LPs that followed? Which albums recorded after drummer Bill Berry upped sticks in 1997, such as Up and Reveal, do you need to hear? And what about the late works, including Accelerate and the farewell Collapse Into Now? Furthermore, is anyone going to stand up for 1987 b-sides and oddments comp Dead Letter Office?
Tell us your choices and reasons, please, on MOJO’s Facebook page or Tweet @MOJOmagazine #BestREMalbums (our web site’s Comments section is currently up the Swanee – soz!). As usual, the most illuminating comments will appear in the How To Buy section of the next issue of MOJO.
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