So why is R.E.M.’s Murmur on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
R.E.M. has been in my life for so long that it can be R.E.M. has been in my life for so long that it can be difficult sometimes to parse which eras from their lengthy career synced up with periods of my own discovery or interest.
For example, I write about how “World Leader Pretend,” off of Green (#180 of best 1,000 albums ever), became weirdly central to my life in the aftermath of a college breakup. And then likewise, I discuss how Automatic For The People (#546) ties to memories from a difficult college freshman year.
While Document (#344) and Out of Time (#296) were my entry points into R.E.M.’s music – as well as being a gateway for me to getting into college and alternative rock overall – it was Murmur, R.E.M.’s moody, atmospheric, and brilliant full-length debut, that ties to my going “deeper” on the band’s back catalog and fully appreciating how great they were from the jump.
Very recently, I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.: A Biography, by Peter Ames Carlin, which gives an outstanding and well written account of the band’s formation and early days around the artsy college scene in Athens, Georgia.*
* As an aside, I was aware that The B-52’s also came out of Athens, but I didn’t realize how integral they were to both R.E.M.’s creation and leading the way to national exposure via New York City’s rock scene. Also: a really good band called Pylon came out of that scene around the same time. Gyrate, released in 1980, is a best 1,000 albums ever Honorable Mention candidate.
Chronic Town (#273), R.E.M.’s debut EP from 1982, had already shown off a fully mature band with a wildly unique sound that pulled from traditions ranging from folk music to country to punk rock. Murmur represents another massive leap forward and is one of those rare albums where there are zero weak points.
During the long research process in compiling the best 1,000 albums ever, I jotted down:
Murmur is an album that makes you want to sit on a guitar amp in a dorm room suite and have a beer with some great friends.
Just at the moment, “Moral Kiosk” is my favorite track on Murmur. It smokes along in such a seemingly casual way, and its lyrics are surprisingly sophisticated.
Scratch the scandals in the twilight
Trying to shock but instead
Idle hands all orient to her
Pass a magic pillow under head
What’s inside my moral kiosk? Who knows!?
“Radio Free Europe” is one of R.E.M.’s best known early era tracks. Listening to it with fresh ears, it’s really fun to think about how it’s one of many R.E.M. songs that help to form an entire genre loosely known as college rock. It hints at post-punk, with a soaring, catchy, and driving chorus (that clearly ties to another up and coming post-punk band across the pond with the name of U2), and yet is also deeply steeped in Americana. And then it also has a layer that helps to define yet another genre of music: jangle pop.
In short: not bad.
“We Walk” is one of my most favorite deep cut R.E.M. songs of them all. It’s drop dead gorgeous while blending melancholy and whimsy in a deeply pleasing way.
“Pilgrimage” is intriguing and slightly strange before a delightful chorus descends that lets you know that everything is going to be just fine.
“West of the Fields,” the album closer, is a fast-paced and darkly mysterious number, and when it ends, one is compelled to race back to “Radio Free Europe” and run Murmur all the way through once again.
Some stats & info about R.E.M. – Murmur
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, College Rock, Jangle Pop, Alternative Pop, Indie Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #165
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Mumur released? 1983
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #70 out of 1,000
R.E.M.’s Murmur on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from R.E.M.’s Murmur that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
It’s so much more attractive inside the moral kiosk.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.