R.E.M. – Murmur – 1983
If we agree that the birth of rock and roll was 1955 with Rock Around the Clock, and it’s 2011, then the midway point for rock music is 1983.
The year Murmur was released.
What can be said about Murmur that every rock critic hasn’t already said? Pitchfork gave it 10/10 here. It’s considered one of, if not THE greatest debut albums of all time.
It’s hard to argue with all that. I won’t.
The album is as mysterious as the kudzu on the cover, the lyrics almost impossible to penetrate and layered over by copious but never overwhelming music.
“Radio Free Europe” is slightly different from the original Hip-O single. Most notably the speed but, more importantly, the Mills basslines. (Listen to whatm he’s doing on “Laughing” and you will get what I mean. It’s the confidence of a 20 year vet) Listen to this album again with 21st century noise canceling headphones and it will be like hearing a new record. A spectacular, edgy, jangly, moody, brilliant one.
My college roommate was a HUGE fan of this album. He used to talk about how it HAD to be listened to in order, not shuffled, not random, all in one sitting, preferably. I think he’s right. There’s no central theme, it’s not a concept album, but it works better as a whole.
The closest the record gets to the intersecting roads of New Wave are the percussive, almost Antmusic-like back beats on “Moral Kiosk”, at once separating the band from that burgeoning divide and connecting them at the same time. What I love about that track is that it abuts right up against “Perfect Circle” a ballad of all things, but one that still employs musical largesse. There’s a lot going on in that song. More than just 4 guys in a church. That it closes out side one makes a lot of sense. It does harken to an end and a new beginning.
And what a beginning! “Catapult”, which could be on the soundtrack to just about any 80s comedy. “Sitting Still”, one of the catchiest tunes the band has ever written, “Shaking Through”, “9-9”, one astounding classic after another.
Something I have always notices about early REM records is that they seem to end and then re-emerge with a coda. In this case the loping closer of “We Walk” is encored with the scorching “West of the Fields”. I think this is a theme that continues, if I recall correctly.
The maturity shown on tracks like “Pilgrimage” and “Laughing” and “9-9” are what one would expect from a band on their third or fourth record. REM hits no skids here. The construction of the songs build and fall, stop and re-ignite, it’s a masterwork.
There. I think I just said what everyone else has said. Now, go listen. And, while you do that, if you think, ‘hmm, this sounds kind of familiar, this sound isn’t THAT unique’, bear in mind that this album is the creation of that style. Nothing sounded like this when it came out. After Murmur, music would never be the same.
Grade: A+
ASide: Radio Free Europe, Catapult
BlindSide: Pilgrimage, Laughing, Moral Kiosk, 9-9, Shaking Through
