U2 - October

Released in 1981, October is routinely dismissed by critics and fans as the worst early album by the Irish quartet. Bono has called October a “difficult second album.” It should have been because the subject matter is bold for a pop rock band: god and spirituality. It was the perfect preface for what was the band’s break-out album – the stunning War. But to dismiss October is foolish. The album is a wonderfully complex, atmospheric mediation. Highlights include:

• The gritty, drum-heavy “I Threw A Brick Through A Window” that sounds like it was recorded in a basement

• The wailing lament of English occupation of Northern Ireland in “Stranger in a Strange Land” (just listen to the emotional anguish of Bono’s voice).

• The piano ballad about the death of Bono’s mother “October” feels like a modern church hymn.

R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction

After three successful albums, R.E.M. made some major changes for its generally overlooked fourth album recorded in 1985. The band switched to a producer known for working with English folk bands and left the United States to record in London. The result is moody, sinister reflections about the myths of Southern culture and folk music. If William Faulkner was a musician – he may have recorded Fables of the Reconstruction. The album contains many of the bands best music including:

• The portentous “Driver 8,” which was supposed to be the albums big rock number – yet it feels dangerous and secretive. The song is about the landscape around train tracks.

• “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” opens the album and announces that this won’t be an album filled with jangling guitars. It’s about falling asleep while reading and it signals the bands mysterious direction on Fables.

• The wonderful song “Kohoutek” (which is a comet), but the song is really about (and trust me it gets dangerous trying to interpret R.E.M.) lost friendship.

Pearl Jam – Vitalogy

This 1994 album (and the third) for Pearl Jam was a departure from its Seattle roots rock anthem sound that drove its first two efforts. Vitalogy is more experimental and can feel a bit adrift for fans that were used to the first albums. But Vitalogy shows the band maturing and taking chances – as well as experimenting with different sounds. While it was a critical and commercial success – Vitalogy isn’t often held up as one of the band’s best – but it is. Take these gems for example:

• “Corduroy” is a strange little number that starts with a cool guitar riff and then just builds. It’s a huge concert favorite and despite never being released as a single reached 13 on the Billboard charts.

• “Not for You” is one of our favorite Pearl Jam songs. It’s just got riff – and is very, very cool.

• “Better Man” is a song lead singer Eddie Vedder wrote in high school. It’s a straight on rock ballad about abusive relationships – done right.

Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food

Could there be a worse name for an album in existence? Perhaps, the poor name is responsible for why this album doesn’t get much attention from critics and fans – other than the fabulous cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River.” But despite the lack of commercial success for More Songs, it perfectly captures the eclectic nature of Talking Heads – a mix of reggae, pop, country, and punk rock. Highlights include:

• “Warning Signs” is a bouncy number that hard not to enjoy. It’s infused with that edgy Talking Heads energy.

• “Found a Job” is a cynical little jab at corporate workers and makes you want to dance like a robot.

• Call us crazy, but “Take Me to the River” is one of the best cover songs of all time.

Led Zeppelin – In Through the Out Door

In 1979, Led Zeppelin released its last studio album before the death of drummer John Bonham. In Through the Out Door was disliked by both Bonham

and guitarist Jimmy Page, who thought the album was weak. It also received mixed reviews from critics (although the fans ate it up). It’s generally considered the forgotten album by the band. But that’s a mistake. In Through the Out Door, quite frankly, rocks. It’s a tighter package than the band’s earlier blues infused tunes. Highlights include:

• The seminal rocker “In the Evening” which begins with an eerie, creepy introduction that was going to be used for a film called “Lucifer Rising.”

• “All of My Love” is a song written by lead singer Robert Plant about the death of his 5-year-old son. One of the only Zeppelin songs that Page wasn’t involved in writing.

• “Fool in the Rain” is the last song by the band to reach the pop charts. It has a soulful, playful sound.

The Doors – Soft Parade

Generally considered the worst studio album by the Doors, Soft Parade actually is very good. The band experimented with added strings to its music with mixed results, but there are several songs on the album that stand out among the best the band ever recorded. Some of the best material on Soft Parade is:

• “Touch Me” is a rollicking good pop song that has become one of the band’s most popular hits.

• “Wild Child” is a hard hitting rock number with a heavy bass line and some fine organ work.

• “Shaman’s Blues” is one of the forgotten Doors’ anthems, but it holds up quite well.

Aerosmith – Draw the Line

Draw the Line was a commercial success in 1977, but hasn’t lived up beyond the 1970s and even the band has been critical of the LP. It was recorded in an abandoned convent in New York – and the band was heavily into

drugs during most the sessions. Yet there’s a raw tension going through Draw the Line that’s difficult to ignore – and it features some of the band’s better songs. Highlights include:

• “Draw the Line” is an explosive guitar rocker that features driving guitars and some vocal free play by lead singer Steve Tyler. Lots of great screaming.

• Long and mournful “Kings and Queens” is an underrated gem by the band.

• The jamming “Milk Cow Blues” which the band rolled out for an unplugged performance on MTV. Awesome harmonica.

The Cure – Pornography

When Pornography was released in 1982, it shocked critics and was generally polarizing for fans. To say Pornography is dark isn’t giving credit to darkness. Yet it was th

is album where the band really found its sound for the foot gazing anthems that made it famous in the 1980s. Highlight (or low lights) include:

• “The Hanging Garden” features lyrics about waiting for animals to die. It’s brilliant stuff.

• The very depressing “Pornography” opens with a police siren and somebody definitely cried during the making of this song.

• “The Hanging Garden” is a Cure staple (also known as “A Single”) and it rocks in a depressing kind of way.

Musical Memory: U2

12 Great but Lesser Known Songs by R.E.M.

Labels: Aerosmith, Doors, Led Zeppelin, Music, Music Review, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Rock, Talking Heads, The Cure, U2

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A Van Halen logo, drawn in permanent black magic marker, adorned my high school locker. My album collection included: Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest, and Led Zeppelin. I used to don earphones and sling an air guitar before dinner – sweat pouring off my body as I pounded the invisible guitar strings.

My musical taste (already salivating for change) went through a complete transformation in 1983 during my first month of college. Already I had dabbled with U2 and the Police, but I was skeptical about the overall musical genre that was shaping up to be called “alternative.” I had just read Rolling Stone magazine and article where they announced that “Murmur” by an obscure Southern band called R.E.M. was its album of the year.

My experimental juices were flowing so I head to nearby Burlington, Vermont and the funky record store in the downtown (located in a musty basement).

I was anxious with my purchase as I headed back to my dormitory. After all, I was the guy who wore a Japanese komodo over a tore Van Halen concert t-shirt at the first dorm party. I had a reputation to maintain.

Peeling off the plastic wrapper, I carefully slid out the disc (this was before CDs and MP3s and I miss the sharp celluloid reek of a new album), and placed it ever so gently on my record album. I sat down and listened to the needle bumped and grind its way to the first song.

“Radio Free Europe.”

I’ll never forget the moment. Alone in my new dorm room (with two brand-new bunk beds with desks beneath them), I sat at my desk chair with one foot propped up on the desk. The wood on these mammoth structures was bright blond and still smelled like wood stain. My roommate had placed a St. Pauli Girl poster on the wall and the pig-tailed beauty smiled down at me seemingly nodding in approval to the music on the turntable.

The late afternoon September sun streamed through the already dirty windows and splashed onto my feet. The dormitory was a hive of activity behind the closed door: shouts, doors slamming, toilets flushing, laughter, music, and footfalls in the corridor. All of it blended into the background as I listened to R.E.M.

Here was a cerebral brand of music – quieter, yet with a punchy guitar sound. The lyrics were ethereal and drifted through the songs like a ghostly narrator of human emotions. Melodic and moody, the music struck me as so much more complex than the heavy-metal that defined my high school years. The music made me look at my surroundings and myself differently than I had been only moments before.

I knew I was hooked – and that my experiments with listening to U2 and Police – had finally sunk in. R.E.M. became a defining band for me – and an important one in my personal musical growth. “Murmur” taught me that music could have a gentle side – an intellectual punch – and that singers didn’t have to scream to make a point.

Labels: Music, R.E.M.

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Yeah, I know.

That all changed in an underground record store in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. I was a college freshman and browsing through the racks when I came upon R.E.M.’s “Murmur.” I vaguely recalled a Rolling Stone article naming it the best album of the year. The cover was peculiar – a moss-covered and vine-laden railroad trestle.

This was… different.

I must have been feeling daring because I bought it. Back in my dormitory room, I unwrapped the cellophane and put the album on my record player (yes, a record player – this was long before CDs and digital music). Coincidentally, I think I was wearing a Van Halen concert t-shirt.

I music quietly, but with authority, blew me away. Here was an intensely personal form of music filled with mystery, depth, and ambiance. It avoided the rush and crush of hard rock; preferring depth and style instead. Michael Stipes’ haunting lyrics cascaded along with the bluesy, yet pop-infused guitars of Peter Buck. There was richness here: an artistic sensibility – mixed with a rattling guitar that echoed the early rock music of the sixties.

The album opened musical doors for me. From R.E.M., I learned that music could be much more complex that guitar solos and lyrics about hot women and cold beer. The album was perfectly named. Stipes’ enigmatic lyrics were “murmured” rather than sung and his words drifted into the music from a faraway place (there were stories that Stipe, intensely shy, would sometimes sing with his back to the audience). It gave the music a soulful sensibility.

The lyrics were cryptic and filled with hidden meanings and symbolism. So much so that the songs became intensely personal to each listener – who often had widely diverging takes on the meanings of the Stipes words. Take this snippet from “Pilgrimage”:

“Speakin' in tongues, it's worth a broken lip
Your hate clipped and distant, your luck
Rest assured this will not last, take a turn for the worst
Your hate clipped and distant, your luck two-headed
The pilgrimage has gained momentum
Take a turn, take a turn
Take our fortune, take our fortune”

If you can translate those lyrics – then please get thee to a poetry seminar on e.e. cummings. But the lyrics and music hooked me and R.E.M. became one of my favorite bands through the 1980s and into the 1990s. The band was a driving force in the alternative sound and heavily influenced many bands of the time.

DaRK PaRTY gives you the 12 best R.E.M. songs you may not have heard of:

Wolves, Lower
Album: Chronic Town (EP)
Year: 1981
Why It Rocks: This is classic R.E.M. – a song that sets the tone for the band’s unique, contrasting sound – the jangling guitar, the haunting distant vocals (with bizarre nonsensical lyrics) and the heavy drum and base line. “Wolves, Lower” has a pop urgency with the sensibilities of a lyric poem.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “Wilder lower wolves. Here's a house to put wolves out the door.”

Perfect Circle
Album: Murmur
Year: 1983
Why It Rocks: “Perfect Circle” feels like a love song – it has the gentle intensity of romance pervading it, but, of course, it’s not (R.E.M. generally shunned love songs). But it is as close as it gets for R.E.M. and the guitar work by Buck is magical and moody.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “Pull your dress on and stay real close/ Who might leave you where I left off?”

7 Chinese Bros.
Album: Reckoning
Year: 1984
Why It Rocks: One of the most underrated R.E.M. songs. This is a fable, a fairy tale of a song. The upbeat tempo seems to defy the intense, dark lyrics. “7 Chinese Bros.” really showcases Stipes singing and his ability to use his voice as an instrument.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “Seven Chinese brothers swallowing the ocean/ Seven thousand years to sleep away the pain”

Pretty Persuasion
Album: Reckoning
Year: 1984
Why It Rocks: Another R.E.M. song that sounds like it could be a love song – but it’s about our consumer driven society. “Pretty Persuasion” is another classic R.E.M. song – with all the classic elements clanking together into a smooth pop number.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “He's got a pretty persuasion/ She's got pretty persuasion/ God damn, pure confusion”

Driver 8
Album: Fables of the Reconstruction
Year: 1985
Why It Rocks: It’s a song about trains – and it’s a hard driving, blues-infused rocking number. One of R.E.M.’s best – hands down. “Driver 8” is infectious and hard to listen to only once.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “And the train conductor says/ "Take a break Driver 8, Driver 8 take a break”

Cuyahoga
Album: Lifes Rich Pageant
Year: 1986
Why It Rocks: “Cuyahoga” has a country twang to it, but with an infusion of the R.E.M. sound that makes it lift off. It’s another tune where Stipes voice seems to be one of the instruments.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “This is where we walked, this is where we swam/
Take a picture here, take a souvenir”

Disturbance at the Heron House
Album: Document
Year: 1987
Why It Rocks: This song could have been the theme song for the movie “12 Monkeys.” It’s got an end of the world, we’re all doomed and going to die message – but the music has bop to it. In other words – dance while you die!
Cool Lyric Snippet: "The followers of chaos out of control/ They're numbering the monkeys /The monkeys and the monkeys"

World Leader Pretend
Album: Green
Year: 1988
Why It Rocks: A fantasy about being the leader of the world. The lyrics are nuts, but more straight forward than most of Stipes cryptic efforts, but the pretentiousness isn’t enough to knock this one down. The hard pumping feel to the music makes it work.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “This is my mistake. Let me make it good/ I raised the wall, and I will be the one to knock it down”

Texarcana
Album: Out of Time
Year: 1991
Why It Rocks: After a three year hiatus from making music, R.E.M. returned with one of their best and most popular albums in “Out of Time.” Stipes’ reflective and personal lyrics are accompanied by the upbeat R.E.M. jangle to create another underrated classic.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “20,000 miles to an oasis/ 20,000 years will I burn/ 20,000 chances I wasted/ Waiting for the moment to turn”

Me In Honey
Album: Out of Time
Year: 1991
Why It Rocks: The title is dirty, but the song isn’t. In fact, it may be one of the few R.E.M. love songs. Maybe. Not quite sure. But let’s just say it is.
Cool Lyric Snippet: “I sat there looking ugly /Looking ugly and mean”

Ignoreland
Album: Automatic for the People
Year: 1992
Why It Rocks: An angry protest song, which was unusual for R.E.M. No one would ever accuse the band of being happy and shiny (ahem), but angry? Nah. Yet, the song works and may be one of the hardest rocking R.E.M. songs.
Cool Lyric Snippet: "These bastards stole their power from the victims of the Us v. Them years/ Wrecking all things virtuous and true.”

I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
Album: Monster
Year: 1994
Why It Rocks: A haunting ballad about dreams and sleep that feels like a mystical journey. Another song where Stipes voice shines.
Cool Lyric Snippet: "You looking to dig my dreams/ Be prepared for anything"

Listen to an iMix of our "Beautiful Obscure" songs at iTunes

Read our article about 18 Bands That Should Go Away -- Forever

Read our interview with Billy Conway, the drummer of Morphine and Treat Her Right

Labels: Music, R.E.M.

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