Product Description

R.E.M.'s full-length debut is a landmark album that set thestandard for the next 10 years of indie rock. The Athens quartet combined Byrdsy, folk-rock guitar jangle with obscurantist lyrics and a post-punk compositional sensibility to create a vibrant new sound that would soon be imitated by everyhigh-school poet with a Rickenbacker guitar. R.E.M. was also one of the first bands to make the long, hard journey fromcollege radio (when it was still college radio) to mainstream acceptance, and managed the difficult task of maintainingits integrity at every step along the way.
MURMUR, far from an embryonic debut, shows a fully-formed unit with a strong artistic vision. (It was preceded by two legendary underground releases: The "Radio Free Europe" single--which was re-recorded for MURMUR--and the CHRONIC TOWN EP.) Producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon's lofty reputations would have remained intact even if they had never worked on another recordafter this one. The gentle-but-insistent arrangements and glorious pop hooks of songs like "Catapult" and "Talk About The Passion" provide the perfect contrast to Michael Stipe's earnest, moody vocal style. Drummer Bill Berry's breathless effervescence provides the perfect backdrop for this album of jumpy, intellectual pop.

Track Listing

1. Radio Free Europe
2. Pilgrimage
3. Laughing
4. Talk About The Passion
5. Moral Kiosk
6. Perfect Circle
7. Catapult
8. Sitting Still
9. 9-9
10. Shaking Through
11. We Walk
12. West Of The Fields

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4306 in Music
• Released on: 1991-03-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 44 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
As huge as they are now, R.E.M. started out with a small cult that this first album inspired; Peter Buck's chinging guitar, Michael Stipe's impassioned but incomprehensible singing, and the band's unpretentious interaction with its audience were genuinely revolutionary at the time. Stipe's famous mumbling of words, obscuring them in the mix, was less about creating a mystery than about creating an aesthetic of pure sound--without focusing on what he was singing about, you had to listen to the way his supple, distinctive voice mingled with the instruments. Murmur ends with a remake of their first single, "Radio Free Europe", as joyful a song as they've ever recorded, and a song that in a very real way created "alternative rock". --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews

A new dawn for American rock music
In the early eighties American rock music had stagnated. Obese with hoary stadium embracing poodle rockers the genre needed something to reinvent and revitalise and usher in a new wave of bands ready to head off at exciting fresh tangents. Arguably the release of REM,s debut album Murmur in 1983 was the pivotal moment that precipitated a whole slew of bands that shot blasted the clichéd excesses of American rock out of the limelight back towards the gaudy margins where it belonged.
Where a lot of the new US bands would empirically opt for the harder edged extremes of rock REM instinctively had a gentler , looser take on American rock that embraced the past while simultaneously taking it into a new direction. They eschewed rock clichés like extended solo,s or the integration of electronic instrumentation and the almost hesitant mumbling vocals of Michael Stipe while virtually incoherent, sometimes frustratingly so, were a refreshing change from the usual histrionic screeching associated with rock music.
REM originally started recording Murmur with producer Stephen Hague after the bands label IRS felt he had a higher profile than the bands usual producer Mitch Easter. However Hagues meticulous emphasis on achieving the perfect take drove the band , especially drummer Bill Berry to distraction ,so he band went back to IRS and the label agreed to a try out session with Easter. This resulted in the song "Pilgrimage" and the results were good enough to convince them to let Mitch Easter , along with his partner Don Dixon take on production duties for the entire album.
And what an album Murmur is. Among the truly great debut albums it is categorised by Peter Bucks chiming guitar, the sinuous bass of Mike Mills , which carries much of the music's melodic spine , and the aforementioned indistinct vocals of the enigmatic Stipe. Mill,s backing vocals also gives the music extra harmonious depth .
Some of the finest songs of REM.s superb repertoire are on Murmur. From the galloping undulating rock rhythms of the single "Radio free Europe" and "Catapult" to the slightly more jagged edged "Moral Kiosk" and the wired jauntiness of "West Of The Fields" this is an album of consistent sound and texture but with an erudite effortless variety. Even more impressive however are the gentler numbers. "Perfect Circle" is a truly lovely ballad with plangent piano and one of Stipes more comprehensible vocal performances but the real highlight is "Talk About The Passion" with it,s memorable guitar signature, mournful cello and a Stipe,s unusually passionate vocals-the way his voice quavers on the edge of fracturing for the chorus is something special.
Is Murmur REM,s best album? Maybe ...but then you,ve got "Reckoning", "Life's Rich Pageant", "Automatic For The People" so it varies depending on what ever REM album is on at the time .Though i feel it,s fair to opine that "Around The Sun" won,t get a look in. What is under no doubt is that this album was a major progenitor for a new wave of American bands with an exciting fresh perspective on the mythos of what US rock was capable of. Finally is it me or does Michael Stipe seem to be singing West Huddersfield on "West Of The Fields"?........thought so.

Timeless
With producers Don Dixon & Mitch Easter, R.E.M. captured their sound which sounded like a collision of then uncelebrated acts like The Byrds & The Velvet Underground. 'Murmur', which was a critical favourite at the time, remains a classic debut recording - the chemistry between Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe is fantastic. Standout tracks include 'Perfect Circle' (which predicts later songs like 'Nightswimming' & 'Find the River'), 'Pilgrimage', southern-gothic-closer'West of the Fields', the tight-acoustic shiver that is 'Sitting Still' & the Byrdsian-'Talk About the Passion'...

'Murmur' more than stands up these days, and forms part of a trilogy of R.E.M. albums with 'Reckoning' (1984) & 'Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables' (1985)- afterwards the band would rock out more and Stipe's vocals were clearer. The voyage to empty commercial band as found on 'Monster', 'Reveal' & 'Around the Sun' would begin.

Discover them again
As a 15 year old boy I discovered R.E.M. via their 1988 album "Green". Later at University I reacquainted myself with the band via their 1992 favourite "Automatic for the People". That was that... or so I thought. I've always appreciated R.E.M., but have never loved them. At least until now. I wanted to bulk up the 1980s in my CD collection and so opted for the R.E.M. debut. BLOWN AWAY!!! I can't believe that I've neglected early R.E.M. for so long.

This album is so good. There's not a weak track to be heard. If I had to name a favourite then I'd go for "Talk About The Passion", but they're all so good. Do yourself a favour and buy this album... NOW!!!