REM: Up

I leant a friend this cd last year and never got it back. Now he claims not to have it. I think he's just stolen it. This makes me sad as its my favourite REM album and not having it in the flat leaves me feeling a little lost. Its not even an album that i play much. Normally if i want to listen to REM it'll be Lifes Rich Pageant or maybe New Adventures. Maybe even Automatic. But for some reason i keep coming back to Up if i want to convince myself that REM are a good band.

Its a really warm album. Its a pretty album. The follow up Reveal was said to be like their Beach Boys album, but for me Up is so much more deserved of that description, the way it plays with song structure and melody.

Having lost Bill Berry, REM had to reinvent themselves and the way they record albums and i think it really shows with Up. Its such a contrast to their previous 2 releases Monster and New Adventures in HiFi and Berry leaving was arguably the kick up the arse they needed. Peter Buck has said that he feels that the album is unfinished and needs work but i think thats part of the reason it sounds so good. Sometimes things can be overperfected.

I also get the impression that Michael Stipe fell in love around this time. He's said that At My Most Beautiful was his "1st ever love song" but tracks like Why Not Cry, Falls To Climb, Your in the Air and Sad Professor also give the mood of new found romance. And i'm an old romantic and heart (aren't we all?). One of my favourite songs on there is Walk Unafraid. Again i'm guessing at this but to me it sounds like a song by someone who is coming to terms with 'coming out' to the world (not just his close friends). He's singing in a way that so much more personal than before and it comes across in the music too.

Its like a really good Girlfriend of an album. Up will cuddle you and tell you your beautiful while at the same time keep you interested and might even make you dance.

I dont think REM have made a good album since. They've had good songs but disapointing albums (this is becoming a worrying trend) and for me its because they're tried to move away from the direction Up took them. Which is a shame