Lifes Rich Pageant by R.E.M.
We Need A Vinyl Re-Issue
R.E.M.s early recordings purposefully bury Michael Stipes vocals, allowing
them to dominate the audio mix no more than Peter Bucks jangly guitar
figures or Mike Millss bass. Lifes Rich Pageant represents a subtle shift in
the program, with clearly audible lyrics (though they remain obscure in
meaning) on most tracks. The band still has a bit of fun with its audience,
listing the songs out of order on the album sleeve and leaving a couple of
them (Underneath the Bunker, Superman) off entirely. As good as it is to
hear Stipe enunciate while he sings, the music is equally revelatory and
forward-looking on the radio-friendly Fall on Me; harder-rocking songs like
Begin the Begin, These Days, and Superman (the latter tune sung by
Mills); and the haunting, folkish Swan Swan H. --Daniel Durchholz
Personal Review: Lifes Rich Pageant by R.E.M.
If Fables was an album in which R.E.M. were unsure of their future,
Pageant is a firm follow-up response that they indeed did know where they
wanted to go. This was the hardest rocking R.E.M. album until 2008's
Accelerate. I wore the tape out in college such that the lettering on the
cassette disappeared and I never knew which side I had put in the deck
until I heard the first note. It is not considered the apex of the early years-
Document is- but this was the stepping stone to Document. It has energy
(`Begin the Begin', `Just a Touch'), raw emotion (`I Believe', `The Flowers
of Guatamala'), and intelligence (`What If We Give It Away", `These Days').
This is their early period taken to perfection. Every song is great. It is the
album where Michael stepped out from behind the curtain and learned to
enunciate (although actually understanding what the words were and
comprehending what they meant were still two different things), and he
had a lot to say; it was his most political work to that point. Pageant is
Buck with the amps turned way up. It's Mills with perfect harmonies and
propulsive bass lines. It's Berry hitting the drums as if his sticks were
hammers.
This was the album before they became stars, and there seems to be two
schools of thought on it. To a lot of fans, the album was the beginning of
R.E.M.'s `sell out', pointing to the pop sensibilities of songs like `Superman'
and `Fall on Me'. But fans also said that about Fables, Document, and Out
of Time, which calls into question the meaning of the term `sell-out', and
what's the difference between a band `selling-out' and one simply getting
better at their craft. Others think it is the best of all R.E.M. albums and that
they went downhill from there. I don't completely disagree wi th this
sentiment (Pageant is still at the top of my list) but I also think that that
opinion is a little harsh: it's like saying that you don't want to grow up
because life is hard out in the real world- it is but it is also very rewarding,
and besides, you have no choice. R.E.M. just went in a different direction
after Pageant, just like they did after Fables, and something they were
destined to do, just like the rest of us. What I will say is this: whenever I
want to listen to music that will wrench every emotion out of my soul, from
elation to sorrow and back again, I pull out Pageant and Fables. This
doesn't diminish what came after; it simply elevates the music on these
albums.
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