#407/1042
October 28 1985
Golden Palominos
Visions of Excess
Genre: Alternative
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Clustering Trains
Omaha
THIS is where the 90s starts.
I say that a lot, I know. It’s weird cuz, although they put out 6+ records in the 80s, R.E.M. is a harbinger of all things 90s that were on the horizon. They were better suited to the era of the nascent Gen-Xers than the toe-holding on the culture Boomers.
Why am I talking about REM in a Golden Palominos review?
Cuz Fier dumped the wannabe funk from that annoying first record in favor of a moodier stadium sound and enlisted a bunch of greats to help (Chris Stamey, Jack Bruce, Arto Lindsay, Syd Straw, even John Lydon) and fronted the band with Michael Stipe. The result is a record that sounds like…a 90s grunge band. Listen to “Clustering Trains” and tell me that you don’t hear Mother Love Bone or Alice in Chains or even Nirvana in that as well as some deep cut REM.
The reason is that Stipe came into his form in the 80s but was the grandfather of everything 90s.
And it was because of the inclusion of Stipe that everyone I knew had this cassette. I didn’t buy it and yet, it came into my possession. And not just a copy. Somehow I ended up with an actual copy of it. But it wasn’t like someone just off tossed it in disgust. No. It was lent to me. And then when I mentioned it to the person it turned out they bought another one cuz they had to have their own copy.
Thing is, it takes a hard turn after the first three Stipe included tracks and, boy, did I love when it did.
Lydon has never sounded better than on “The Animal Speaks”
On the other hand, I’m fairly certain that no on who bought this record listened to Side Two. Which is pretty good but not what those who loved Side One were jonesing for.
Side Two isn’t awful. It’s just not Side One.
Still.
Excellent harbinger of what’s to come.
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