#611
1986 Housekeeping
Dreams So Real
Father’s House
Genre: The xerox of a xerox of a xerox of REM
3.25 out of 5
With this record I think we start to answer some of my questions about the REM effect. Here’s another record produced by Peter Buck in 86 and, well, it’s just not great. I’ve heard much better of this style. Instead of turning himself into a hit making machine ala Jack Antonoff post fun./Bleachers, Buck just isn’t very attuned to what makes his own band a success. And that makes me wonder: How important were Berry and Mills to REM’s success? Surely, once Berry left and Stipe became the driving creative force, they started to have a half life of interest per album until we got to their nadir in the 00s.
This record suggests to me that Buck was okay and as an arpeggiating guitarist he was really something, but without the other three, I’m not sure he gets out of Athens.
“Drifting Away” is a good example of getting close to REM, immediately followed bu a woeful example of the same thing in “The Tower”.
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