R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
#298/1423
July 28 1986
R.E.M.
Life’s Rich Pageant
Genre: Retro Paisley Revival
5 out of 5
Highlights:
Begin the Begin
These Days
Hyena
I Believe
Swan Swan H
Requisite 80s Cover:
Superman by The Clique. Who? Yeah. This is how you do a cover. Bring something to the world that we either know and need to hear with different ears or unearth a hidden gem.
4th year of college my roommate and I had separate rooms in the new dorms on 3rd ave. He painted the walls with images and drawings and I think he had a friend come and do some murals. The entrance to my room was stenciled with the lyrics to “I Believe” from this record. Our answering machine message were lyrics we wrote to accompany the first 30 seconds of “Underneath the Bunker”. (“we’re not home right now…you can leave a message….talk to the box…for Richard and Allen.”)
It might have been the most important record (to me) in that year.
You can actually hear and understand Stipe and he sounds great. After listening to so much new Paisley music I hear the Byrds influences as I never did before. “Fall On Me” fell out of 1968, no? The album is grown from the moss of late 60s rock and yet, it’s something else. It’s aggressive and staunch and political in a way that we desperately need today. It’s weird how this album, along with others, ushered in the “alternative” sound when it’s really so steeped in classic 60s Americana.
One only needs to listen to “Hyena” to realize just how important Bill Berry was to this band’s success. Without him…well…maybe we’ll get there.
After this it was all afterthought for REM in my life. And we will get to those. This was their penultimate record for IRS. But it feels like the climax to me. Everything from their EP to their groundbreaking debut to the second chapter follow up to the often misunderstood third brings us to this, an album about which I once wrote “Seemingly to atone for the shite that was their previous record, REM brought in rock producer, Don Gehman, got their Cause celebre on and gave their fans the album we had been waiting for. The anthem for our generation. We almost didn't get it. U2 decided to be the GREATEST ROCK BAND IN THE WORLD. REM decided to be artists. And a great rock band. And, oh, yeah, the voice of an entire generation. Pissed at the way the native Americans were treated. Pissed at pollution. Pissed at Reagan. Just pissed. And LRP expressed that. In bloodlettings like "These Days" and "Hyena" and "Just a Touch" they proved they had the chops and they could chop hard. In conscience tracks like "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga" they proved they had something to say and mumbling wouldn't cut it anymore. They had the balls to record a cover, "I Am Superman". They even had a sense of humor, "Underneath the Bunker" and "I Believe”.
On Life’s Rich pageant, REM proved that they could do it on a stadium level. That's what's most important about LRP. It jettisoned REM from Leaders of the Alternative Pack to actual stadium rockers. With light shows and courage and anthems. They were OUR heroes. Our Springsteens. Our Zeppelins. Generation X finally had their own idols and could consign those others to "classic rock" radio.”
I (still) believe.
