REM - Out Of Time - 1991

One of the most anticipated albums, the follow-up to Green, Out Of Time really introduced REM to mainstream America, and probably the world.  Of course, Green was a hit and a great intro in it's own right, but Out Of Time was the one that shot them to super-stardom.  I was in my first year in college, and giddy as a school girl when I picked this one up.  Green had been one of my favorite albums ever (still in my top 100) so my hopes for this one were huge.

All in all, it's a great album.  It's not SUPER, just great.  I could lose Radio Song and Low, and although I like Kate, I could've done without Shiny Happy People (although I'm a sucker for pop-hooks, this one was too easy and overplayed.)  My favorite tracks of the album were Near Wild Heaven and Half A World Away.  Great stuff.  Losing My Religion was a great song, not one of my favorites.  Had a great melody and very strong lyrics and the video was awesome.  But it was way overplayed and it grew tiring.  I still like it, just heard it way too many times.  (I said great in this period four times if you don't count this one...)

All the b-sides and fan club tracks but I left off the remixes.  They would've pushed the CD limit and none of them were any good anyway.  As for the cover, just a straight out duplicate of the original.  The font I used, though, looks a little screwy.  The kerning in the type is off and makes the spacing a little awkward. 

Thanks, all for your messages on Friday.  My boss knows, and he wasn't upset.  He's letting me work my final two weeks (for now) and the other sales people have already started cannibalizing my accounts.  That's fine, who cares.  I'm OUT!  Only troubling point is that I've already turned in my notice and my new job still hasn't gotten my piss-test back yet.  I KNOW that it's clean, but I always like to have everything squared before I make a move.  Always afraid of the "what if" scenario.

Lastly, I'm going to do some re-upping right now, in case you needed something.  If I miss anything, let me know.

REM - Out Of Time - 1991

REM - Automatic For the People II - 1992

And now for something completely different...  Talk about a change of gears, I took it from 3rd gear and slammed it into reverse.

No need for extensive posts on this one, we all know who REM is, and what Automatic For the People was in their career.  Quite honestly, their best album ever, backed by what would become a fast slide into mediocrity.  In fact, I may have been satisfied with mediocrity, but the rest of their catalog from here on out was crap, as far as I'm concerned.  It's unfortunate, really, that they got as big as they did.  It's when they became gods that they hit that peak and started into irrelevancy.  I saw their Monster tour, and I must say that I walked away feeling as if they sold out.

I do remember being thrilled when this one came out.  I got it the same time I got Enya's Shepard's Moon album, and I think also Suzanne Vega's 99.9 album....

This toasty collection brings together all of the b-sides, fan club tracks, and unreleased material from the AFtP sessions.  I decided to post it this week, as it has a few Christmas tracks on it that you all should like.

I never really did get into their instrumentals, though.  They seemed incomplete and half-baked.  I couldn't feel any heart in them.  Makes you wonder what sort of role Stipe's voice played in making sure their songs exuded passion and emotion. 

REM - Automatic For the People II - 1992

REM - Green - 1988

Just so you know, I listen to American music, too.  Just not as much.  There's a few really good ones out there that I'll eventually publish (like the four disc version of Smashing Pumpkins' "Melancholy").

This came out my junior year in high school, and was all over the radio.  It's a great album, very radio friendly, and intelligent.  Fortunately, when this came out, I wasn't too political, yet, otherwise I may have had problems with it.  As it was, I listened to this one quite a bit, even got my Dad listening to it, and that's a feat.

REM has always had a crap load of bonus material when it releases albums.  This one was no different.  Also, the quality of the bonus material on Green was exceptional.  Sometimes, the bonus material is worthless.  Not here.  What some REM fans may like about this collection is the ultra-rare Cyclone mix of Orange Crush.  Why is it so rare?  It's a fan mix and was never released, but it's a fantastic mix, so I had to include it.  Again, arrangement on this, due to the cohesiveness of the album, was to dump all the bonus material at the end.

As for the covers, I always loved the picture sleeves from the singles.  So, that's what you get!

Thanks, enjoy!

 REM - Green - 1988