NOTES:
Michael Stipe: Vocals.
Peter Buck: Guitars.
Mike Mills: Bass, vocals.
Bill Berry: Drums, vocals.

Produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon.
c.r. 1983 I.R.S. Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
 

Produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon.
c.r. 1983 I.R.S. Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

R.E.M. might have made many great records in their eighteen-year history together, but Murmur is the one that stands apart from the others, establishing the band as remarkably potent songwriters - a tag that continues to this day.

Murmur is a far cry from the party/bar band sound R.E.M. originally possessed before they had a record deal.  This time, it's superbly crafted folk-like music with a rock edge. Much of this sound is credited to Peter Buck's guitar style which varies from being conventional in one song (like "Radio Free Europe") to totally off-the-wall in another("9-9").  Buck is also capable of adding color to songs with even the most rudimentary riffs, like the catchy string bending in "Moral Kiosk," and the simple, yet powerful acoustic solo in "Talk About the Passion."

This album  also marks the beginning of the controversy surrounding Michael Stipe's vocals, which in all honesty, are mostly incomprehensible.  However, I've never heard a singer manipulate words as intriguingly as Stipe does.   In "Pilgrimage," for instance, he sings "Your hate/Clipped and distant/Your luck/A two-headed cow," but then ends the song with "Your love/ Two-headed," turning the meaning into something completely different.  Stipe's power lies simply in how he sings, not what the words mean, and even if he's mumbling, the emotion he tries to express still shows.

I once read someone describing Murmur as an old, rust-colored picture of the South.  When people responded favorably to R.E.M.'s "return" to rock with 1994's Monster, they seemed to forget the subtle, almost anti-rock beauty of their first album.  Check it out.

Beside yourself.