41 replies to this topic

[Caleb Kyzer]

the 1st one i thought of is that little guitar riff (maybe thru a synthesizer, or maybe it is a synth and not a guitar, i don't know) on Suspicion, right after the lyrics "let the music carry you away." (if i remember right)  Suspicion wouldn't even be in my top 20 of REM songs, but i love those few seconds.

[Binky1978]

Couldn't agree more with Mills about moments in songs. It's something R.E.M. were always amazing at. One of my favourite songs is Why Not Smile, and it's full of special moments. I love how the music builds in layers throughout the song, culminating in the first whack of distortion/noise after the line, "I would do anything..." is sung for the second time.

[Lenny Bruce]

I love the Indonesian gamelan used at the beginning of the album version of Why Not Smile, and repeated during the layers of instruments in the song after Michael finishes singing.  

I also love the harmonies on AMMB, Mike's piano on Electrolite, Mike's distorted Kurt Cobain guitar riffs in Let Me In, Peter's guitar intro. riff on Pretty Persuasion.  I could go on forever and ever and ever...

[Circus Envy]

I would also agree with "High Speed Train's" post however, right before the guitar solo on "Flowers of G," I really love Michael singing "Look into the Sun" and then Buck's guitar solo kicks in.

Also, can someone tell me if I'm crazy, but I can't stop listening to "It Happened Today," I really love that song yet it is so simple! You all would laugh at me if you saw me signing that song in my car just about every single day since the album came out. In addition, I just purchased the Pearl Jam show on Sept. 21 from Calgary (From their website) and I love Ed's version of "It Happened Today."

[Caleb Kyzer]

Circus Envy, on 07 January 2012 - 08:06 AM, said:

I just purchased the Pearl Jam show on Sept. 21 from Calgary (From their website) and I love Ed's version of "It Happened Today."

is it possible to just purchase that song, or do you have to get the whole show? someone posted a link to a video on youtube of it (i assume that's the same show) a while back, and i thought it would be cool to have.

[smk77]

From about 3:13 to 3:26 of Find the River.I've heard the song hundreds of times and still look forward to those 13 seconds everytime.

[remalba]

The best thing about REM is the songs that you don't want to end.  The Growers.   I don't think Stipes writing has produced much of this over the last two albums but I will list three.

1.  Chorus and the ring.   re-visit if it's been a while.   Hammered shooting plywood onwards.

2. Uberlin-  Everything I ever wanted.

3. Falls to Climb.  Improves with every second.

[Circus Envy]

Caleb: You can only purchase the whole show at the "Ten Club" website by either digital download or purchase the cd. "It Happend Today" sounds a lot better on the cd then the "You Tube" version becuase you can hear the rest of the band come in much more pronounced at the end.

[bflood]

remalba, on 08 January 2012 - 12:37 PM, said:

1.  Chorus and the ring.   re-visit if it's been a while.   Hammered shooting plywood onwards.

'Hammered shooting plywood in the backyard, laughing cause the racket makes the blackbirds sing' is possibly my favorite Michael Stipe lyric.

[Caleb Kyzer]

Circus Envy, on 08 January 2012 - 05:18 PM, said:

Caleb: You can only purchase the whole show at the "Ten Club" website by either digital download or purchase the cd. "It Happend Today" sounds a lot better on the cd then the "You Tube" version becuase you can hear the rest of the band come in much more pronounced at the end.

thanks!  i actually found it for free on "megauploads" and it sounded great.

[scrapkook]

2.06-2.36 of "Drive"--the "conversation" (for lack of a better word) between the guitar and strings gives me goosebumps.
"Everybody Hurts," the lyric "no, no, no, you are not alone..."

There are a million more, I'm sure!  

[elkokolores]

"Let Me In" from 1:42 onward. The Keyboard. The Counter-harmony.
"E-Bow the Letter": The hypnotizing E-Bow, the deep Bass, the way Stipe's singin'. I always loved how he sings "Will you live til 83?".
The dope String section in "Feeling Gravitys Pull".
The perfect Americana Melancholia that is the bass work in "Man on the Moon".
When the Guitar Hits at 00:02 @"Bad Day"

and so many more...

[Hi Hi Hi Hi]

Colinzeal, on 05 January 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

2:50-3:06

Needs to be heard in the context of the song, but beautiful moment in a beautiful song.

Thats me done, I could go on forever with this game.

In addition to that moment I would add 2:13-2:25, when you can faintly hear Michael singing in the background under the layers of distortion. That gives me goosebumps almost every time.

One of my recent favorite moments is the prolonged final chorus at the end of Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando & I. The combination of murky piano, sparkly guitar, Mike Mills's backing vocals and the way Stipe sings "I heard what you said" is overwhelmingly gorgeous and cryptic in a way that R.E.M. had rarely been in later years.

[Fatherjohn]

The middle eight of "West of the Fields" is possibly my favourite 30 seconds of music from the entire R.E.M. canon. It goes somewhere melodically which stirs something very deep and inexplicable in me.

Also;

- The final wordless cry of "South Central Rain"
- Buck's reverb-ed chords in the middle eight of "Pretty Persuasion"
- "Michael built a bridge / Michael tore it down" from "Kohoutek"
- The aforementioned guitar break in "Flowers of Guatemala"
- The rise in key as Michael sings "Away...." in "King of Birds"
- "I like your hands / all full of glory" from "Low"
- "Make your money on the jukebox baby / let's pick up sticks" from "King of Comedy"
- The double tracked vocals an octave apart followed by the last wordless cry of "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us"
- "My bed is pulling me, gravity" from "Daysleeper"
- The instrumental, string laden last few bars of "The Great Beyond"

[Pilgrimager]

The breakdown in Gardening at night is imo the most sublime moment in R.E.M's oeuvre.

[rainman933]

I'd have to throw in the end of "Get Up." From the crack in the vocal (THIS time...) to the final fade is perfect. The harmonies, the return of the music boxes (which are a pretty fine moment earlier in the song)... everything I like about R.E.M can be heard in there.

Another damn fine moment from Green is Peter's drum intro on the Eleventh Untitled Song.

[Bill Berrys Eyebrows]

For me its the really long "awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay" in King of Birds. There are loads of others but that one gives me serious chills

[Milsean Cady]

Jesus Christ. My favorite R.E.M. song moment is when Peter Buck makes his guitar ring like a church bell, and Bill fucking Berry beats the skins like they owe him a beer, and Mike Mills harmonizes and throws out a bassline that echoes the voice of Michael Stipe, who  sings about fucking trains and loss and birds and love and observation forgiveness and wandering lonely as a cloud over hills and  tracks abandoned under a cerulean sunset while mumbling about the incoherent and obstuse things in life we will never understand yet will try so hard to capture on film as a camera.

That's it.

[remfan477]

I got about a million........ The ones for me would be Stipe's really long "Away" in King Of Birds, that "ooooooooooooh" part in Fall On Me, and Stipe just launching into the sky-high "Gone" in Harpers..............

[zapiekanki]

The instrumental part in "Be Mine" is epic and fantastic, reminds me a lot of the instrumental section in "Flowers of Guatemala", can't decide which one of the two I like more.

Of course there's also the last minute of "Hollow Man", I know the song doesn't have many fans around here but I like it, especially the second half of it.