107 replies to this topic

[edo]

After we had the AFTP game, the next album is Up so here are the rules.

From today and until April 1st, you are going to choose your top 5 songs from the Up album and I'm going to collect the votes  :)
You can only choose 5 songs. If you'll choose more, your vote wouldn't be counted. The Up game will include 15 songs. I'm not over you will be counted as a diferent song.
The first vote is mine and it is in no specific order:

At my most beautiful
Daysleeper
Lotus
Suspicion
Walk unafraid

Wow........ That was really really hard..........

And here are the results for the AFTP game:
1) Find the river- 58
2) Man on the moon- 45
3) Nightswimming- 44
-) Try not to breath- 44
5) Drive- 43
6) Everybody hurts- 29
-) Sweetness follows- 29
8) The sidewinder sleeps tonite- 26
9) Monty got a raw deal- 19
10) Star me kitten- 10
11) Ignoreland- 9
12) New Orleans instrumental number 1- 4

[Twatboy]

Daysleeper
At My Most Beautiful
Falls To Climb
Walk Unafraid
Parakeet

[windout]

Lotus
Daysleeper
I'm Not Over You
At My Most Beautiful
Diminished

[galfaro]

Quote

Originally posted by edo
2) Man on the moon- 45
3) Nightswimming- 44

:confused:  what is this?

Ok my choices are:

Daysleeper
At my most beautiful
Suspicion
Diminished
Falls to climb

MOTM????? god............

[bflood]

1.  Diminished
2.  Lotus
3.  You're In The Air
4.  Daysleeper
5.  Suspicion

[Joni Smeke]

Lotus
Walk Unafraid
The Apologist
At My Most Beautiful
Falls To Climb

[gopher731]

i'm going to have to vote on this even though i'm supposedly not posting much here anymore, just because there are so many great songs on UP.  perhaps the high points of AFTP are better than UP, but choosing only five songs from UP is still a much harder decision because song-wise it's such a strong record.

1. Lotus (easy top choice -- it's just so flat-out weird; it reminds me of Strawberry Fields- and I Am the Walrus-style Beatles, but more hard rocking; I wish Michael's voice was distorted for more tracks, because it's so fucking cool; and these lyrics are some of the best-written nonsense i've ever heard -- you can almost imagine Michael breaking into "goo goo gooooo joooooooob" at any moment)

2. Suspicion (the best R.E.M. ballad in recent memory; a little sappy, but who cares -- it feels completely genuine, and the melody is amazing; love the synth texture too, and the amazingly lethargic GUITAR SOLO!)

3. The Apologist (the atmosphere is great; it's the psychedelic rocker on the album that "Walk Unafraid" tries, and fails, to be; the layering of voices on top of each other gives it a real OK COMPUTER feel, which is always a good thing in my book; plus it's so nice and BITTER, which is good for a change, since most of the rest of UP is so fucking earnest and lovey-dovey)

4. Falls to Climb (somewhat overrated, and it always seems a bit pretentious and Pink Floydian to me, but when Pink Floyd is great, it's great, and this is great -- extremely haunting, spine-tingling, and otherworldly is probably the best way to describe it, and i'm glad they ditched the guitars after 15 years just so they could have a chance to create textures and atmospheres like this)

5. Sad Professor (an extremely simple song, but it's really real and believable, and Michael's vocals are perfect on this one)

I really like "You're in the Air," but for some reason it also always puts me to sleep whenever I hear it, so I have to denigrate it a little.  Perhaps it's too monotonous.

"Daysleeper" and "At My Most Beautiful" are runners up for the top 5, but they're both just a bit too poppy and you get tired of them after hearing them enough, especially "AMMB."

other good things on the album are "Airportman," "Why Not Smile," "Diminished," and "Parakeet."

Hell, I just realized every song I've mentioned so far (12 of them, to be exact) is head and shoulders above anything on REVEAL (at least in the form it ended up in on the final album), besides "Imitation of Life" and possibly "Beachball."

[flugufrelsarinn]

ah, my first rem album. but i'm confused, you say above that after the aftp game up is next? errrm... why?
aaaaaanyway:

diminished
at my most beautiful
the apoligist
walk unafraid
why not smile

[edo]

Ok, I have kind of a lot of things to say ;)
First of all, flugufrelsarinn, there is no specific order to the contests. I decided to begin with AFTP for no reason and thought I'll continue with NAIHF but someone asked to do Up next so I did it.
Ok. next one is for galfaro: What are you talking about? Man on the moon is a great great song :):):) Actually I kind of liked the results but I'm sorry that Everybody hurts and The sidewinder didn't get some more.
Gopher wrote: "there are so many great songs on UP. perhaps the high points of AFTP are better than UP, but choosing only five songs from UP is still a much harder decision because song-wise it's such a strong record"- I totaly agree!!! Just had to say that.
And I had to say another thing about my choices.... I had a really really really hard time to choose the songs and I just had to say something about it. I also agree about what you said on Reveal...
I have nothing to say about Lotus, Daysleeper or Suspicion. At first I thought Daysleeper is getting tired but I so don't think that anymore. It's an amazing song. A classic for me. Especially the beautiful line- "Don't wake me with so much" ;)
About Walk unafraid and AMMB- I agree that both songs can get tired and there are songs that at the moment I like listening to more but I had to choose those two because they those are two beautiful songs that at their highest period were no less than magnificent (I have no idea how to spell it....).
The songs that were close to get in this list are:
Diminshed- Beautiful! Amazing! Especially the "Sing along" part.
You're in the air, Sad professor and The apologist- I kind of put those three as one group (maybe because of the order in the album)- Three great great songs! Have just a little lack of emotions.... I think this lack of emotion works beautifully on Suspicion where it gives it a mystirous sense....
Why not smile- Cheers me up every time.... So beautiful and pure.
Falls to climb- just amazing.
Parakeet was one of my favorites songs on Up at first but lost it's magic very fast. It's still a very good song.
I do have a serious problem with Airportman- I think it's maybe my least favorite R.E.M. song. It's boring!!!! And the lyrics are stupid!
I think Hope is ok and quite good but nothing more.
And I thinm I'm not over you is kind of.... I don't know really how to put it but it's just unnecessary on this album.....
That's it...... :p

[gopher731]

Quote

Originally posted by edo
I do have a serious problem with Airportman- I think it's maybe my least favorite R.E.M. song. It's boring!!!! And the lyrics are stupid!

i do think it would be strange to say Airportman is one of the best songs on UP, but i really like it.  in fact, i think it would do R.E.M. some good to make a whole album in a more experimental vein, like Airportman.  it's a beautiful song, with that nice pentatonic chimes stuff and michael's low, emotionless vocals, and the guitar feedback in the background.  personally I find something like Diminished -- while still a good song -- a lot more "boring" than Airportman.  Airportman holds up well on repeat listens because you can hear all the layers.  too bad R.E.M. aren't risky enough nowadays to try anything else like it.

the lyrics aren't "stupid" at all; they're simply not the main feature here.  they build a strange mood well, rather than trying to be poetry as stipe often does.

anyway, i think the subtlety and complex but still restrained production on Airportman and everything else on UP should show people that whatever R.E.M.'s problem on REVEAL, it probably had nothing to do with Pat McCarthy, since his production on UP is great.  just listen to Lotus or The Apologist or Falls to Climb or AMMB or Airportman or Diminished, and hear all the layers in the music come together -- the strings, the percussion, the guitars, the synthesizers, the layered vocals, the drum machines, the vocals.  UP's production puts REVEAL to shame, so i can only assume the band is the one that has decided simplifying and slicking things up and smoothing things over is the way to go, rather than McCarthy.  of course, it could also have to do with the fact that Nigel Godrich did a lot of work on UP, and he didn't on REVEAL.  anyway, just thought it was necessary to point out that UP is brilliantly produced, for those who would blame McCarthy for R.E.M.'s boring musical direction as of 2001.

[BeAStar]

Falls To Climb
Daysleeper
Walk Unafraid
At My Most Beautiful
Hope

[Willis]

Here are my picks:

Hope
Falls to Climb
Walk Unafraid
Daysleeper
The Apologist

~~Willis :cool:

[jeff]

Diminshed
why not smile
walk unafraid
daysleeper
The apologist

[distipel]

Lotus
You're In The Air
Daysleeper
Falls To Climb
Diminished

[giov26it]

falls to climb
walk unafraid
lotus
daysleeper
at my most beutiful

wow! what a masterpiece!

bye

[lotus eater]

My top 5 songs from UP!

1. Walk Unafraid

2. At My Most Beautiful

3. Lotus

4. Suspicion

5. Why Not Smile

[Beats a Drum]

why not smile?
airportman
diminished
hope
at my most beautiful

[Eraserhead]

1. Walk Unafraid
2. Falls to Climb
3. Hope
4. At My Most Beautiful
5. Suspicion

Damn! Another tough choice... :(

[Maybelline Eyes]

Hmmm..Up is sometimes my favourite album. Certainly i like more songs on there than any other...but they're not necessarily better than those i like on other albums..
It was trickier than i thought...and i had to leave out Lotus which is an absolute sizzler but doesn't fit in with the rest of my choices.

1.Walk Unafraid
2.Suspicion
3.AMMB
4.You're In The Air
5.Falls To Climb

Can i change it tomorrow?:D