44 replies to this topic

[MaddeningLoops]

4, surely :p

[Chameleon]

Well i do remember reading this site, i think ethan had put up an early review and was particularly impressed with 'beat a drum'.

I remember loving 'i've been high' right from the very early days, the band also but Chorus and the ring on their website (you had to find it) and those two songs are probably my favourite from that album. I also remember hearing snippets of IOL, i wasn't too impressed by that song and i still have doubts over it today....

[BirdThatWentOn]

MaddeningLoops said:

4, surely :p

I believe our Tom may have a point there  :p

[WaterHyacinth]

Yup, it's 4 years  :) My memories of Reveal go back to 2002, as that's when I bought the album, I still treasure that album for the memories I have of it, it's not as good as the others, admittedly, but it holds a special place in my heart.

[Bowie]

I love the sun and summer. I love R.E.M. And I love positive music. So...I'm naturally a huge fan of Reveal and always have been.

[Trytek]

Reveal was the first R.E.M. album I ever bought, and it's still one of my faves to this day.  :D

[brehznev]

Reveal is probably the most negatively perceived album among many fans including on this site. Well, Around the Sun may have surpassed that now.   I love Reveal.  Its second in my book to Automatic for the People.  Summer Turns to High is my least favorite song on the album.  My favorite is I've Been High.  

I remember driving to a Best Buy approxmately 50 miles away just so I could listen to the whole album while driving home. I had also done this previously with UP.  What a great album.

[crestfallen]

All my memories of Reveal involve a strong dose of pain medication and a subtle whimper of "Why God? Why? Not REM."

[chaos_follower]

Wow...4 years.  I had just started getting into R.E.M. about two or three months before "Reveal" was released, and I remember buying "Document" and the lady at the record store told me they were releasing a new album in a few months.  Well in those months before "Reveal" I snatched up everything R.E.M. and they became my favorite band, and when "Reveal" was released, it didn't disappoint me at all.  I just can't believe it's been 4 years, that's really crazy.  I think I'm gonna go listen to it now...

[purple scapolite]

.... I remember buying this album on a really warm day, overcast and cloudy, where the weather went into a two -week spell of summer rain, and listening to it the entire day (thinking I'll Take the Rain was so particularly apt and beautiful). This album is amazing to me. It's such a varied and layered and wide-ranging terrain in sound and emotion- i can't say how much this record really sank in and has held me and still does.  Saturn Return, She Just Wants To Be, I've Been High, I'll take the Rain, Chorus and the Ring, Summer Turns To High, Beat a Drum-Disappear- exceptional.

[jstecker22]

I remember waking up early on a very warm Tuesday summer morning in NYC, excited to grab the CD when HMV in Times Square opened it's doors.  I also had plans to try to get a ticket to see the band perform on the Late Show with David Letterman. I ended up camping outside the stage door with a bunch of great REM fans I had met that morning after picking up the limited edition CD to have the band autograph, and a regular CD to listen to in my walkman while waiting.  

I should post those pics up here someday.

We ended up camping all day, none of the group i was hanging with got to go inside the theatre, but we did end up seeing and meeting most of the band during their arrival and departure from the Ed Sullivan Theatre.  I had all the band (sans Michael) sign my limited edition Reveal CD and went home a very happy guy.  

Little did i know, i'd be sitting front row center for their MTV Unplugged 2.0 concert at the MTV studios in Times Square a few days later.   :D

Man, so nice to relive such a great memory today.  Thanks for starting this thread.  

Joshua

[Medullar phone]

Well I must say that I love reveal, but one of my first exeperiences with it was really sad. My dog Yeti died just the same day that we bought the album. I still can remember running frantically to the car with our dog still alive and the cd was on. The very first song that was on was I´ve been high. I almost started crying.

[LST 390]

My first exposure to the Reveal material was Michael singing "I've Been High" along to the boombox tape, and then the live versions of "The Lifting" and "She Just Wants To Be" from the South American shows. "The Lifting" immediately struck me as an amazing song, and I wish they'd still play it live (I saw 3 of the Reveal 'mini-tour' shows and they only played 4 songs off the fucking album they were supposed to be promoting).

I remember finding the hidden "Chorus" mp3 on remhq and thinking it was one of the most bizarre, beautiful songs I'd ever hear from REM. It's still one of my favorites on the album.

They 'revealed' Imitation of Life in snippets, intro, then intro/verse, then intro/verse/chorus, or however it was done, and I remember thinking it was kinda cheesy and nowhere near as cool as the rest of the material I'd heard (I've since grown to appreciate it, but it's definitely not a highlight of the album -- AMAZING video though).

REMHQ had a loop on their front page that fascinated me, when the "Imitation" single was released w/ the demos of "Lifting" (love this version too) and "Beat a Drum", it became apparent that the loop was taken from "Drum".

Then the mp3s leaked, w/ that horrible motorboat sound in 'Saturn Return'. It was the first REM album I downloaded before its release, which has become standard fare w/ most albums now. I played it to death before the record even came out. When the album did hit stores, I thought the artwork was fairly unimpressive (still do), but still enjoyed the music and wondered why everybody was crucifying it. People were still complaining about the overuse of drum machines (um, 9 of the 12 songs have live drums) and keyboards.

I thought the production was excellent, and when I eventually heard the 5.1 mix I was even further drawn into the record. If you haven't heard the DVD-A version, I encourage you to find a way, the music just swirls around you and fills your head. "The Lifting" is mindblowing, w/ Peter's E-bow guitar and all the cycling synths...jeez, I could praise every song but this post is already too long.

It seemed like the band didn't even have that much faith in the record -- like I said, I saw 3 of the few 2001 shows and they only played 4 songs from the album. I guess at other shows the crowd was fortunate enough to hear "The Lifting" or "I'll Take the Rain", and the Unplugged set was a nice showcase, but I still think the album deserved more of a chance.

Whenever the sun is shining and I have time to sit and enjoy a record, I find myself throwing the Reveal DVD-A on (or even ATS! these are nice sunny records!) and just letting it take me in. Sure, the mood gets broken up on occasion ("Disappear" "Saturn Return"), but these songs work really well too. Bottom line, I think "Reveal" is a much better record than it gets credit for.

Oh, and gotta love that cartoon doggy in the "Rain" video.  :D

[LST 390]

(AND I LOVE BEACHBALL  :mad:  :mad:  :mad: )

[Josey Wales]

I think Reveal is a great album but I have to admit I haven't listened to it ages. I remember I've Been High was my favourite song for a long time. But I think now my favourite song would be Chorus And The Ring.

[REMFan]

OMG Thats right!  4 years ago Today (except it was a Tuesday  ;) ) I still remember calling the music store the night before to see when they opened, so I could get there the second those doors were unlocked! I walked in, and there it was....right in the New Releases section.  I grabbed the very first copy, took it to the counter, paid for it, stared at it in amazement for a few seconds, then ripped the packaging off, and rushed home to listen to it! I had heard IOL and Chorus and the Ring already, but the rest of it was Fresh.  That very first listen always feels like a dream to me.  Like Im gonna wake up in my bed and be REALLY pissed off that it was on a dream!  But it wasnt.  And even though I don't listen to it as often as I used to....  There was a time when I listened to it EVERYDAY for a couple months.  I practically wore it out  ;)  I still dig it out time to time and really enjoy it.

[Maybelline Eyes]

I remember in December(?) seeing I've Been High in Athens (the boombox one) in January staying up all night to see Rock In Rio live on the internet and hearing a great version of SJWTB and The Lifting.
Then i got sent a link to the album before it came out. No names! I'd been dying to hear I'll Take The Rain because it had been referred to by a very early reviewer as the band's new Country Feedback.  It didn't make a big impression on me at all, but i remember being totally spellbound by Saturn Return. Still am! Other stand outs for me were Disappear and Chorus and The Ring.
In April it was the Reveal promo tour..i saw CDUK, Trafalgar Square and Later with Jools Holland, then went to Cologne for the free concert on May 12th and met a huge bunch of great murmurs people.
Finally the album came out..it was never my fave but there are still some great tracks on there and it was always quite special to me because it came out in May a year after i met Michael and Bertis in Vancouver (May 17th 2000, 5 years tomorrow) when the band were at the Warehouse recording the album. :cool: