The ones we love: all 16 of REM’s albums – ranked!

R.E.M. (1980-2011)
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REM feels unique to me in that the only consistent thing about these ranking lists seems to be that Around the Sun is at the bottom. The rest of the albums always land all over the place in a really subjective way. More than any other musical act, it feels like people have really varied takes on what is best and worst.

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Aww, that’s not completely fair. Collapse into Now is also complete garbage!

The correct list (in my opinion) is:

  1. Reckoning
  2. Green
  3. Automatic for the People
  4. Out of Time
  5. Document
  6. Murmur
  7. New Adventures in Hifi
  8. Monster
  9. Fables of the Reconstruction
  10. Life’s Rich Pageant
  11. Dead Letter Office (incl. Chronic Town EP)
  12. Accelerate
  13. Reveal
  14. Up
  15. Around the Sun
  16. Collapse Into Now

Up might place higher if they re-recorded it. The songs on it are great when they perform live, but a bit sterile on the studio album.

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Every time I see one of these lists I’m struck by the following:

  • The Pat McCarthy albums are seriously underrated. Well, Up and Reveal are anyway. People always cite the production on those albums as why, but I think it’s more likely the arrangements. Folks didn’t like the electronica. I loved it, personally.
  • Out of Time is also wildly undervalued.
  • Murmur and Document are a tad overrated. (I’ll dodge your bullets now…)
  • Accelerate and Collapse Into Now get a little more love than they maybe deserve, possibly because they weren’t at all like the three albums that preceded them.
  • There is absolutely no way anyone will ever produce a list like this that makes anyone go, “oh yeah, I’d agree with that…”
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Also, these lists always make me want to do my own, so here it is…

  1. Up
  2. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
  3. Automatic for the People
  4. Out of Time
  5. Fables
  6. Reckoning
  7. Reveal
  8. Monster
  9. Lifes Rich Pageant
  10. Green
  11. Murmur
  12. Document
  13. Around the Sun
  14. Collapse Into Now
  15. Accelerate

That was harder than I thought, and will probably be different tomorrow.

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I agree. CIN is unlistenable garbage, to the extent of damaging their reputation and legacy.

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Yeah, well that’s just like your opinion man… :wink:
I absolutely don’t see CIN as their best work, but I find it enjoyable to listen to.

It’s always been interesting to me to see connections between different albums.

Monster couldn’t have existed without Automatic for the People and Out of Time. It was precisely that quieter, more introspective period that pushed them to create a more straightforward rock album. Then, New Adventures in Hi-Fi became more varied again.

You can see a similar dynamic (though with less consistent quality) with Around the Sun, Accelerate, and Collapse into Now.

I’m curious to hear how others see this.

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:smiley:

Speaking of opinions…

I disagree. Monster could easily be the album immediately after Green. The band just had a break from that path.

Dear oh dear. Don’t do it to yourself, man.