Your ranking of REM albums

R.E.M. (1980-2011)
21

Fables of the Reconstruction
Monster
Lifes Rich Pageant
Murmur
Document
Automatic For the People
New Adventures in HiFi
Reckoning
Green
Out of Time
Up
Reveal
Collapse Into Now
Accelerate
Around the Sun

1 Like
22

This is an unforgiving task, but i`ve done it before. It might have been different, but not much. The TOP 5 and bottom 3 are set in stone for me, the others might move around a bit.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Murmur
Automatic for the People
Up
Monster
Fables of the Reconstruction
Reveal
Out of Time
Reckoning
Life`s Rich Pageant
Green
Document
Collapse Into Now
Accelerate
Around The Sun

5 Likes
23
  1. Automatic
  2. Reckoning
  3. New Adventures
  4. Monster
  5. Out of Time
  6. Murmur
  7. Document
  8. LRP
  9. Green
  10. Fables
  11. Up
  12. Collapse Into Now
  13. Reveal
  14. Around the Sun
24

1Lifes Rich Pageant
2Murmur
3Collapse into Now
4Green
5Chronic Town
6Accelerate
7Reckoning
8Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables
9Automatic for the People
10New Adventures in Hi-Fi
11Document
12Monster
13Out of Time
14Up
15Around the Sun
16Reveal

This would be different yesterday or tomorrow.

25

Ah one of these old classicsā€¦ First one to mention a Survivor contest for these gets a finnish blizzard. Although those were quite some times! Alright, onto the hard partā€¦

Fables
Reckoning
Automatic
Pageant
Murmur
Hifi
Up
Monster
Reveal
Document
Green
Out of Time
ā€”ā€”-
Accelerate
Collapse into Now
Around the Sun

The ones above the line please me. The closer to the line, the more itā€™s nostalgic. Diminishing returns with the ones below, and I feel theyā€™ve already aged quite badly. But at least five classics (and Iā€™m oddly warming to Hi-Fi evenā€¦) is a decent score. Hehe, decentā€¦

4 Likes
26

I have to say, Iā€™m surprised at how high Fables is ranking with people. I thought I would be in a minority having it as my number 1. Itā€™s like discovering I had long lost siblings :joy:

4 Likes
27

I like to think of it as one of the marks of a true fan. :wink: It takes a lot of repeat engagement to love.

3 Likes
28

Iā€™ll go with that. Always said its the least immediately accessible but ultimately most rewarding.

3 Likes
29

Yup, took me all the time until Fables night at the Olympia.

30

Iā€™ve loved Fables since way back when! Itā€™s like a novel of an album. Whatā€™s not to like? As a matter of fact, my brother the classical music fan was drawn into R.E.M. after he heard ā€œGreen Grow the Rushesā€. Iā€™ve never been able to rate the albums, but I listen to this one more than some of the others.

2 Likes
31

Iā€™m not sure when I arrived at the thought that Fables is my favorite album but it was almost certainly several years after itā€™s release. Not that I disliked it when it was new. ā€œFeeling Gravitys Pullā€ sort of lays down the gauntlet that what I was in for with this album was going to be a bit different than what I had heard on the previous records.

1 Like
32

Despite the fact that it was recorded in London, Fables of the Reconstruction somehow captures a true Southern Gothic aura and feels more distinctly regional than the bandā€™s previous output. Having lived in Georgia all my life, I find that Fables most closely evokes images of driving down rural backroads here in this state, with a keen eye on local folklore and on the rustic charm that seeps around the corners of even the most modern metropolis areas here.

I love the deep cuts on Fables, namely ā€œMaps and Legendsā€, ā€œGreen Grow the Rushesā€, and ā€œKohoutek.ā€

4 Likes
33

I love driving down the back roads in NC in autumn with the windows down and Fables at full blast.

2 Likes
34

Itā€™s funny you say that. For me early R.E.M. seemed more like a collection of short, folk stories versus albums like Pink Floyds The Wall or Radioheads Kid A, which were more like novels.

2 Likes
35

Iā€™ve come to hold the B-side from Green Grow the Rushes to Wendell Gee as probably the dearest five track run of them all. My head is just filled with pictures of summer somehow.

5 Likes
36

Damn! Didnā€™t know there was so much ā€œhateā€ out there for Accelerate and Collapse Into Now!!

I REALLY like BOTH of those.

I love the harder more guitar oriented stuff though.

I canā€™t tell you how amazingly THRILLED with pure giddiness I was when Peter FINALLY decided to ā€œfindā€ his guitar again with Monster!
It was only 5 years of ā€œLosing My Religionā€ and ā€œEverybody Hurtsā€ being played non stop everywhere, but MAN it felt like an eternity for a bandā€¦ I think if you werenā€™t already an R.E.M. fan BEFORE Out Of Time you donā€™t fully appreciate how great feeling Monster was.

And, itā€™s IMPOSSIBLE for me to do a album rank of my all time favorite band, but I do know Up, Around the Sun, and Reveal are at the bottom (like buried in the cellar) for sure!

1 Like
37

Personally, I donā€™t hate Accelerate or Collapse into Now or any R.E.M. album for that matter. Though it took a considerable amount of time for it to grow on me, Up is my favorite of the post-Bill albums. Iā€™ve often seen it said that growers tend to become our all time favorites which was the case with me. To me, it was the sound of R.E.M. pushing boundaries, challenging themselves as well as us as listeners. When Around the Sun was so poorly received, for the first time in their career they had a reaction to criticism. In so doing, they made a conscious decision to return to a more familiar sound. I was not overly found of some of those songs but part of the process was the working rehearsals, which I enjoyed. So, while I may not be the biggest fan of either Around the Sun or Accelerate, at least we got Live at the Olympia out of it.

1 Like
38

I may like Accelerate best of the post-Bill albums. Iā€™m a sucker for hard-rock guitar, too.

3 Likes
39
  1. Hi-Fi
  2. Automatic
  3. Accelerate
  4. OOT
  5. Green
  6. Monster
  7. Document
  8. Murmur
  9. Up
  10. Reveal
  11. LRP
  12. ATS
  13. Fables
  14. Reckoning
  15. Collapse

I like them all in full though.

1 Like
40

1-Fables
2-Murmur
3-Document
4-Automatic
5-Pageant
6-Reckoning
7-Hi-Fi
8-Green
9-Accelerate
10-Out of Time
11-Monster
12- Reveal
13-Up
14- Around The Sun
15- Collapse Into Now