Word: vocals
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...this change in R.E.M.'s emphasis. The metallic guitar-picking of Chronic Town has been replaced with an intimate layered sound--Peter Buck's brooding acoustic strumming, Mike Mills' subdued bass and ex-Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones' rich string arrangement. Singer Michael Stipe, meanwhile, provides a compelling vocal that aches for carefree youngers years. This is definitely an older Stipe speaking. In Murmur's "Catapult" from 1983, he ponders childhood ("We were little boys/We were little girls...Did we miss anything?"). Now, ten years later, it's early adulthood he recalls ("Hey kids, rock and roll/Nobody tells...
Another of the few fast tracks on Automatic, "Ignoreland," lambastes the Republicans for "Wrecking all things virtuous and true" in the past 12 years. In a slightly distorted vocal that struggles behind layers of instrumentation, Stipe admits that his lyrics are "vitriol," but feels "better having screamed" about the GOP menace...
...Star Me Kitten" and "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" are somewhat less successful experiments. "Star" is a slow, soft jazzy piece--with a few guitar and bass notes and occasional cymbals--that drags along with a breathy Stipe vocal ("I am your possession/So fuck me kitten"). In the background is a hovering "ah" that endures throughout the three minutes and 16 seconds. Lazy "New Orleans" is a two-minutes ditty with reverberating guitars and sorrowful strings...
...this change in R.E.M.'s emphasis. The metallic guitar-picking of Chronic Town has been replaced with an intimate layered sound-Peter Buck's Brooding acoustic strumming, Mike Mills' subdued bass and ex-Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones' rich string arrangement. Singer Michael Stipe, meanwhile, provides a compelling vocal that aches for carefree younger years. This is definitely an older Stipe speaking. In Murmur's "Catapult" from 1983, he ponders childhood ("We were little boys/We were little girls... Did we miss anything?"). Now, ten years later, it's early adulthood he recalls ("Hey kids, rock and roll/nobody tells...
Another of the few fast tracks on Automatic, "Ignoreland," lambastes the Republicans for "wrecking all things virtuous and true" in the past 12 years. In a slightly distorted vocal that struggles behind layers of instrumentation, Stipe admits that his lyrics are "vitriol," but feels "better having screamed" about the GOP menace...