REM
Murmur (1983) A Stunning debut. Really energetic, fast, youthful, It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's a great listen. I love it very much. *****
Reckoning (1984) A great follow up to Murmur. Very acoustic, folky, but very energetic. ****
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985) Very eerie album, but still very good. More electronic than Reckoning, but certainly not anything like the overporoduced pap of the time. ****
Life's Rich Pageant (1986) A fun album, but a bit patchy. Still are some really good songs on this. ***1/2
Document (1987) Outstanding A-Side, very political with quite a sarcastic tone to it. ****
Green (1988) First record with Warner Bros and some excellent songs on here. A-Side is like Pageant with a light theme, B-Side is much darker, more mature. ****
Out Of Time (1991) Disappointing album, a lot of very poor efforts on here. Losing My Religion, Country Feedback and Shiny Happy People made this a great seller, but by no means is this their best. ***
Automatic For The People (1992). Beautiful, the best album of the band's career, wonderful tunes, perfect production. I love each and every track. Continous theme of death and how to cope. *****
Monster (1994) Complete U-Turn from Automatic as they try and produce a gritty rock album. Some good songs, but the lyrics are generally poor and the overdone element of feedback hurts it. ***
New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996) A great, complete album that most people hate first time round. I did, but then it grew on me and I realised how great this was. Very primitive. *****
Up (1998) Pretty much a load of crap. Billy Berry is replaced by drum machines. A mammoth disappointment that nearly finished the band off for good. Their worst. **
Reveal (2001) A very upbeat, some say overproduced album. Good songs here, quite electronically based like Up, but generally better with some songs possessing classic acoustic sounds. ***1/2