Tag Archives: murmur

#1027: R.E.M. – Perfect Circle

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Ah, R.E.M.’s Murmur. I’ve commented on this album before. How I came about it initially, and how I came to ultimately love it. For those not in the know, it’s not a long story. Heard it once in 2013. Went on to completely forget about it. Heard it again in 2017 and thought it was one of the greatest albums I’d heard up to that point. It’s a tie between it and Automatic for the People as my favourite record of theirs. The preference can change day-by-day. What I observed right away with Murmur was that the choruses on every song were downright incredible, even on the sole slower number ‘Perfect Circle’.

The record prides itself on a whole singer-not-making-sense-but-it-still-sounds-great theme, which I think endears a lot of people to it. The lyrics are more for the listener’s interpretation rather than setting a straight-up narrative or trying to signify a message. Placed right in the middle of it all, or as the closer to the first half if you’re a vinyl person, ‘Perfect Circle’ is something of the emotional centerpiece – even though it might be difficult to find something to latch onto with all the vague lyricism. For me, there’s a hint of something clear in the second verse, in which the song’s title is said for the one and only time in the song, where there’s a scene of friends getting together, drinking and enjoying each other’s company. But that’s all I can say at this time. Otherwise, I’m mostly getting lost in the comforting instrumental backdrop of pianos and lightly strummed guitars.

Whether this was well-known before 1998, I’m not sure, but it was that year when R.E.M. were on tour that they began to bring this track back to their live sets, announcing before they’d proceed to play it that the song was actually written by drummer Bill Berry. He had amicably left the band the year prior, and so every performance of the song was in dedication to him. By “written”, I think it would mean musically. Am sure Stipe was always behind the lyrics. But that the drummer was behind the music should be no surprise. It’s just another example of an R.E.M. song where Berry’s musicianship resulted in one of the band’s (in my opinion) best songs.

#858: R.E.M. – Moral Kiosk

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If I was properly updating my blog back in 2018, I would have fit in a post solely dedicated to R.E.M.’s Murmur. That year, I went through the band’s discography front to back, and found that the album was one that I had really been missing out on in all my years of living. I think I listened to it once in 2013, but didn’t care for it. But that revisit truly turned me over. I seemed to remember that ‘Aha!’ moment coming in on the first chorus of ‘Pilgrimage’. Then every song that followed just never let up with great choruses. It’s a chorus fest throughout this album. Another thing was that Michael Stipe isn’t really singing about anything that makes sense in a direct way on here. There isn’t that extra hang-up of thinking, “Oh, but what’s he trying to say?” It’s some kinda abstract/poetic lyricism set to jubilant melodies. You can’t beat that.

‘Moral Kiosk’ is the fifth song on there. I thought this song was okay initially, but nothing special. Not like, I dunno, ‘Shaking Through’ or ‘Sitting Still’. But further listens changed that opinion. I give it a lot more credit now. Once the beat kicks in, I can’t help but bop my head or air-drum to it. Everything’s delivered with this forward-driving moment, and that sort of call and response thing with Stipe’s vocal and those guitar fills by Peter Buck add a good dynamic. The track goes on, and then in comes that chorus. Here, Stipe yelps “Inside, cold, dark, fire, twilight” amidst these tom-tom rolls and humming melodies courtesy of bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. Those harmonies are a constant in every chorus on the album, always coming in as a sort of cathartic release from the kind of sneaky verses. They always arrive with a sudden burst of energy. I’d also like to shout-out the final chorus where the rhythm’s changed to give the track a disco feeling before coming to an end. Such a good switch up when you hear it the first time.

You can try and get something out of Stipe’s lyrics for this if you Google ’em, but it’s probably not worth the effort. Not saying that the lyrics are bad. Not at all. But if you’re honestly looking to gain some intellectual substance, I think even the band members would say there’s nothing to them. As I said, that aspect of the album made me like it that much more. Obviously as the years went on Stipe found his voice and wrote some earnest, heartwarming/breaking, ironic narratives. All the works. But the lack of those on Murmur makes it so unique from the rest. Well, and Reckoning too. I’ll also take this short sentence to shout-out the song ‘Catapult’ which didn’t get a post, but would have done had I heard it sooner.