Published on May 24, 1997
There is nothing more exciting than seeing and hearing a band
which is on the brink of making it to the big-time. For R.E.M.,
that year was 1986.
Having built up a solid fan base through the college radio
scene, Michael Stipe and crew had garnered a few minor hits by this
time. While they would break through into the mainstream in a major
way with their 1987 album
Document, I find the previous release,
Life’s Rich Pageant, to be more exciting in many ways. The
band pulls out all the stops and explores more musical genres than
I think they ever would again on one album.
Stipe’s voice still has the reluctant troubador style that you
heard on their first full-length effort
Murmur, though his vocals often do take a turn into the rock
icon he was about to become, sounding stronger and less mumbled. An
example of the transition of vocals is heard on the lovely “Fall On
Me,” still one of my favorite R.E.M. tracks of all time.
The folk-country of “Fall On Me” is just one of the genres
R.E.M. explores here – besides rock and roll, of course, they
dabble in a little Latin (“Underneath The Bunker”) bluegrass (the
opening riffs of “I Believe”) and acoustic pop (“Swan Swan H”).
Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill
Berry probably knew they were creating something special here, and
wanted to let the creative juices flow.
While this album didn’t generate any major hits – “Fall On Me”
and “Superman” were quite popular among college and alternative
radio – the sheer quality of all of the tracks is what sets it
apart. Each track counts for something, and with one minor
exception, not a moment is wasted. “I Believe” has gotten airplay
in recent years, and is an amazing track that didn’t get the
attention it deserved at the time. The harmony vocals on this one
is just incredible. A similar song, “Hyena,” is one that grows on
the listener and gets better with each listen.
R.E.M. seems to sound more at home when they’re playing softer,
more introspective music – possibly a reason they chose to do more
of this since their switch to Warner Brothers in the late ’80s.
“Swan Swan H” is remarkable not just for what is played, but for
what is not played – the band seems to know the musical limits of
the song, and refuses to cross those boundaries. This is also why
“Fall On Me” – and, to an extent, even “Superman” – have remained
popular. The only near miss comes on “What If We Give It Away,” a
song which I think was steered in the wrong direction in the
chorus.
So why isn’t this album as popular as
Document or anything they’ve recently put out? Sadly, I
don’t know – this is just as good as, if not better than, some of
their blockbuster releases. (I think it blows the doors off of
Automatic For The People and
Green.) Unfortunately for R.E.M., since this was the last
release prior to the “breakthrough,” it was not noticed by the
mainstream – only by those who had been drooling over every album
R.E.M. released since their inception.
It’s a shame to let such poetry and beauty go unnoticed – and
it’s a fate that
Life’s Rich Pageant is undeserving of.