Friday Featured Album: Lifes Rich Pageant

It’s hard to calculate now how important R.E.M. was to the music scene in the early 1980’s.  Mainstream music was (mostly) terrible, the stars of the 60’s and 70’s were past their prime, and new music was, well, Kajagoogoo.  On the underground side, most music was punk or hardcore, which was great for those that like that music (like me), but it was never going to reach the mainstream.

Suddenly R.E.M. emerged, playing songs with melody, substituting distortion for jangly, Byrds-soaked guitar. It was the definition of “alternative” music.  Together with The Replacements in the midwest, R.E.M. defined what is now known as College Music, but unlike the ‘Mats they brought a pop sensibility from the beginning.  Each record they released added to their repertoire, but still stayed rooted in a sound that was uniquely their own.

By the time they got to Lifes Rich Pageant in 1986, they were reaching their peak.  Most people would point to their next release, Document, as being their big breakthrough, and it was commercially.  But Lifes Rich Pageant, for me, is their peak musically.  When the first song hit, “Begin the Begin”, you immediately heard a much cleaner sound and a much more forceful rock beat.  On songs like “Fall on Me” you could actually understand what Michael Stipe was saying.

Overall they brought better songs to the table as well, songs like “Flowers of Guatamala”, “These Days” and “What if We Give it Away?”.  It still had that College Rock feel, but suddenly the potential of R.E.M. became apparent.  These guys might actually get heard on the radio!  That didn’t really happen until Document, but in Lifes Rich Pageant you hear them teeter at the precipice between alternative and mainstream.

Personally, I stopped following the band when they stopped being “Southern”, which for me happened after they signed to a major label and became a real pop band.  Still, I think they rank as one of the best bands of the 1980s.  Take a listen to this great album.