Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk
As huge as they are now, R.E.M. started out with a small cult following that this first album inspired; Peter Buck's chiming guitar, Michael Stipe's impassioned but incomprehensible singing, and the band's unpretentious interaction with its audience were genuinely revolutionary at the time. Stipe's famous mumbling of words, obscuring them in the mix, was less about creating a mystery than about creating an aesthetic of pure sound--without focusing on what he was singing about, you had to listen to the way his supple, distinctive voice mingled with the instruments. Murmur ends with a remake of their first single, "Radio Free Europe", as joyful a song as they've ever recorded, and a song that in a very real way created "alternative rock". --Douglas Wolk
Product Description
R.E.M.’s debut album, the groundbreaking Murmur, is re-issued as a 2CD deluxe edition featuring a previously unreleased concert recorded in Toronto, July 1983. R.E.M. are a long-standing part of the cultural landscape and this release recalls the first major step in their journey to becoming one of the great bands of our time. Widely considered to be the first indie-rock album it set the template for that genre for the next 25 years and remains as surprising, strange and beautiful as it did on release.
This re-issue has been prepared in conjunction with the band, has been remastered and includes a second disc with a show recorded at Larry’s Hideaway Toronto, Canada on 9th July 1983. Also included are new essays by album producers Mitch Easter & Don Dixon, and former I.R.S. executives Jay Boberg, Sig Sigworth, Carlos Grasso and Michael Plen.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
One of the problems with "Eponymous," the 1988 album that is a collection of singles from the first five R.E.M. released on I.R.S., is that it stops a lot of people who jumped on the bandwagon when the Athens group switched to Warner and made it to the top of the music world with their hit "Losing My Religion" from going back and listening to those earlier albums. That would be a mistake, because that would mean missing out on "Murmur," the 1983 album that created R.E.M.'s distinctive sound and which, in retrospect, can be seen as an important album in the history of music as representing the move from post-punk to alternative music. "Murmur" only made it to #178 on the Billboard 200 chart (#36 for the Pop Album version), but this is clearly a case where the tree in the forest most definitely makes a sound, regardless of the number of people there to hear it. Remember that "Rolling Stone" named "Murmur" the best album of 1983, which was the year of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the Police's "Synchronicity."
R.E.M. was formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, originally playing under the name Twisted Kite and performing garage rock covers and original folk-rock songs. "Radio Free Europe," their first single, was recorded in 1981, released on the tiny Hib Tone label, and showed that all of the pieces that would becoming familiar, the jangle pop sound and cryptic lyrics, were already in place: you cannot help singing along with the chorus even if you have no clue what the rest of Michael Stipe's lyrics are saying. The single topped the "Village Voice" poll for Best Independent Single, and landed the group the I.R.S. contract. After an EP, "Chronic Town," the full-length "Murmur" constituted the group's debut album. While there is not another track as solid as "Radio Free Europe" on the album, the rest of the songs are clearly in that vein.
The songs on "Murmur" have an atmospheric quality that is quite distinctive, although you can certainly see strong folk-rock, post-punk, and garage-rock elements throughout, although what R.E.M. does with those elements is unique as well. "Talk About the Passion" is the other signature song from the album, and a prime example of how Stipe's lyrics attain great depth by refusing to be pinned down (although having some lyrics in French is adding insult to injury for those of us who always have trouble understanding what exactly he is singing). "Catapult" is a good example of what a pop song sounds like in R.E.M.'s hands (and the effective way in which bassist Mike Mills often responds to Stipe's vocals in the chorus), with "Pilgrimage" and "Perfect Circle" showing their expanding musical range. This is not to say all of these songs hold up; "Moral Kiosk" sounds rather dated as the exception to the rule. But overall this is a landmark album should end up being one of your favorite R.E.M. albums.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Years and years ago Rolling Stone magazine described REM as the "only American band that mutters". It's a good line and pretty accurate too. Deliberately muddy, muddled productions coupled with Mike Stipe's largely incoherent singing could have made the first couple of albums unlistenable but they don't; both Murmur and Reckoning welcome you in with their beguiling half-grabbed tales spun with gorgeous melodies, great playing and spine-tingling and unexpected harmonies. The first time I saw them was in the SFX in Dublin in 1984 and I was awed by the size of the sound they made - didn't catch a word of Stipe's mumblings, didn't need to; his voice was just another instrument in that fabulous sound.
So, now, 25 years on, Greg Calbi has remastered Murmur and we can breathe easy. It's still as complex and wonderful, it just sounds better. There is more separation of sound and the stereo mix is more distinct but those are the minor points; the sound is as vital as ever and if nothing else it allows us a chance to revisit the album and consider whether it is worth revisiting. As with a lot of older generation CDs the earlier pressings of Murmur were horrible transfers with little care being given to even approximating the sound of the vinyl. I rarely listened to the Murmur CD I've owned for years, preferring to listen to the now well weathered LP, not because of any particular preference for vinyl but because the original CD just sounded awful. This new mix is a joy: the songs leap and bound from the speakers and they sound as great as ever. While acres of reviews have focused on Stipe's lyrics and singing and Buck's guitar playing they frequently overlook the fact that REM were a band and that the sound and the songs were the product of the four of them interacting and melding with one another. Much like The Band, REM's sound was a seamless mix of sligthly off kilter, yet perfectly poised, voices and sounds. Stipe, Buck, Mills, Berry stand up and take a bow. Murmur still sounds vital, passionate (talk about it...), alive and bursting with ideas and joy. Worth revisiting? Absolutely. Worth buying? Unquestionably.
The bonus disc (recorded at a Toronto show in 1983) mixes songs from the first couple of albums and EPs and is a fine showcase of just how good a live band REM were back then. Callow young dudes they may have been but they sound so assured and so brashly confident, and why wouldn't they? All those great songs seemed to be tumbling out of them at the time.
Well done REM; now dig out those Reckoning tapes and give Mr Calbi a call.
So, now, 25 years on, Greg Calbi has remastered Murmur and we can breathe easy. It's still as complex and wonderful, it just sounds better. There is more separation of sound and the stereo mix is more distinct but those are the minor points; the sound is as vital as ever and if nothing else it allows us a chance to revisit the album and consider whether it is worth revisiting. As with a lot of older generation CDs the earlier pressings of Murmur were horrible transfers with little care being given to even approximating the sound of the vinyl. I rarely listened to the Murmur CD I've owned for years, preferring to listen to the now well weathered LP, not because of any particular preference for vinyl but because the original CD just sounded awful. This new mix is a joy: the songs leap and bound from the speakers and they sound as great as ever. While acres of reviews have focused on Stipe's lyrics and singing and Buck's guitar playing they frequently overlook the fact that REM were a band and that the sound and the songs were the product of the four of them interacting and melding with one another. Much like The Band, REM's sound was a seamless mix of sligthly off kilter, yet perfectly poised, voices and sounds. Stipe, Buck, Mills, Berry stand up and take a bow. Murmur still sounds vital, passionate (talk about it...), alive and bursting with ideas and joy. Worth revisiting? Absolutely. Worth buying? Unquestionably.
The bonus disc (recorded at a Toronto show in 1983) mixes songs from the first couple of albums and EPs and is a fine showcase of just how good a live band REM were back then. Callow young dudes they may have been but they sound so assured and so brashly confident, and why wouldn't they? All those great songs seemed to be tumbling out of them at the time.
Well done REM; now dig out those Reckoning tapes and give Mr Calbi a call.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
This was REM's first attempt, and a pretty good one at that. "Radio Free Europe" is a great example of what they can do but what exactly does Micheal Stipe mean. There's something to think about. The album in general combines all the usual REM qualities, but with a different energy about them. Murmur, released over two decades ago is the best debut ever, as proven in "Sitting Still" and "Talk About the Passion". As a fan of REM I really liked this one because it is so easy to listen to. Everything about it - The guitars, vocals, lyrics and even backing vocals unite to make this a masterpiece.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 211 reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
he Four headed monster from Athens making music that is timeless!...
MURMUR, R.E.M.'s debut, stands as one of the most unique albums in the `canon' of rock music. It sounds like an island unto itself, with its closest kin in the band's catalogue... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mike London
5.0 out of 5 stars
Talk about the passion
Fans of the early party out of bounds REM tearing up the 40 Watt club just two years earlier were left scratching their heads, what on earth was this? Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr Ticko
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ten Best Albums 80's Decade.
Quiet simply one of the best albums of the 80's. The sound quality amazes me, I think the multi track tapes have been used here to create a new stereo master. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Anthony,Perth WA
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for a first attempt
As debut albums go this is actually quite good, it can sound a bit raw at times but with the amount of money they must of had to spend on Production in the studio they have done a... Read more
Published on 16 April 2010 by Stephen
1.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful album, but don't buy the remaster....
Before you read anything else in my review, I think "Murmur" is a wonderful album, one of REM's finest. I don't like the remaster though. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2009 by Tim Burrows
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece restored...
I've been listening to Murmur on a fairly regular basis for the last 25 years, so I guess I'm not going to get sick of it now. Read more
Published on 11 July 2009 by Robert Machin
4.0 out of 5 stars
R.E.M. :)
It is R.E.M. need I say anymore. The world's best band. The world's best band for looking after their fans. A back catalogue to die for and their newer recordings do it for me. Read more
Published on 6 April 2009 by helen.remfan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential
Other reviewers have already written very eloquently on why R.E.M matter and why this album in particular matters, but even if you already own 'Murmur' (as I did), it's worth... Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2009 by The Bookworm
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best just got better
Not much extra to add to earlier reviews except to say this is an excellent release, even for fans who already have the original CD. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2009 by Robert Gregory
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE STARTING POINT
REMs remarkable rise from US cult darlings to corporate rockers with a conscience effectively starts here, and this excellent remastered cd and live show hints that the building... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2009 by Paul M
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
