Arguably one of the best grammatically incorrect pop albums ever. There are plenty of song titles that play fast and loose with grammar, but few bands have the chutzpah to blatantly ignore these rules in the album title. But R.E.M. are that kind of mould-breaking band. Who needs punctuation anyway This is R.E.M’s fourth album, and it’s a bit of a stepping stone from the grungier, swampy sound of their earlier albums, before they hit proper ‘hit song status’ (albeit only for college students listening to indie radio) with their follow up, Document. I like Pageant, I like its references and subversions to the traditional sound of Southern Rock; I like its ecological concerns (in Cuyahoga and Fall On Me in particular); and I like the fact that they start the LP with a play on Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine. Given that I was more familiar with Porter’s work than R.E.M’s when I first heard this album sometime in my late teens, this was much appreciated. Fall On Me is arguably the best ‘pop song’ from the album, and was also the first single, though it only barely scraped into the US Top 100. It’s one of my favourites and encapsulates the R.E.M. sound in this first quarter of their long career: jangle-pop guitars with country banjos, swampy production, obscure lyrics, and Stipe, Mills, Buck and Berry harmonising like a bunch of farmer boys. FOR FULL REVIEW & PLAYLIST CLICK LINK IN BIO #rem @rem #lifesrichpageant #fallonme #underneaththebunker #indiemusic #nowlistening #nowplaying #recordcollection #randomrecordreview https://www.instagram.com/p/CNN9RbxMkxT/?igshid=1rdfaqb4uafif
