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Lifes Rich Pageant
by: R.E.M.

List Price: $11.98

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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0724349347823
Format: Original recording reissued
Label: Capitol
Manufacturer: Capitol
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Capitol
Release Date: January 27, 1998
Studio: Capitol
Sales Rank: 11481
MPN: 93478

Disc 1:

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:

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Amazon.com:
R.E.M.'s early recordings purposefully bury Michael Stipe's vocals, allowing them to dominate the audio mix no more than Peter Buck's jangly guitar figures or Mike Mills's bass. Lifes Rich Pageant represents a subtle shift in the program, with clearly audible lyrics (though they remain obscure in meaning) on most tracks. The band still has a bit of fun with its audience, listing the songs out of order on the album sleeve and leaving a couple of them ("Underneath the Bunker," "Superman") off entirely. As good as it is to hear Stipe enunciate while he sings, the music is equally revelatory and forward-looking on the radio-friendly "Fall on Me"; harder-rocking songs like "Begin the Begin," "These Days," and "Superman" (the latter tune sung by Mills); and the haunting, folkish "Swan Swan H." --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Puts the "rock" in "jangle-rock"
This is a very good album. Some people think it's the group's best, and indeed it's up there - for my part, I prefer the damn sellout (Yeah, Exhuming McCarthey's a commercial song, all right) Document. However, this is probably their second-best album. It pounds even the most acclaimed of the group's '90s work into the ground, too. I mean, Out of Time? A glorified single release for Losing My Religion? Get outta town! And Automatic for the People? A bunch of really good singles and absolutely wretched album tracks? It doesn't have a chance! And as for Around the Sun...

Come on, do you need anyone here to tell you that this is better than Around the Sun?

Anyway, let's get down to business here. The fog that was Fables of the Reconstruction had lifted, and in its place ... Read More

Rating:

- A slicker, harder rocking R.E.M. and one of their best
After listeners struggled to hear Michael Stipe's words on their first three albums (an intentional mixing decision), suddenly everything he had to say was crystal clear...well, not counting the frequently cryptic messages. But the passages and songs with the clearest purposes prove to be something of a mistake. What little there is to clearly comprehend is often heavy-handed, even preachy at times. Despite good intentions on environmentalism, does anyone want to listen to a college radio hero standing on a soapbox?

Maybe that's one of the reasons why Lifes Rich Pageant is one of R.E.M.'s most forgotten records (despite selling better than their first three albums). Another could be a dearth of popular tunes, but then again, the harder-rocking power pop of songs like "Begin the Begin" ... Read More

Rating:

- If you must have and REM record, get this one!
This is good stuff. I was never a huge REM fan but I did like them because back in the day there were pretty cool. They had a cool stripped down sound that was unconventional at the time. What that means is they did not exactly rock my socks off but they were playing actual guitars, drums and basses instead of a synthesizer and drum machine. In my mind that was enough to make them pretty cool. My sister had Reckoning (also pretty cool) and Fables of the Reconstruction (which sucked) so when Lifes Rich Pageant came out I was pretty familiar with REM and kind of liked some of their stuff but felt funny about it because they were my sisters band. The video for Fall on Me is what sold me on the record and I am glad it did because this (as I have said) is good stuff. Buck's guitar had some snarl to ... Read More

Rating:

- Soundtrack to my early love life
Sitting in my car in front of her house, 2am on a summer's evening, listening to this album. Sneaking into the backyard and waking her with pebbles against the window pane.

1987

Rating:

- What on EARTH is that SOUND?!?!?!?!??!
The opening riff of "Begin The Begin", the opening track to Life's Rich Pageant, floored me the first time I heard it, and still does today. I think i took about 10 plays for me to even get halfway through the song the first time because I kept backing it up to hear that near-east/Indian-sounding twang, almost sounding as if George Harrison had revved up his old sitar somehow with high octane speed.
LRP isn't REM at its best, however. It IS REM at its most preachy. Though many may argue that the message got watered down in subsequent years and releases, the fact is that was done with what I have to call calculated efficiency. No one (with an ounce of dignity) wants to listen to Michael Stipe stand on a soapbox and rant at them non-stop for 45 minutes.
No matter how awesome the sound of the ... Read More

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