Rickenbacker

Sorry for the wait, I was waiting for the right day to listen to this album again.


I'm sitting outside on the fourteenth of April in pleasant New Haven, Connecticut. The sun is shining through the virgin green buds of the Linden trees, casting a shadow upon the front porch on which I sit, laptop by my side. Bees buzz in the breeze, too placid to sting or even move. The temperature is a beautiful 73 degrees Fahrenheit, and R.E.M.'s 1991 record "Out of Time" is playing.

These are the days for which this album was made. I think I'm happier than I've been in months. What changed? Such is the paradox of Summer, the season during which one's troubles seem to simply drift away, as if they were never even there. The key to making what we know of as a "Summer Album" is to emulate this very feeling.

The group's previous LP Green presented them with two very different possibilities as to what path the band could go down musically. Green's raucous arena rock songs and quiet, contemplative ballads were both executed well, and it seemed left up solely to the band's wishes which they would choose, keeping in mind that the choice would effectively define the sound of their Warner Brothers Years output. After the success of their 1989 World Tour, R.E.M., exhausted from the previous decade of near-constant recording and touring (they released a studio album every year from 1982-1988, touring constantly in between), took a year long break for the purpose of assessing their options and their effective position as a mainstream-fringe recording artist. The result? A shimmering, glorious record which, despite a few glaring issues, represents the pinnacle of R.E.M.'s career musically and production-wise. Songs like Texarkana, on which Mike Mills sings lead, glow with a fresh, lush sheen that appears to sound neither dated nor radically forward-thinking. With a prevalent Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys influence, the oft-maligned Belong and Shiny Happy People are actually pretty good songs when not taken seriously. They're kind of, well...dare I say happy? Indeed, happiness is a key theme on Out of Time. Another Mike Mills lead, Near Wild Heaven rings with hints of Lifes Rich Pageant. It's springy piano line conjures thoughts of Hyena and What if We Give it Away? Like those on Lifes Rich Pageant and Green, the songs present on Out of Time feature rich and diverse musical accompaniment. Organs, horns and harpsichords adorn many songs, while classical violins and cellos provide the backing for the whole album. Incidentally, the two songs that feature lead mandolins are among the very best on the record. One is the achingly beautiful "Half A World Away," perhaps the most sincere love song R.E.M. will ever write. During what is by far his best vocal performance up to that point, Michael Stipe sings:

"Oh this lonely world is wasted
Pathetic eyes high alive
Blind to the tide that turns the sea
This storm it came up strong
It shook the trees
And blew away our fear
I couldn’t even hear"

The other song, of course, is the legendary and immortal "Losing My Religion", a song the likes of which the world will never again experience. Losing My Religion is the best pop song of the 1990s simply because it defies the conventions of a pop song. Yes, it was Losing My Religion, not Smells Like Teen Spirit that first "broke the mainstream" for alternative music, and this song is just as anthemic without ever losing its musical credibility. For me, Losing My Religion defines the emotion and spirit of the nineties, but never stops influencing me as a child of the aughts. No, the world will never know another Losing My Religion, but thankfully we can appreciate it now. Oh, and I love the music video in all its borderline-pretentious arthouse glory.

Indeed, Out of Time has very brilliant moments full of transcendent beauty. Why then, does it never reach its deserved heavenly goals? For one thing, some songs are just not up to the high bar set by classics such as Losing My Religion. The "funky" opening tune "Radio Song", featuring an inexplicable guest performance by rapper KRS-One is a near disaster, saved from utter failure only by the brief moments during which KRS is, well, not present. In addition, the instrumental "Endgame" strives for "Fall Breaks and Back into Winter", but due to its length, borders on boring and pointless. Most importantly, however, I find myself hating "Out of Time" most months of the year, simply because it truly only works as a Summer album. Today was perfect for this record, but as recently as last week I would have found myself disappointed by the thick production and spotty songwriting present. Taking this into account, the only thing that bumps "Out of Time" from being just an average album is the dark, dirge-like tenth track, an often overlooked number called "Country Feedback." This song's dark lyrics and rough musicianship would fit right at home on "Fables of the Reconstruction," and sounds like a lost classic as a result. Incidentally, Country Feedback actually hints at a very different future for R.E.M.; a future that would be met with very mixed reactions from fans and critics.

Ah well. In the end, Out of Time certainly serves a purpose. I've listened to Out of Time three times in the time it took to write this review, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

Key Tracks: "Losing My Religion", "Half a World Away", "Country Feedback"

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rym
Talk About the Passion - R.E.M.'s Discography Reviewed