Life's Rich Pageant (1986) (Reissued)

Artist: R.E.M.
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Product Summary
Label: Emd/capitol
UPC: 00724349347823
Release Date: 1/27/1998
Buy.com Sku: 60134810
Item#: M9JPTQ
Format:  CD

Song Listing

Disc 1
Song TitleSample
1. Begin The Begin ~ R.E.M.
2. These Days ~ R.E.M.
3. Fall On Me ~ R.E.M.
4. Cuyahoga ~ R.E.M.
5. Hyena ~ R.E.M.
6. Underneath The Bunker ~ R.E.M.
7. Flowers Of Guatemala, The ~ R.E.M.
8. I Believe ~ R.E.M.
9. What If We Give It Away? ~ R.E.M.
10. Just A Touch ~ R.E.M.
11. Swan Swan H ~ R.E.M.
12. Superman ~ R.E.M.


(C) I.R.S.

 
Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
The songs on LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT are listed out of order on the packaging. Two songs on the record, "Underneath The Bunker" and a cover of the Clique's "Superman," aren't listed at all.
R.E.M.: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar); Mike Mills (bass); Bill Berry (drums).
Recorded at The Belmont Mall, Belmont, Indiana.
Personnel: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar); Bill Berry (drums).
Audio Mixer: Ross Hogarth.
Recording information: Belmont Mall Studio, Belmont, IN.
Coming after the dark and arty FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION, 1986's LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT was R.E.M.'s first tentative step towards the rock & roll mainstream. At the time, Don Gehman's production sounded shockingly bright and commercial, but, in hindsight, the album is clearly a dry run for the impending commercial pinnacle of GREEN, OUT OF TIME, and AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE. The gorgeous "Fall on Me" (an ecological meditation featuring a spectacularly pretty chorus sung in counterpoint by Michael Stipe and Mike Mills) remains the record's best-known track. However, it is a quartet of harder-rocking songs--"Begin the Begin," "Cuyahoga," "Just a Touch" (which quotes Patti Smith's 1975 deconstruction of "My Generation") and a giddy cover of the Clique's psych-pop obscurity "Superman" sung by Mills--that points towards the Georgia band's more emotionally direct and musically loose future. LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT has been largely overshadowed by its more commercially successful follow-ups, but it remains one of R.E.M.'s strongest albums.

Producer: Don Gehman

Engineer: Don Gehman; Greg Edward; Ross Hogarth

 
Artist Overview
This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into the money-making "alternative rock" sound, the group refused to stand still, constantly changing and developing without ever abandoning their underground principles. Somehow they became superstars along the way, but it's never affected their commitment to their music. In 1997, drummer Bill Berry left the band, but Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills soldiered on in his absence.

Artist Influences
Big Star | Bob Dylan | Buffalo Springfield | David Bowie | Gram Parsons | Iggy Pop | Leonard Cohen | Patti Smith | Skip Spence | T. Rex | Talking Heads | Television | The Beach Boys | The Beatles | The Byrds | The Soft Boys | The Velvet Underground | Wire

Artist Contemporaries
10,000 Maniacs | Absolute Grey | Billy Bragg | Blake Babies | Bob Mould | Camper Van Beethoven | Chris Stamey | Crash Test Dummies | Daniel Lanois | Don Dixon | Dream Syndicate | Echo & the Bunnymen | Galaxie 500 | Game Theory | Grant Lee Buffalo | Green on Red | Guadalcanal Diary | Hsker D | Hetch Hetchy | Hoodoo Gurus | James | Let's Active | Lloyd Cole | Love Tractor | Meat Puppets | Minutemen | Miracle Legion | Mission of Burma | Morrissey | Neil Young | Oh-OK | Pylon (US) | Rain Parade | Richard Thompson | Robyn Hitchcock | Sonic Youth | Soul Asylum | Sugar | Sunbirds | Syd Straw | Teenage Fanclub | The B-52's | The Bats (New Zealand) | The Beautiful South | The Church | The Cranberries | The dB's | The Feelies | The Golden Palominos | The Jayhawks | The Long Ryders | The Reivers | The Replacements | The Smithereens | The Smiths | The Three O'Clock | The Waterboys | Toad the Wet Sprocket (Modern Rock) | Tori Amos | Translator | U2 | Uncle Tupelo | Wilco | Wire Train | Yo La Tengo

Artist Followers
10,000 Maniacs | Beck | Buffalo Tom | Continental Drifters | Drivin' n' Cryin' | Live | Nirvana (US) | Radiohead | Teenage Fanclub | The Reivers | The Silos | Toad the Wet Sprocket (Modern Rock) | Why Make Clocks | Yo La Tengo


 
Compilation Appearances
Where The Pyramid Meets The Ey
On The Charts: irsrecords
Austin Powers-Spy Who Shagged Me
Vanilla Sky
KCRW: Sounds Eclectic Too (Live)
Bachelor Party
Tunesmith The Songs Of Jimmy Webb
Joel Whitburn Presents: billboard #1'
Buzz
2003 Collection: Live From Austin Texas
Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground
Mary Had A Little Amp
Chicken Little
Mtv Unplugged Vol 2:very Best Of
Athfest 10
Kurt Cobain:about A Son
He's Just Not That Into You (Original Soundtrack)

 
Associated Artists and Works
Artists, Various
Artists, Various
Pickin' On R.E.M.: The Bluegrass Tribute ~ On, Pickin'
Original Soundtrack
Original Soundtrack
Original Soundtrack
Pickin' On R.E.M.: The Bluegrass Tribute ~ Pickin' On
Various Artists
Various Artists
The String Quartet Tribute to R.E.M., Vol. 2 ~ Various Artists
Various Artists
Fragile: The Piano Tribute To R.E.M. ~ Various Artists
Vitamin String Quartet
Sentimental Hygiene [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster] ~ Zevon, Warren
Zevon, Warren
Zevon, Warren

 
Technical Info
Release Date : 01/27/1998
Original Release Date : 1986
Catalog ID : 93478
Label : Capitol Records (USA)
Number of Discs : 1
Runtime : 37m : 24s
Studio/Live : Studio
Mono/Stereo : Stereo
SPAR Code : AAD
UPC : 00724349347823

 
Professional Reviews
CMJ (1/5/04, p.18)
- Ranked #12 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1986"

NME (Magazine)
(9/6/97, p.53)
- "...Rickenbacker jangles and increasingly audible lyrics to the fore, ...PAGEANT is the sound of an REM completely jarred off with their 'indie darlings' tag and duly picking up proper FM airplay..."

  
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