Customer Reviews

Murmur

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oh yeah, you better believe it! This album is proof of how great R.E.M. really are. They weren't afraid to try something different from the very beginning... this cd is anything but ordinary!

One of my favourite things about this great cd is that the songs work well together, and blend in well to make it an atmospheric experience... you won't be skipping any tracks on this one! Where as on albums like Green, you play it to hear the hits, but everything else isn't as good.

Except for Radio Free Europe, the bands first single, there's not any song that stands out over the other, and that's the way I like it. All the tracks are different, but provide you with the same basic atmosphere and listening pleasure. We Walk is very different to West Of The Fields, but they work together so well!

The gem of the album has to be Perfect Circle, a truely beautiful song. Pilgramage is fantastic and fun, as is Moral Kiosk and Catapult. You really can't go wrong with this cd, it's full of underrated R.E.M. classics.

It's effectively a toss up between this and Automatic for R.E.M.s best (though I heard Lifes Rich Pageant is the best, I just have to wait till I get my grubby mits on it!) But this cd is definatly worth your time. Listen to the cd that created Alternative Rock and started the legend that is R.E.M.!!

When asked, I think most fans would say this and "Automatic For The People" are their best albums, roughly. "Murmur" of course is their debut, and even more amazing considering that. No big hits really, but front to back it's extremely consistant, meaning that each track is a stand-out. Their mid-80's albums are all great as well, just not this great. It's all a bit alt-country, punk, folk, and I guess what alternative would eventually come to be. Their 80's collection "Eponymous" includes two of these songs, but tracks like "Perfect Circle" and "Shaking Through" must be heard also. Overall, if you get just one of their early albums, "Murmur" is an excellent start.

Leaving behind the garagey jangle-pop of their first recordings,
R.E.M. developed a strangely subdued variation of its
trademark sound for its full-length debut album, Murmur.
Heightening the enigmatic tendencies of Chronic Town by
de-emphasizing the backbeat and accentuating the ambience of
the ringing guitar, R.E.M. created a distinctive sound for the
album -- one that sounds eerily timeless. Even though it is firmly
in the tradition of American folk-rock, post-punk and
garage-rock, Murmur sounds as if it appeared out of nowhere,
without any ties to the past, present or future. Part of the
distinctiveness lies in the atmospheric production, which exudes
a detached sense of mystery, but it also comes from the remarkably accomplished songwriting. The
songs on Murmur sound as if they've existed forever, yet they subvert folk and pop conventions by
taking unpredictable twists and turns into melodic, evocative territory, whether it's the measured riffs
of "Pilgrimage," the melancholic "Talk About the Passion" or the winding guitars and pianos of
"Perfect Circle." TRULY R.E.M's best album and surley one of the top 5 albums of the 80's.

No, I don't mean R.E.M.'s breakout album that came out 8 years later. I mean that "Murmur" has a sound that really was out of its time compared to other 80s music.

It's a bold, I-don't-care album with some terrific, catchy tunes. "Radio Free Europe" and "Talk About the Passion" are classics that definitely stand the test of time -- unlike much of the songs from the time "Murmur" debuted.

The rest of the album is very solid, especially for a debut album. Not a clunker in the bunch. This is testimony to R.E.M.'s brilliance from the get-go and their adaptability. Just think of how many other bands from 1983 that were merely one-hit wonders!

However, I think this is an album that those new to R.E.M. should hold off on getting until they've had a chance to get familiar with the band through albums like "Automatic for the People" and "Out of Time", which I think have sound that is little easier to connect with. Then, venture deeper into the band's history and pick up "Murmur" to get a sense of the band's original sound and how it evolved over time. (For those R.E.M. junkies that don't have "Murmur" in their collections, what are you waiting for? If you don't have it, you have a gaping hole in your R.E.M. collection!)

This is by far one of the most excellent albums REM has produced. I believe Michael Stipe has a beautiful voice and is very talented as of the rest of the band. Over a decade now, the songs to that album bring back so many memories.

Murmur is the first LP that R.E.M. put out. They had put out a shorter 5 song EP called Chronic Town about 1 year earlier. You can listen to that on Dead Letter Office, and you'll find the songs are quite different from those on Murmur. Murmur has a quiet simplicity to it that puts it apart from later R.E.M. recordings. You don't have extra musicians in there to muddle the mix. You've got Bill, Mike, Peter, and Michael in there, however limited their skills may have been musically, they made up for it. Listen to Perfect Circle and imagine being outside during the summer watching kids play ball as the sun goes down. Peter has said that Perfect Circle is about this feeling. Michael has said it's about a relationship gone wrong. The beauty of R.E.M. is that the song could be either. They were also innovative back then. If you listen to "We Walk" in the background you can hear Bill Berry playing pool. It's neat. After you listen to "We Walk" you'll never go up the stairs the same way again. Pick up this CD for your collection. As Michael would say "A Must!"

This serves as REM's full length debut and aside from the self titled Marshall Crenshaw of the same era, is hands down one of the most important pieces of work ever to emerge from the 80's. I was in 11th grade when this gem came out liking it then but I only appreciate its genius now. Now for you younger folks, if overproduced synthetic crap music is what makes you tick then this recording is gonna take some getting used to. In fact you may never get used to it at all. The album's "rawness" is its beauty. No drum machines, overdubbed doped up vocals etc. Just 4 guys from Athens GA setting the standard for a new genre of music. It takes several listens to grasp it (forget the lyrics which you will NEVER get)and 20 plus years later still holds up as unique, groundbreaking, and worthy of all the critical praise it received. Give it a shot...you will like what you hear:)

I have recently been listening to a lot of really good music either new to me or just plain new. A good portion of it has been alt country and punk. After listening to this album, I realize that alt country has been around for a while. The genre just never gained any steam. REM's Murmur is a real testament to this style, but it also transcends it completely. I don't think that I managed to decipher more than ten words of Stipe's lyrics and this includes all the titles. But that's neither here nor there. The album is a lush acoustic production of jangly and tightly wound songs which sends the listener into a trance(the one that Michael Stipe's already in). Think Astral Weeks meets the Ramones. It has all mystical qualities of Van Morrison's work as well as the energy and drive of any great punk band. The sound of youth and enlightenment compliments of the little band from Atlanta that could.

The music is great. The words are maddening. I prefer later stuff like Green.

When looking at the best debut albums of the '80s, "Murmur" is surely quite a contender. After more than 20 years, its still hard to believe that this was R.E.M.'s first full length, preceded only by the "Chronic Town" EP. In an era of dated new wave albums that nobody would recall in a few years, this little known band (at the time) offered something truly unique and special in their music. "Murmur" almost seems to hint at the spirit of the new wave music at the time, yet this music is of so much more substance. It truly deserves a genre of its own; I call it "alternative folk" for a chuckle. As R.E.M. freaks already know, it was not a commercial breakthrough, but it was a college rock and alternative/indie hit. Give it just a couple listens and it's not hard to see why. "Murmur" is the sound of a band arriving fully formed on their debut, showing an impossible combination of self-confidence and innocence in their music. Both musically and lyrically, this album is not easy to label or comprehend immeadiately, but this is it's beauty and intent. "Murmur" means something different to every music fan who hears it, yet one reoccuring tale I've noticed with some reviewers is how much this album meant to them as a college student/young adult trying to find their footing in the world. That is most likely what it means to me. The songs "Sitting Still" and "Shaking Through" can represent two different attitudes any young person can have toward reaching their future dreams, depending on their outlook and dedication. I love the meaning these songs have for me and the beauty of the lyrics is how they can be interpreted ambigiously. One of my favorite lyrics is "You're like a Geisha Doll"-a loving compliment to someone that means only what you want it to mean to you. It's something a child would say, but this is the kind of childlike innocence that is all over "Murmur." Many people found this kind of music guiding at the time (and others still do today), allowing hope for future music that prided a spiritual value over a commercial one. The fact that this sublimely innocent album was R.E.M.'s first only makes matters even more eerie. All tracks are significant, but especially look out for "Perfect Circle," which is undeniably a perfect song.