Before I write this next entry I want
to take a moment to bid farewell to Gregg Allman, who died this week at the age
of 69.
In one sense I came to the Allman
brothers late, only getting into their music in the last few years after Sheila
bought me their first two albums.
In another sense I’ve been into them
from the very beginning, given what an incredible influence they’ve had on the
music I’ve grown up loving. I can hear the echo of their genius in many of the bands
I love: Blue Oyster Cult, Tom Petty and Molly Hatchet all borrow from the
innovation of the Allman Brothers band.
Gregg’s life was marred by tragedy
and in the end he too left the world very early, but as musical legacies go,
you couldn’t do much better. RIP Gregg Allman.
Disc 1011 is…Monster
Artist: R.E.M.
Year of Release: 1994
What’s up with the Cover? An out-of-focus bear with a goofy
expression on its face. This cover reminds me of that horrible third jersey my
beloved Boston Bruins have been forced to wear from time to time, with the
giant bear head logo. It looks stupid, and so does this album cover.
How I Came To Know It: My roommate Greg owned this album
back when it first came out, so I heard it through him first. I think this CD
is one of Sheila’s, although I don’t recall when she bought it.
How It Stacks Up: We have six R.E.M. albums. With no apologies
to the fawning critics over the years, I put “Monster” down near the bottom at
number five.
Ratings: 2 stars
Back in
the early nineties it felt like everywhere you looked artists were being
influenced by the grunge aesthetic. REM’s entry into that canon is “Monster,” which
blends their college protest rock sound with grunge. The result is a lot of
feedback.
When I
say ‘a lot of feedback’, please understand I’m not exaggerating. This album’s
guitar sound is so fuzzed out it feels like the melodies have been choked out
from not having any room to breathe. “Monster” may succeed in its quest to
capture a restless, grinding anger, but halfway through I was ready for a
little variation.
The album
starts out with one of R.E.M.’s most iconic songs. “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” is a powerful song with a guitar
effect (in the form of a sort of feedback echo) that is as instantly recognizable
as any more traditional guitar riff. The song takes its title from an
expression shouted at Dan Rather by a man who was assaulting him. Its power and
frustration feels as deranged as those origins would predict.
Other
than that, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the lyrics on this record. It is
hard to hear Michael Stipe through all the fuzz, and it is more about the grind
and power of the guitar than other R.E.M. albums anyway. I will say that “King of Comedy” is supposed to be an
ironic title, but not only is the song not funny, it feels kind of hard-hearted
and pointless as well. R.E.M. has written plenty of solid protest music, but “King of Comedy” just feels mailed in and
obvious.
The record
picks up again with the stripped down “Strange
Currencies” which is reminiscent of something you might hear from their
previous album “Automatic for the People” which – spoiler alert – I like a lot
more. The thick guitar is still evident here, but it is tame enough to serve
the song rather than wash it out.
“Tongue” is also an intriguing palate
cleanser, where the fuzzed out guitar is replaced with a fuzzed out organ and
Stipe sings in near-falsetto. “Tongue”
gave me the break I needed from the oppressive guitar treatment of the first
half of the record. It has an almost sixties Motown quality which was a stretch
for R.E.M. but one I think they pull off nicely.
After
the more forgettable “Bang and Blame”
the boys get back to crunching it out with some white noise guitar on “I Took Your Name” which has the same
echoing feedback of “What’s the
Frequency, Kenneth?” without managing to be a great song in the process. “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” is a
delicate bit of alchemy to pull off and
on “I Took Your Name” you just get
the feeling the boys went to the well once too often.
The album
ends with three more equally heavy and ponderous songs all very similar to each
other. All that darkness after “Strange
Currencies” and “Tongue” felt
like being force-fed a second steak after I’d had my bowl of sorbetto and was
waiting for my bill; overfull and with a bad taste in my mouth.
“Monster”
is a critical darling, and while there is plenty on it that I like, if I’m
being honest outside of the one smash hit most of what I like are the album’s few
outlier songs. As a result, despite the record’s promise it is usually a long
way down the list when I find myself picking an R.E.M. album I want to listen
to.
Best
tracks: What’s
the Frequency Kenneth?, Strange Currencies, Tongue
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