R.E.M. – Reckoning

"Murmur", R.E.M.'s full-length debut album, was unavoidably arcane, with its distinctive charms lying in its garagey, murky strangeness and Michael Stipe's mumblings. On 1984's "Reckoning", we find Michael Stipe's barely intelligible vocals still very much buried in the mix; with the ringing guitars domineering the subtle rhythm section, lyrics equally as non-linear and the pervasive mood as sombre as its predecessor, not much has changed. "Reckoning" is replete with mid-tempo jangly guitar melodies, but the effect is subdued and eerie as much as it is appealing. By subverting folk and pop, utilizing an arpeggiated guitar playing style and droningly delivered indiscernible lyrics, R.E.M. were able to create an evocative and lively yet economic musical background for which they would become renowned. Hoping to define their aesthetic even further, the band harnessed elements of Southern mythology and their underground roots, achieving an intimate, winding and mournful musical alchemy and sonic opacity that saturated and distinguished their early framework. Many of the rock clichés present on most records of the time were purposely absent here, perhaps owing to their indie cred and college rock band status. Since their music was very popular on such campus stations, the band's deliberately lo-fi production accorded with the poor audio quality of FM radio. It was this unremitting gloom and unrefined sound that saw the band fail to gain mainstream notice. Naturally, the album's detractors did not recognise that the poorly recorded sound and prevailing dreariness of the band's body of work reflected their opposition to classic rock radio, which tended to favour loud, extended guitar solos enhanced by thunderous drums and basslines. In their early career, R.E.M. rejected the mainstream rock formula, and both "Murmur" and "Reckoning" were intentionally antithetical in of commercial viability, and to some degree, this defiant stance prevented them from acquiring substantial chart success. Songs such as "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", with its infectious chorus, is suggestive of the unobscured and immediate direction that the band would take in the future, although their 1984 status as miserabilists meant that they neglected to produce a crossover hit with any of the sonically crisper tracks. Consciously, Peter Buck's accomplished, memorable strumming is recorded in such a way that materializes and bolsters a series of cohesive, fluent and indivisible compositions calculated to induce circumspection rather than buoyancy, with the album format enhancing the overall proceedings immeasurably. For all intents and purposes, the music on display was meant to replicate the punch and power of their live performances, and for the most part it succeeds in this aim due to Bill Berry's frenetic drumming and Mick Mills' basslines sounding sharper than before, though confessedly, there is production applied that destroys any illusions as to how it was recorded. In other words, there is no misapprehension that this is a studio recording and not once does the band try to delude - akin to say, Kiss on "Alive" - the instrumental quotient is merely more pronounced, as it is during their live shows.

"Reckoning" deals with darker themes, but comprehending such imagery and motifs requires multiple listens, as penetrating beneath the strangely enveloping sonic sludge takes time and patience. Even then, after hearing the album for the fifth time, its enigmatic, ethereal qualities will remain intact, stubbornly so in fact. Fathoming Stipe's poetic, arbitrary songwriting is all part and parcel of the thought-provoking aspect to this album, as one must peel back its many layers to discover the simplicity of the song structure routinely employed on each composition; deliberately opaque vocals and lyrics rely on the coalescence of the understated melodicism of the deceptively catchy choruses to effortlessly enthral the listener in a web of elegiac euphony. It is not an experience you will find aurally pleasing due to the airless, amorphic instrumentation and Stipe's shrouded vocal delivery, but in its totality, it is ittedly fresher-sounding than "Murmur" and you will be challenged cerebrally during and after the fact.

Rating: 4.5/5