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Customer Reviews
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A Band To Be Reckoned With
Murmur wasn't a smash hit commercially, but rocks critics praised it to the high heavens. Rolling Stone even named it the Best Album of 1983, a year that also featured a little album from Michael Jackson called Thriller. So R.E.M. must have felt some pressure when they went back into the studio to record their second album, right?
The band again proved they were wise beyond their years when they didn't try to record another Murmur. As great as that album was, any attempt to recreate the same album probably would have been a disaster. So they recorded something completely different. Instead of pouring over every note and meticulously layering each track as they did on Murmur, the band recorded Reckoning quickly with as few takes and overdubs as possible. The entire record only took two weeks to record. The result was a studio album that sounds like a live album.
There are many people out there who prefer Reckoning to Murmur. I'm not one of them but it's easy to see why they think that way. Reckoning is far more accessible, chock full of blistering head-on rockers like "Harborcoat," "Pretty Persuasion," "Second Guessing," and "Little America." The album also features two certified R.E.M. classics in "So. Central Rain" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville." There isn't a stinker on the album, which is the case for pretty much every album before Bill Berry retired from the group.
The only complaint I have about Reckoning is that all of those head-on rockers sound similar to me. Don't get me wrong, they're all great songs (especially "Pretty Persuasion") but they also sound like songs R.E.M. can bang out in about five minutes, which may very well have been the case during the Reckoning sessions.
There are several surprises here, however. "Camera" is a tear-jerker about a friend of theirs who died in a car crash. "Time After Time" features some really cool tribal-sounding drums. And "Rockville" is an honest to goodness country song with a great, singalong chorus. Then there's "7 Chinese Bros." which is a great song in itself but perhaps more memorable for leading to the legendary "Voice of Harold," which is featured on the b-sides compilation Dead Letter Office. "Voice of Harold" is the "7 Chinese Bros" backing track with Michael improvising the lyrics by reading the back of a gospel album -- in one take. It's funny but it's also really amazing.
Speaking of Michael Stipe, I've always thought he was the "star" of Reckoning -- the same way I've thought Bill Berry and Mike Mills were the "stars" of Murmur. Peter Buck would get his chance on later albums, too. But Stipe really stepped to the forefront on Reckoning. The lyrics were just as great (if not better) than on Murmur, and his vocals were clearer and more audible on the second album. And some of his performances here are just spine-tingling. On "So. Central Rain" (my favorite song on the album), he desperately pleads "I'm sorry" and even though you have no idea WHY he's sorry, you really feel his emotion. The song ends with Stipe just yelling in agony. Great stuff. And it's hard to forget his country twang on "Rockville" or his powerfully understated vocals on "Camera" or whatever the heck it is he's doing on "Letter Never Sent." Michael Stipe is just fantastic on Reckoning.
Reckoning proved, once and for all, that R.E.M. was a band, well, to be reckoned with. Had they stopped after two albums, I think people would still be talking about them today. Luckily, though, they didn't stop there.
Rating: -
More of the same, but it's good "same"
First the bad news: this sounds a lot like Murmur. Not an album I'd blame them for wanting to imitate, of course. But my only real problem with R.E.M. is that some of their stuff sounds exactly the same. Since I like the group's sound, I can overlook that at times for their other virtues. But after awhile they kind of painted themselves in a corner after a while. Plus Camera bores me silly, while Little America and Second Guessing seem like mere recasts of Reckoning's several triumphant moments.
So what are those triumphant moments? About five classics. I assume you've heard So. Central Rain (you know, the one that goes "I'm SOOOOORRRY! (doo doo doo doo doo) I'm SOOOOOOOORRRY!") - if you haven't, try to find a recording, fast. You probably also know (Don't Go Back to) Rockville. And if you haven't, that's another one to try and hunt up. You've also got your folk/worldbeat fusion (Time After Time, which has nothing to do with Cyndi Lauper if you were worried), you've god an eerie ballad with plenty of mandolin (Seven Chinese Brothers), your ethereal, complexely harmonized ballads (Harborcoat, Letter Never Sent, Pretty Persuasion) - enough to make this one of their best ever - maybe even better than Murmur, which would make it second to only Document. Good, good, good stuff.
Rating: -
Solid R.E.M. for fans of Murmur or Document
Great follow-up to sounds like Murmur and others. Creative, fun folky pop-rock, tunes in the style of Bob Dylan/Beatles and 70s folk-rock. FANS .... Add to your collection. Casual Listeners... great listen throughout album.
Some impressive advancements from earlier works. Great prelude to Document and Out of Time
Rating: 
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Life-Changing Album
I seldom go on the record for ANYTHING. But the song, "Time After Time" really did change my appreciation for music. I can't say "for life" because I didn't change that much. I had smoked some world-class pot, I had listened to "Time After Time", and I had UNDERSTOOD. The richness of Michael Stipe's voice and the melody really did hit home with me. It ranks as one of the top musical experiences of my life (Sonny and Cher on "Letterman" and REM on "Letterman" also qualify, so be warned...) and, dare I say it, it is THE most musically transportative moment of my life. Timing is everything and the song and my mindset were "just so" (thank you, Rudyard Kipling) on that fateful day (eh, Pincus, poor little ERIC Pincus) so that it resonated with me-and still does to this day. It moved me then, it moves me now, and it will move me til the day I die.
Rating: 
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Not Up To Snuff
The common practice seems to be to praise the earlier albums, and trash the bigger selling albums. However, the fact remains, this album is not in the class of Out of Time, Automatic, or Monster. "Rockville" and "South Central Rain" are essentials, of course, and there is some other interesting stuff, but there's just too much filler here to put this with their best work.
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