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From:R.E.M. , Capitol ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#8585 |
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6 of 7 customers found the following review helpful:
 Soundtrack to my early love life, 2007-01-24
Sitting in my car in front of her house, 2am on a summer's evening, listening to this album. Sneaking into the backyard and waking her with pebbles against the window pane.
1987
4 of 7 customers found the following review helpful:
 What on EARTH is that SOUND?!?!?!?!??!, 2006-11-28
The opening riff of "Begin The Begin", the opening track to Life's Rich Pageant, floored me the first time I heard it, and still does today. I think i took about 10 plays for me to even get halfway through the song the first time because I kept backing it up to hear that near-east/Indian-sounding twang, almost sounding as if George Harrison had revved up his old sitar somehow with high octane speed.
LRP isn't REM at its best, however. It IS REM at its most preachy. Though many may argue that the message got watered down in subsequent years and releases, the fact is that was done with what I have to call calculated efficiency. No one (with an ounce of dignity) wants to listen to Michael Stipe stand on a soapbox and rant at them non-stop for 45 minutes.
No matter how awesome the sound of the music is, which it truly is on this album. It's big, it's beefy, it's their hardest-rocking album prior to Monster, and it's one of their better records...on the whole.
But remember something in that I am not alone in this assessment. Rolling Stone - in the mid 1990s - called this album the NADIR of Stipe's songwriting. It's just too preachy. After this the story stayed the same, the method in which it was delivered - lyrically and musically - became more user-friendly. If no one is listening to you yelling, make them hear what you're saying by pleasing them.
It worked, and I've no qualms with that.
As for this record itself, it's a jump in an ice cold pool on a 100 degree day in terms of going from early REM albums to this stage of the band's career. The drums are so prevalent in the mix they seem to obliterate the previous incarnation of the band's sound.
"Begin the Begin", "Fall On Me", "I Believe", and "Just A Touch" are some of their best tunes to listen to, even though some of the lyrical content is - as previously stated - a little heavy-handed. Though I may sound a bit harsh on this matter, I do love this album, and in fact, the guitar part for "Swan Swan H" - though it's subject matter is morose and dreary - was used as the wedding march by my first wife in our wedding.
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
R.E.M.'s Rich Recording, 2006-09-03
'Life's Rich Pageant' is the fourth R.E.M. full-length album, and like the predecessors, is accomplished. This album, like the others, has a trademark. Here it contains their most unconventionally conventional pop and rock songs. "...Pageant" contains propulsive anthems and some of their most pop-pleasing songs of any album. Their accomplishments were enough to propel them to the top ten next time around.
The anthems are positive pieces of power pop. "Begin the Begin," "These Days," and "I Believe" are uplifting. Some of the songwriting improved, and Michael Stipe can hardly be accused of mumbling the songs this time. "Cuyahoga" and "Fall on Me" are terrific lyrically and musically. They showcase how insightful R.E.M really is. The other songs are excellent as well, like the energetic and entertaining "Hyena" and "Superman" and the thoughtful and hypnotic "Why Don't We Give It Away" and "Swan, Swan H-". Song for song, 'Life's Rich Pageant' lives up to its title and delivers a C.D. just as worthy as most of R.E.M.'s best work.
4 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
The best of REM, 2006-07-26
Pageant is REM's best album, in my opinion, followed by Murmur and Automatic. This album contains a unique blend of their jangle-folk-rock roots and the lyrical mainstream band they would later become. For the first time, political themes show up frequently through a number of songs (Flowers of Guatemala, These Days, Begin the Begin, even Cuyahoga). This style is fantastic, but unfortunately unique to Pageant. Sadly, they basically abandoned this style for Document and Green (their worst work), finally rising out of the ashes with Out of Time and Automatic. So buy this album, because it's your only chance to hear something this good from REM.
The album gets off to a roaring start with Begin the Begin, a great fast-paced opener, followed by These Days, both great songs, although it's not easy to glean deep meaning from them. Fall on Me, which offers Mike Mill's finest backing vocals and their catchiest chorus outside of End of the World as We Know It. Fall on Me is followed by Cuyahoga, which, although relatively unknown, is my favorite REM song. Without stating anything directly, the song captures the speaker's sadness for the demise of the red Cuyahoga river, which symbolizes the loss his passing youth,(we knee skinned it you and me, we knee skinned that river red, we gathered up our friends) and all his memories that center around the river (this is where we walked, this is where we swam, take a picture here, take a souvenir) and his anger at the beaurocracy he blames for the river's demise (we are not your allies).
With the exception of Flowers of Guatemala, the other songs don't touch the first four. Flowers of Guatemala is a slow, lyrical song that effectively evokes the Guatemalan genocide with the repetition of the line "the flowers cover everything, they cover over everything" and expresses hope for Guatemala. Despite what has happened, the flowers remain.
The other tracks are enjoyable, notably fast-paced Hyena and piano driven Just a Touch, I Believe, which contrasts ruminations on life with random lines (I believe in example, I believe my throat hurts) and Swan Swan H, a strange and relatively forgettable song that has one line (johnny reb, what's the price of heroes) that sticks with me (tell that to the captain's mother). Superman is an enjoyable pop song, and features Mills singing on another of his line of sweet, lyrical songs (check out Near Wild Heaven from Out of Time). What If We Give it Away is a relatively forgettable song which sounds like it belonged on Murmur, not Pageant.
Overall, a phenomenal recording, with no songs you have to skip over. Sometimes, trying to take some kind of meaning from these songs is not easy, but the music is really enjoyable. It really is REM's best effort, and if you have any interest in the band before they broke into the mainstream, you should buy this CD. Even if you've only heard the Automatic-era stuff, buy it anyway. It's well worth it.
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
Their best, 2006-06-28
I've followed REM since their "Fables" days, and "Pageant" is my favorite of all of their albums followed closely by "Automatic for the People". I get the feeling that REM is running out of melodies as of late...or else, they don't want to repeat themselves.
"Lifes Rich Pageant" is one of a few albums that I can listen to from beginning to end, because it's consistently that good throughout. "Pageant" combines the folk rock of "Murmur", "Reckoning" and "Fables of the Reconstruction" with the punchiness of good old fashioned rock: the guitars rock harder, the drums boom louder, and Michael Stipe's vocals come front and center.
"Pageant" begins with an amazing 4 songs: "Begin the Begin", "These Days", "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga". "Begin" and "These Days" inspire me to go out and do something bold. "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga" are beautiful mid-tempo songs. Mike Mills' backing vocals on this album, and in particular "Fall on Me", are great. For as much as people focus on Michael Stipe, Mike Mills is the glue: his backing vocals and bass playing add a great dimension to the band. And of course, Mills stars with his own turn at lead vocals in "Superman", a re-make of a Clique song. Other luminaries on "Pageant" include "Flowers of Guatemala" and "I Believe". While "Fall on Me" is probably my favorite on "Pageant" for its sheer melody and lyrics, "Superman" is the funnest of the bunch - and even better to watch live as the crowd howls when Mills takes the vocals for a rare turn.
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