Murmur Remastered

This album had a major impact on my life. It was the first time that I heard music that was not in heavy rotation on the radio and liked what I heard. Loved what I heard. I played this cassette in the 80's so much that it wore out and I had to get a second copy. Now R.E.M. have remastered and re-issued what I consider to be one of the finest albums ever recorded.

Murmur was arguably the first album to start the college radio music scene. Any band who calls themselves alternative has R.E.M. to thank for blazing that trail through the music landscape.

This album is a mix of Stipe's garbled lyrics, Peter Buck's jangling guitar, and Mike Mills driving Rickenbacker basslines in the backdrop. The songs were like nothing else at the time, and were largely ignored by the public being lost in the storm of vanhalen, heart, and 80's one hit wonders.

Check out this interview with Peter Buck to get his take on the reissue.

Of course nobody could understand Michael Stipe's lyrics back in the day. Maybe the remastering will make it all clear. Hope not.

Here's a few samples of this masterpiece