O_RLLY band

If you're French it means you're a hit single! Take it as a compliment

Ooh, that's a good reminder. I'd always vaguely known about the project but never actually remembered to seek it out. Listening to Palo Verde now. REALLY nice.

I'm so tired of having to CONTENT the Thing and thinking about CONTENTing the Thing that I can't be arsed doing any more Thing. Even the upcoming Thing. Balls to all of it.

"Anyone here from Tarporley?"

Such exquisite writing. I remember watching Reggie at a similar age and, yes, taking its absurd mundanity and mundane absurdity at face value through the jokes I got, and those that flew over my young head.

This *is how it be.

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Living Well Is The Best Revenge

#REMtop30 honourable mentions:

From Accelerate - Living Well Is The Best Revenge

A direct response to the previous track? An updated These Days, restating the manifesto and rebooting the rebellion. Mills slides us into the chaos.

The gospel according to who?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj55...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic I Wanted To Be Wrong

#REMtop30 honourable mentions:

From Around The Sun - I Wanted To Be Wrong

The best thing on ATS, the one moment where Stipe remembers how to write a lyric. It's Larry David's conflicted shrug, a futile frustrated protest. We lost.

Mythology's seductive.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg48...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Let Me In (Remastered)

#REMtop30 honourable mentions:

From Monster - Let Me In.

A primal requiem, naked and howling from the very depths of grief. Regretful and lost, buried by noise.

Clumsy, crawling out of my skin.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOk0...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic King Of Birds

Some #REMtop30 honourable mentions from the 4 albums not represented in the 30:

From Document - King Of Birds.

A martial raga, a jeweller's stone. Point to point, points the way towards the sky, points the way towards Green.

A mean idea to call my own.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASok...

I can't help but imagine how this song would be viewed if the band had indeed split after Up. It was close. Very close. It's a spellbinding song.

We are concern.
We are hope despite the times.

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Perfect Circle

#REMtop30

Number 1 🥇

Perfect Circle.

She rises - not yet, please not yet. From your perspective on the bare mattress her head seems to touch the ceiling.
This will be the last time.

Heaven assumed.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3beI...

#REMtop30

Massive thanks to @tansleyjames.bsky.social for corralling us all in this. It's been a wonderful month of (re)discovery.

And at number one, douze points from the O_RLLY jury...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Fall On Me

#REMtop30

Number 2.

Fall On Me.

Clarion clear, as crisp as a blue-skied winter morning. A love song to the air, interlocking voices spiralling upwards to the wounded heavens. Three minutes of perfection.

Lift your arms up to the sky.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHsX...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic You Are The Everything (Remastered 2013)

#REMtop30

Number 3.

You Are The Everything.

The cicadas awaken half-recalled memories of warmth and light. The sound of feeling cocooned and secure. You are safe, and you are loved.

The stars are the greatest thing you've ever seen
and they're there for you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9HN...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Texarkana

#REMtop30

Number 4.

Texarkana.

Widescreen melodrama, hurtling along with the irrepressible growl of Mike Mills' greatest bassline, and the biggest sky of Stipe's howl above. Then those stops. Those perfect stops.

Twenty thousand chances I wasted.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p16q...

Oh, they're so handy. We've got a fitted tray, and a mat to sit on top. If we need to transport owt manky then the mat comes out.

YouTube video by remhq R.E.M. - Find The River (Official Music Video) [Parallel Video Version]

#REMtop30

Number 5.

Find The River.

The final question for all of us is how we end. I wish for all of you that it comes with the grace, dignity and mindfulness of Find The River. No notes.

The river to the ocean goes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIJG...

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Shaking Through

#REMtop30

Number 6.

Shaking Through.

Stealth darkness within the jangle. A Trojan Horse of verse and chorus; descending, ascending, too tuneful to be a single. Oh, and throw in a key change why don't you. Sublime.

Are we grown way too far?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGD8...

Stipe's final atonal shrieks are genuinely disturbing, horrorfilm stuff. So powerful. Brilliant choice.

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic Sweetness Follows

#REMtop30

Number 7.

Sweetness Follows.

The stark brutality of that opening line leaves nowhere to hide. Nor would you want to. This is succour, a nod that as you grieve, you're expected to, and therein lies dignity.

We were altogether lost in our little lives.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7aH...

yeah well we've got three cars and one of them's a porsche and we've got a swimming pool and my dad's friends with Frank Bruno and I've got all the star wars toys even the ones they only sell in america.

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic [Don't Go Back To] Rockville (Remastered 2006)

#REMtop30

Number 8.

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville.

An early Mills masterstroke. Direct, unashamedly tuneful and *just about hokey enough to soar. When a prank transcends its intention beyond all measure.

You'll be coming back before too long.

youtu.be/jk13QjR96mY?...

Holy moly, The Beths were *exceptional* last night. Every song fizzing with melody, harmony and heart. They're getting better and better. An absolute privilege to witness. @thebeths.bsky.social

Aladdin Sane isn't it, not Lady Grinning Soul (although the piano on that is also excellent). That's what I get for hastily writing while rushing out the door to see The Beths.

YouTube video by remhq R.E.M. - How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us (Official Music Video)

#REMtop30

Number 9.

How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us.

A dusky dusty soundtrack to an auteur's minimalist western. Nothing on the horizon except a Lady Grinning piano breakdown. Like nothing else the band ever did.

Watch the decline from a hazy distance.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BC0...

👀...

Yay! Justice for Up!

Oh, the atmosphere of this one. Beautiful.

YouTube video by R.E.M. - Topic I Believe (2011 Remaster)

#REMtop30

Number 10.

I Believe.

Into the top 10 now, and with the most exquisite melodies.

Pop-banjo. A manifesto. Chiming, spiralling, endlessly propulsive, a call to action.

Trust in your calling, make sure your calling's true.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbUS...