R.E.M. - Out of Time
When I was thinking about how I wanted to approach this record differently than what I’ve done in the past, the first thing I did was come up with a list of albums that I wanted it to sit with:
1. The Wallflowers - Breach
2. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
3. 16 Horsepower - Low Estate
4. Lucero - Among the Ghosts
5. Wilco - Being There
6. R.E.M. - Out of Time & Fables of the Reconstruction
Then when I asked Paul to produce it and we had our first conversation on the phone about it, he asked me to make a playlist for him; ten songs I thought were amazing and then ten to fifteen that were close to what I’m trying to do (What’s Amazing & What I’m Trying to Do Playlist). Normally, for those of you who don’t know, you’ll make a reference playlist, but that is more geared towards sonics; things that are recorded well, drum sounds, etc. Picking ten songs to call my musical DNA was much harder.
Nothing from Out of Time made the top ten songs (trying to make sure I covered as many bases as possible), but there’s no doubt it is a part of my musical DNA. From seeing the video on MTV for “Losing My Religion”, to hearing that song in a well-placed scene in Beverly Hills, 90201, both in 1991, to later on, being around my friend Jon Myers who was an R.E.M. fan like none I’ve met since, the songs on this record helped shaped how I view songs and songwriting.
First off, I’ll admit, I skip “Shiny Happy People”. There’s nothing wrong with it, and as Mike Mills recently told Rick Beato, it’s “for kids”. Okay, that’s fine, my biggest gripe is it doesn’t really sit well on what’s otherwise a melancholic record. “Radio Song” is a bit of a stretch, with KRS-One guesting and a more upbeat groove, but it still fits and, considering the tone of the rest of the record, makes for a smart opening track on the record. Peter’s arpeggios and Michael’s impassioned pleas, “The world is collapsing, around our ears, I turned up the radio, I can’t hear it”, gives the continuity needed.
When Rick Beato asked Mike if they knew they had something special with “Losing My Religion”, he said sarcastically, “Yeah, a five-minute song with no chorus and whose lead instrument is a mandolin, yeah, top of the charts.” He did say; however, they knew it was a great song. Not every hit is a great song and not every great song is a hit, but sometimes it happens. It is incredibly arranged and a well-written song. While there is no well-defined chorus, per se, there are repeating lines and melodies that allow the listener to grab onto quickly. And the attention to detail, even the short mandolin lick at the end, a repeated E at the 12th fret on the mandolin before that baby step descending lick is just the right length. Most people would have built a song around that, but R.E.M. just used it as a tag at the end of a song. Sometimes less is more.
I certainly was a melancholic child, and by 1991, I was ingesting R.E.M., Chris Isaak’s Heart Shaped World, U2’s The Joshua Tree and others alongside grunge and Top 40 radio, but as I grew into a teenager, with new messy feelings about the fairer sex, Out of Time sounded exactly like I felt. “Low”, “I skipped the part about love, it seemed so silly and low”. Then a little up again with “Near Wild Heaven” though the lyrics betray the optimism of the music underneath. There’s hope in yearning, it’s a mix of something being so close but not having it yet, you’re not in wild heaven, but you’re near it.
Then you’re at “Endgame” which doesn’t have any discernable words. You don’t know how you feel about this. The melody is beautiful, but the main ascending arpeggio is uncomfortable in that you don’t know where it’s going, only for it to end in a slightly whimsical refrain that doesn’t really take you all the way, only to the fork in the road. One strong memory I have of this is song is learning how to play it by borrowing Jon’s sheet music for this album (without asking) and sitting in my bedroom in Muncie, Indiana (circa 1998), smoking Camel Lights and working on that whimsical part until I could nail it… and Jon realized I’d “borrowed” it and asked for it back, but it only took me a couple hours to learn it, so it worked out!
“Half a World Away” is where this record really goes into overdrive for me. “I had too much to drink, I didn’t think of you, I guess that’s all I needed”. This might be where my love of the harpsichord started for me as well, but the underlying melodies, Michael’s lyrics and vocal melodies, it’s haunting.
“Country Feedback” could’ve been where they ended things. There’s a finality here, but they couldn’t leave you this down, so “Me in Honey” lifts things back up a bit. As much as I like, “Me in Honey”, I kind of wish they’d finished with “Country Feedback”. Again, so perfectly laid out, every element is right. “I had control, I lost myself, I need this”. This could have been emo Tik Tok kid music when their parents were their age (or earlier I suppose). It’s an uncomfortable ache. Perhaps it’s listening to this alone on pitch black, humid, teenage Indiana nights that allowed me to feel uncomfortable the rest of my life and be okay with it. I don’t know.
My generation knows the impact of R.E.M. I hope Millennials and Gen Z know it too. If not, they’re missing out.