R.E.M.

Murmur: Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition

UMe

originally published November 19, 2008

A quarter-century onward, R.E.M.’s Murmur remains a thing of beauty, mystery and subjective interpretation. With it, the jangly little band from Athens - Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry - created something that didn’t sound very American-Southern, though that’s where it was born, and didn’t spark easy comparisons to any albums or artists that came before it, though its songs were well-informed by the bandmembers’ personal stashes of well-worn vinyl.

Murmur also did much in establishing a certain mystique around the foursome, prompting questions like “What’s that Stipe guy singing about, anyway? A two-headed cow?” In “Pilgrimage” he was - but only sort of. Now repackaged in a 25th anniversary edition, R.E.M.’s full-length debut is still cloaked in obscure subjectivity, though we’ve seen a career’s worth of style and mood shifts from them since. As the opening “Radio Free Europe” rings clearer than ever thanks to the superb new remaster, we’re also reminded of how fresh and decidedly different Murmur, itself, sounded the first time around.

With Mitch Easter and Don Dixon’s treble-heavy production on its side, it’s remarkable how well R.E.M.’s members played off of one another even during the band’s seminal stages. The decidedly bent twang of Buck’s guitar swooping beneath Stipe’s vocals in “Catapult” is just one example of their making a simple artistic touch really count. This wasn’t exactly Oglethorpe or Milledge Avenue house party music. Instead, Murmur offered an introspective soundtrack for soul searching, alone time and road trips off the beaten path. Even if it took multiple listens to decipher Stipe’s at-times-unintelligible lyrics, each spin reverberated among a melting pot of students and punks, hippies, rockers and new wavers. And it only hinted at the chameleonic next 25 years.

Murmur: Deluxe adds a disc that features a live 1983 show from Toronto, recorded shortly after the album’s release. It’s a pretty straightforward set that includes much from Murmur, a few from the preceding Chronic Town EP, “7 Chinese Brothers” and ”Harborcoat” that would turn up on R.E.M.’s next outing, Reckoning, and a Velvet Underground cover (“There She Goes Again”). Stipe’s stage banter about the band’s tendency to spring such covers as Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room” on uncooperative audiences is, too, a highlight.

Deluxe trappings aside, the original Murmur remains one of the most creatively fertile things to ever come out of this town; a harbinger of both the alternative and indie-rock movements that followed. Wide awake, ultra-melodic and a little bit weird, it’s required listening for the generations of well read, uncompromising garage bands yet to come.

Michael Andrews

Murmur's re-release will be honored at the 40 Watt Club on Tuesday, Nov. 25.