Murmer & Reckoning
Murmur
R.E.M.
IRS Records
released April 12, 1983
Produced by Mitch Easter
and Don Dixon
Reckoning
R.E.M.
IRS Records
released April 9, 1984
Produced by Mitch Easter
and Don Dixon
Without exaggeration, R.E.M.’s debut album Murmur single-handedly ushered in what became known as college rock which led to alternative rock and later, indie. In my opinion, Murmur is the alpha and omega of all the aforementioned genre labels. If anything early R.E.M. should be regarded as Southern Goth.
The beauty of Murmer and it’s equally great follow-up, Reckoning is that they took the beauty of The Byrds chiming guitars and was used to accentuate country-tinged song structures and melodies.
Frontman Michael Stipe’s manner crooning allowed him to, for a lack of a better description, invent the mumbled lyric. Producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon steeped R.E.M.’s southern gothic sound which further obscured the lyrics meaning and allusions, athough less so on Reckoning,
Listen to Murmur
Listen to Reckoning
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