R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
Written by: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 28.07.1986
When we dream in our sleep, our eyes move rapidly. On the face of it, the fate of the band "R.E.M." was supposed to remain known only to those in the know and to local fans, just like those rapid eye movements during sleep, which almost no one ever witnesses.
Their partnership with producer Don Gehman gave birth to a fourth album, "Lifes Rich Pageant", with a friendlier, less gloomy sound that was a first step on the way to turning the band into one for the wider public. The album was released on 28.07.1986.
When Michael Stipe met Peter Buck at a local record store, neither of them imagined that in a moment they would join up with the musicians Mike Mills and Bill Berry, and that from this the band "R.E.M." would be born.
As mentioned, early on the band won only local adoration and established itself as a college rock band. Stipe, the son of a military man, was forced to wander with his family throughout his childhood, and he was the one who shaped the band's identity in its early days.
After three albums on which "R.E.M." wrote mainly about loss, floods and drowning, subjects as far from the mainstream (love songs) as can be, the turnaround came, as mentioned, on the fourth album.
The change could already be sensed in the album's title, which was taken from a line in the comedy film "The Pink Panther".
True, the album cover, which shows only the top half of the face of drummer Bill Berry, indicates that the band still kept faith with its principles and refused to fall in line with the music industry, but the songs had already become clearer and dealt with politics and the environment, and Michael Stipe's mumbling turned into full-throated, confident singing, as can be heard in the near-hit "Fall on Me".
The album opens with "Begin the Begin", whose title is a reference to the song "Begin the Beguine" by Cole Porter from 1935. The lyrics evoke memories from the dawn of the history of religious freedom: Martin Luther (the Protestant Reformation) and Miles Standish's defense of the Protestant pilgrims. And cleverly they place Zen philosophy at the center, with Stipe uniting them all as he issues a political call to citizens to act.
The wonderful performance features Peter Buck's fuzzy guitars and Bill Berry's powerful drums, and prepares the listener for an album that is far from soothing as it goes on.
Right after it comes "These Days", a tight, fast song that skillfully walks the thin line between hope and simmering aggression. At this point Stipe's energy level is especially high. His performance hums and growls, and the band lets loose in rich, impeccably ordered melodies.
Bill Berry said in an interview that the song "Fall on Me" was originally about acid rain, a phenomenon that occurs when the burning of fossil fuels releases sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, causing rain to become acidic and threaten the environment.
But Michael Stipe didn't go along with Berry's assertion and said: "The song isn't about acid rain. It's a general song about oppression, about the fact that there are many causes that need a song to say: 'Don't trample us'. And specifically, it has references to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and to a guy who drops weights and feathers".
The song "Cuyahoga" is named after the river in northern Ohio around which the city of Cleveland was built. Many Native American tribes lived in the area, and they called the river simply "the winding river" because of its zigzag character and many U-shaped bends. The word "Cuyahoga" is a Native American word meaning "winding".
The river, once pristine and clean, became so polluted that it caught fire several times between 1929 and 1969. The last fire on the river drew a great deal of national attention and helped expose the problems that industrial waste caused to the environment. This contributed to advancing the legislation of the "Clean Water Act". Michael Stipe explained that the song deals with environmental destruction and with America's unpleasant history toward Native Americans.
When presenting the song "Hyena" at concerts held before the album's release, Stipe said: "The song is about the food chain. The United States is the big fish. Mexico, then Guatemala. One preys on the other. One grows".
During the eighties people feared a nuclear attack by the Soviets so much that they built themselves bunkers to hide in in case of a nuclear bombing. This is exactly what Stipe wrote "Underneath the Bunker" about.
Throughout the album, questions are asked about dark regimes. On "The Flowers of Guatemala" the arrow points at the regime in Guatemala, responsible for human rights violations that were secretly supported by the US, starting from the Eisenhower era, in very clear words that ask: "Forty people a week disappear in Guatemala. Why? Where do they go? Why do we support this?"
Stipe takes a break from politics on "I Believe", which deals with his childhood, the hardships he experienced, and advice for others. The song includes many general rules, alongside many references and plays on words.
Stipe, who grew up on the figure and songs of Elvis in his childhood, sings about him on "Just a Touch", which deals with Elvis's death and with the way the news spread by word of mouth, on the radio. The song's title was born after Stipe saw, on the night of Elvis's death, a poster advertising a show by an impersonator of the singer, on which was written: "Is it the King or just a touch?"
November 1985. "Elk's Bow", Wyoming. The band "R.E.M." is in the middle of a tour across the US to promote the album "Fables of the Reconstruction", but their bus has broken down, and for a moment they are stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Peter Buck and Michael Stipe use the opportunity to put together the song "Swan Swan H" in about 20 minutes. It is a song about what Michael describes as "a war our country forced upon itself. It's a period in our American history that was full of ugliness".
The fourth album by "R.E.M." closes with the song "Superman", which is a kind of icebreaker: for the first time since becoming a band, they put on their album a song that is in fact a cover. The original belongs to the band The Clique (a band from Austin, Texas). Its dark theme tells of a man with a slight whiff of stalking: he sees himself as Superman and believes he is able to "see right through" the girl (presumably using his X-ray vision), and so he knows she doesn't really love the guy she is with. The slightly creepy part comes when he threatens to find her even if she is "a million miles" away.
To use sporting terms, in a sense "Lifes Rich Pageant" marked the beginning of the foursome's transition, out of Athens, Georgia, from amateurism to professionalism, the kind of professionalism that turned them into a giant band whose name is counted among the greatest groups in the world today.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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