Shiny Happy People?!
Oops, forgot about that one. I stand corrected.
sad albums
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Come Tomorrow - Manfred Man
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To me ear with the exception of “Stand” every REM song I’ve ever heard sounds depressing. Then again I own none of their albums and am only familiar with their music from the radio.
Find The River from Automatic For The People is a very positive song as are a few from the Reveal album.
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Shiny Happy People?!
Yeah but it's shite.
I think Stipe's vocal intonations tend to the sorrowful, often giving a general 'down' air to REM's work even when the music is upbeat and/or the song positive, or at least ambivalent enough to not be depressing. I could do that fan thing of listing songs of theirs that don't fit the 'depressing' stereotype, of which there are dozens, but I won't. I'm a fan but if you're not, you're not and don’t need to be "tutored". Suffice to say, I totally disagree with the REM choices offered up as "sad albums".
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Duke of Earl of Mar Thanks for flagging that Wendy & Lisa album, I was a fan and saw them play in London, but wasn't aware of that album so must investigate. Waterfalls (the original album mix) and Why Wait For Heaven are among my favourites of theirs.
There isn't one album I can think of I'd classify as a "sad album". I suppose the earlier suggestion of Hats by The Blue Nile would come close as it has a general downbeat vibe (as that band often do) but even then it's less straightforward than the album simply being sad.
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Yeah but it's shite.
No doubt about that
I think Stipe's vocal intonations tend to the sorrowful, often giving a general 'down' air to REM's work even when the music is upbeat and/or the song positive, or at least ambivalent enough to not be depressing. I could do that fan thing of listing songs of theirs that don't fit the 'depressing' stereotype, of which there are dozens, but I won't. I'm a fan but if you're not, you're not and don’t need to be "tutored". Suffice to say, I totally disagree with the REM choices offered up as "sad albums".
I really need to dust off REMs albums again. I always enjoyed their stuff, listened to Up incessantly when it was released, and always catch myself trying to Shazam a song I like on the radio only to find it's REM (this would be for the local college station that often plays their older, more obscure tracks).
As to the sadness thing, I agree with the above. Up is a great example - it's downbeat and mellow etc but there's a thread of resilience or something that runs through it all, lending to it a sense of hope.
Anyway enough tutoring on a topic I am not qualified to tutor on. I maintain that Adore is a sad album. Not hopeless, but sad. Some songs lift it up like Perfect, but by the end of Blank Page the vibe left hanging in the air is loss.
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I would much rather Shiny Happy People than some songs on Automatic For The People, for example Ignoreland and Star Me Kitten, but I am the person who thinks Out Of Time is their best album.
I thought they were going to be the next great band and then I saw them on the Monster tour (they played the entire album) and it was the worst concert I have ever seen. After that, I didn't listen to Monster for years. I have recently decided to give it another chance and it is in fact better than I remembered.
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I am the person who thinks Out Of Time is their best album.
I imagine you're far from alone in that. But it's an odd one for me. It has a couple of my absolute favourites of theirs, Low and Belong but also their two worst - SHP and the dreadful Radio Song. And of course their massive hit single LMR which I'm neutral about. The whole album feels uneven and unsatisfying to me.
Anyway sorry, I'm dragging us off-topic.
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Valtari - Sigur Ros
Brilliant album, but the overall vibe is achingly sad. Why the title track puts me in mind of a wounded refugee mother succumbing to her injuries, thus leaving her young child to wander and die alone in the wilderness I have no idea....but it does.
(Rings therapist.)
