How can you not love this disc?

meh. i don't love that disc. it's okay though. that's the one with the patti smith song, right?

I love it, together with monster, ..pageant and Around the sun, is one of the few eem albums I own

Anx said:

yeah E-bow the letter.

One song:

Bittersweet me

I've got the windows open and I'm rocking it for all the Britney Spears loving neighbors in the hood.

lazycrockett said:

Play Star69 from Monster!

MikeMatronik said:

I Know You Called, I Know You Called.....

lazycrockett said:

I listening to it with my step-brother...made a playlist with Blur, REM, Morrisey and Smashing Pumpkins

Their last really good CD. I always saw it as a mixture of everything they'd done previous - all the different styles and directions. Feels like an R.E.M mixtape. I loved it. Can't believe it came out over 10 years ago!

MikeMatronik said:

after this album they started to suck on record.....

"So Fast, So Numb".

This is probably my favorite REM CD ever; it's usually hard for me to decide between this and 'Automatic...", but the fact that "Automatic" always gets the critical love makes me support NAIHF the little bit more.

There isn't a bad song on the album; lately I've been playing the shit out of "Low Desert".

Axchi696 said:

As much as I love mumbling Michael Stipe, this album is just amazing cause of the lyrical content. I always thought with the mumbling he wasn't that great of a writer and early in the career maybe he wasn't but to me this cd Stipe really found his muse and ran with it.

lazycrockett said:

Agreed; I think this album has Stipey's best ever lyrics. For my money, you can't beat the lyrics to "New Test Leper", "Electrolite", "E-Bow the Letter" and "Departure".

For a long while this was my favourite, or at least most listened to, REM album. New Test Leper, Leave, Be Mine, Electrolite are my favourite tracks - all stunning, but i struggle to think of a track that doesn't merit a place on there - i find it their most complete album. I guess a lot of people struggle with the lack of upbeat songs on there but you have to remember they were going through a tumultuous period then (Monster tour being the crescendo of their transition from college rock band to stadium filling rock stars).

The way Be Mine builds is gorgeous, and Leave's frantic guitar riff always gets me going. Electrolite is classic REM, and in E-Bow the Letter they have one of the most depressing lead off singles ever.

A brilliant album by one of our most sterling and reliable rock groups.

It's my favorite REM album, the last great one they made.

I was already a huge REM fan when this album came out. I was mentally in that place where I knew their best work was behind them (nostalgia for the Reconstruction / Pageant days), but I'd still buy all there albums because they were at least interesting and relevant.

This album completely blew me away. It's only sad that it came out at a time that the rest of the world was no longer finding them interesting or relevant.