A comprehensive archive of R.E.M. articles from newspapers, magazines and online.

08.28.87
CMJ Magazine
REM’s fifth LP is, as usual, a mess of contradictions. It’s both their roughest album since Murmur (or even Chronic Town) full of nasty vocals and nastier guitars, and it’s also their most refined. On the advance single, “The One I Love,” it’s immediately apparent: you can hear every word Michael Stipe says, but [...]

By David Fricke
08.24.87
Rolling Stone
It is no accident that R.E.M.’s finest album to date opens with the anthemic reveille “Finest Worksong,” a muscular funky-metal wake-up call that is an unmistakable declaration of intent. “The time to rise/ Has been engaged,” bleats singer Michael Stipe over the industrial scrape of Peter Buck’s guitar and the martial locomotion [...]