R.E.M.
Murmur

This is the novelty brought by REM through “Murmur”: a folk-rock that supports, in the verses, (generally) sorrowful melodies (which, for some miraculous reason, never descend into whininess), and then “explode” into unexpected choruses (or changes) of extraordinary beauty.

This was their rewriting of the ballad, which, over thirty years of career, produced splendid results, made possible by a melodic talent that, in many cases, can truly be defined as “genius”, and by a nasal voice capable of moving without ever relying on range, but with often flat singing, and at times almost spoken.

In “Murmur,” it is really difficult to find a piece that has not entered among the band’s classics: “Talk About the Passion” (the sorrowful folk-rock, REM’s trademark); “Sitting Still” (REM’s folk-rock in an accelerated version); “Radio Free Europe” (with the acoustic guitar replacing the electric one in the chorus, so as not to disturb the voice too much); “Laughing” (with Buck in a completely acoustic version); “We Walk” (a splendid and sorrowful nursery rhyme); “Pilgrimage” (with the entrance of Mills’ counter-melodies), “Shaking Through” (where the piano joins the guitar almost stealing the scene); “Catapult”; “West of Fields.”

In one piece, the sweet slow “Perfect Circle” (for many the highest point of the record), the piano accompanies Stipe’s voice, which probably offers us the most enchanting chorus of REM’s discography.

There is also room for rhythmic and vocal virtuosity (“Moral Kiosk,” "9-9”), but the substance does not change.

“Murmur” is a surprising testament to the talent of the four from Athens in constantly rewriting the same song in new ways. They had a formula in mind, which they knew how to apply by memory. One single structural idea and many different realizations, amazing the listener each time.

The result is one of the best debut albums ever.