Be Mine

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  Seven Songs for the Week #73 - 28th Aug 24

  Jason Carty

  NAIHF, for short, has always been an album that should be brilliant/amazing/perfect but just isn't and having been an 1990s REM kid, it still frustrates me that the successes of the Warners years crashed and burned here. It didn't have to be. I think it's too long. I think the cover and the title are too vague and off-putting. I think the mixes are best when they are not mixed with that live ambiance. Over the years I've tweaked it and used playlists to create the best version. Even the reissue is frustrating - you recorded non-stop on the road and we're not getting CDs loaded with alt takes (This meal is terrible! And such small portions!).

  This week I listened to it on double vinyl - the 25th anniversary edition. It certainly works better as 4 EPs and the vinyl sounds less compressed.

  You might not have noticed, as I never did, but Stipe sings about eating the Lotus here. It speaks volumes that a throwaway line is stretched to a whole song on the next REM record.