Saturday, April 3, 2010

R.E.M. - "Moral Kiosk" (1983)

Never realized before how big of a difference there is between the production on Chronic Town and Murmur. Maybe a big part of the appeal of Murmur is just how wet it is and yet how clear it is at the same time. On this track, the guitars are wet enough that they become a little obscured when the background vocals come in, but they're so crisp and clear on the verses and the two-line refrain.

Great example also of how R.E.M. were successfully blending things that were a little more harmonically abstract (the verses) with real power pop-oriented harmonic richness (the refrain).

"Moral Kiosk" on Lala.

1 comment:

  1. Big fan of Bill Berry's drum technique on this song. Especially his choice of hi-hat phrasing.

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