Passenger Sid

I can't decide between a private beach in Michigan, a valley with a shortcut around, or rosin smells and turpentine smells from eucalyptus and pine.

To me, Bon Jovi will always be a one-hit wonder band. "Wanted Dead Alive" is so freaking cool and so freaking great. I find the rest of their output so freaking NOT cool and so freaking NOT great.

Good call on Tuesday Afternoon. I've never quite "got" the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. Regardless, glad the Cars got in. Same for Dire Straits. Bon Jovi not so much, but they're the perfect type of band the RRHOF wants to celebrate. OF COURSE Radiohead is deserving.

And he just released a 4-minute teaser of it. And what a teaser it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=245&v=QClzlZTXj4Y

True. Maybe the more-pronounced disconnect for me is their overall love for hip hop & rap, which I've had a hard time ever getting enthused about.

Tweedy, to me, has the most comfortable voice ever. Trying to think who'd be #2 on my list. John Prine maybe. Michael Stipe. Victoria Williams.

Pitchfork's 2017 Top 100 song list is out. Am I the only one who, after skimming over it, feels really out of touch with modern music? Is it okay that I'm familiar with about 4 songs on the list? Or that, sampling many songs in their Top 20, I didn't find even one of them something I'd want to add to my iTunes?

Those are good descriptions. Lisa Germano would be the female singer I'd pick that most reminds me of Tweedy. She's gloomier but just as honest and real-sounding.

Maybe it's because I saw the Joshua Tree tour, which was very much focused on America, but I kinda didn't like that the SNL set seemed focused again on talking to America. Hard to not sound preachy coming from a band from Ireland. Kind of a minor complaint. I think they mean well and truly love the U.S. and like performing over here. All I Want Is You is a great song. The Slane Castle video on Youtube from years ago that is this song followed by Where The Streets Have No Name is one of the greatest things I've ever seen/heard of U2. The Red Rocks show from the early 80's is great!

Great lyrics.

Don't really have a great album, though I DO think traditional albums like Steve and Eydie's Christmas or Elvis' Christmas records just sound right, as corny as they may be in parts. I want to give a thumbs up to the Flaming Lips "A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)". Really great.

Yeah. Somehow his voice sounds relatable. Like he's as flawed, unsure of himself and maybe overly-sensitive about things, as ALL of us human beings are to varying degrees throughout all our lives. Really like his voice in early Wilco especially. Comfortable.

All of the political lyrics, to me, sound really forced. I wish I could hear the record before they re-worked it after the election. "Middling" is a fair term for the record. I prefer "Songs Of Innocence", probably because it's personal nature likely helps make it sound truer. "Landlady", to me, is the best song on the new album. Really pretty. It would sound good as a track on Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky". "The Little Things That Give You Away" is nice, as is "Love Is All We Have Left". Really like "Get Out Of Your Own Way"....really fresh sounding for U2, but going back to my first sentence,

I'm a fan. So many great songs with Minus 5 and Baseball Project. Prayers work. He'll be in mine.

Yeah, that was the most interesting part of the interview. I think Tweedy and the band DID sincerely want Jay to get help and get better, but the documentary movie more than hinted at the possibility that Jay's personality didn't jive with band members and/or the band didn't particularly like Jay. It's life. People don't always like other people or get along with other people. But it's a shame. Glad Tweedy got out of a situation that he thought was harming himself, but wish those 2 could have stayed together and Jay gotten better as well. Musically, it was a magic time.

For me, in an otherwise very honest, quirky, often-heavy, honest, and human work of art, the lyrics to Ignoreland don't fit. It's maybe similar to hearing a baby throw a noisy tantrum at a screening of "The Godfather".

“Love each other, motherfuckers!” Ah, so eloquent Mr. Hood.

Really digging "Howler Monkey", which is "Ignoreland" without Stipe singing lyrics. I think I'll make myself a new Automatic disc, replacing the latter with the former. For me, "Ignoreland" never fit lyrically. Stipe sings, "I know that this is vitriol. No solution, spleen-venting. But I feel better having screamed. Don't you?" Um, no Michael, actually I DON'T feel better hearing you scream and vent.

I really like Up. It's hard to say it's a Top 5 R.E.M. album, yet, listening to it, it's got a LOT going for it. It also was released in one of the most amazing few months of my music-listening life. From September 1998 to May 1999: "Deserter's Songs", Mercury Rev "Up", R.E.M. "Summerteeth", Wilco "Soft Bulletin", Flaming Lips Wow!!!!!

For me, the CoS ranking's biggest fail is putting Fables at #11. Sorry, but no effin' way! It's a Top 5-er. I'm a huge fan of Automatic. I like how CoS tries to explain it: "And yet this darker double-down on Out of Time remains the band’s most celebrated album. I can’t quite explain why. It’s one of those beautiful mysteries that solves itself as you listen to the record, but presents itself all over again when you take your headphones off. Everyone’s criteria for a perfect album differs, but the idea of being able to unlock something mysterious each and every listen some thousand listens

Agree. As a music fan and listener, it truly felt magical. Hearing this new song, and his 90's voice, makes me remember it well.

Very Christian-sounding song. Like it.

I love early R.E.M., but if I could only listen to ONE of the following groups of records, I'm not sure which I'd choose. I think maybe I'd lean Group 2. FIRST SIX ALBUMS: Murmur, Reckoning, Fables Of Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant, Document, Green SECOND SIX ALBUMS: Out Of Time, Automatic For The People, Monster, New Adventures In Hi-Fi, Up, Reveal

Stipe: "We spent our entire career trying to not repeat ourselves." ​I always liked that about R.E.M. Each album truly was an event. You wanted to hear what they came up with. You knew your were gonna hear an "album" and not a bunch of wannabe singles. I adore the vibe of Automatic. Dark for sure, but so human. It's a Top 5 R.E.M. album for me. Maybe Top 3.

There's something so comfortable-sounding about Tweedy's voice back then. It still is for the most part, but slightly different.