Lifes Rich Pageant

Lifes Rich Pageant
Lifes Rich Pageant
Studio album by R.E.M.
Released July 28, 1986 (1986-07-28)
Recorded April–May 1986 at Belmont Mall Studios, Belmont, Indiana, United States
Genre Alternative rock
Length 38:23
Language English
Label I.R.S.
Producer Don Gehman
R.E.M. chronology
Fables of the Reconstruction
(1985)		 Lifes Rich Pageant
(1986)		 Dead Letter Office
(1987)
Singles from Lifes Rich Pageant
  1. "Fall on Me"
    Released: August 1986 (1986-08)
  2. "Superman"
    Released: November 1986 (1986-11)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars [1]
Robert Christgau (B+) [2]
CMJ (Very favorable) [3]
PopMatters (Favorable) [4]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars [5]
Slant Magazine 4.5/5 stars [6]

Lifes Rich Pageant is the fourth album by the American band R.E.M., released in 1986. Intended as an upbeat reaction to the sobering and historical Fables of the Reconstruction,[citation needed] R.E.M. chose Don Gehman to produce the album, which was recorded at John Mellencamp's Belmont Mall Studios in Belmont, Indiana.

Contents

Details

The source for the title of the album is based on an English idiom. Its use is very old, but R.E.M.'s use is, according to Peter Buck, from the 1964 film A Shot in the Dark, minus the apostrophe:

Inspector Clouseau opens car door and falls into a fountain.
Maria: "You should get out of these clothes immediately. You'll catch your death of pneumonia, you will."
Clouseau: "Yes, I probably will. But it's all part of life's rich pageant, you know?"[7]

The missing apostrophe in the title is deliberate. Nearly all contractions used by R.E.M. lack apostrophes, though "life's" in this case is a possessive.

The cover of the album depicts drummer Bill Berry on the upper part of the cover and a pair of bison, signifying an environmental theme, on the lower part. It also alludes to Buffalo Bill.

With R.E.M.'s fan base beginning to grow beyond its college rock boundaries, Lifes Rich Pageant proved to be at the time the band's most commercially successful album in the U.S., peaking at #21[8] on the Billboard charts and scoring them their first gold record.[citation needed] In the UK, the album managed a #43 peak.[citation needed]

The ecologically-conscious "Fall on Me" (a personal favorite of frontman Michael Stipe) and a cover of The Clique's "Superman", sung by bassist Mike Mills, were the only singles released from the album (the single version of the latter removed the sample from one of the Godzilla movies that began the album version).

Another ecologically-minded song, "Cuyahoga", refers to the once heavily polluted Cuyahoga River that flows into Lake Erie at Cleveland, Ohio. The song includes the lyric we burned the river down, which refers to the several occasions (most famously in 1969) when the river actually caught fire.

At the end of "Just a Touch" Michael Stipe can be heard screaming the line "I'm so young, I'm so goddamn young", quoting[9] longtime influence Patti Smith's live cover version of The Who's "My Generation" as recorded as the B-side of her 1976 single "Gloria" and more recent as a bonus track on some CD re-issues of her album Horses.

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except where noted.

Side one – "Dinner side"
  1. "Begin the Begin" – 3:28
  2. "These Days" – 3:24
  3. "Fall On Me" – 2:50
  4. "Cuyahoga" – 4:19
  5. "Hyena" – 2:50
  6. "Underneath the Bunker" – 1:25
Side two – "Supper side"
  1. "The Flowers of Guatemala" – 3:55
  2. "I Believe" – 3:49
  3. "What If We Give It Away?" – 3:33
  4. "Just a Touch" – 3:00
  5. "Swan Swan H" – 2:42
  6. "Superman" (Mike Bottler and Gary Zekley) – 2:52
1993 I.R.S. Vintage Years reissue bonus tracks
  1. "Tired of Singing Trouble" – 0:59
    • Previously unreleased
  2. "Rotary Ten" – 1:58
  3. "Toys in the Attic" (Steve Tyler, Joe Perry) – 2:26
  4. "Just a Touch" (Live in studio) – 2:38
    • Previously unreleased version, recorded live to 2-track during Reckoning sessions, 1984
  5. "Dream (All I Have to Do)" (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant) – 2:38
    • Originally released on the soundtrack to the film Athens, GA: Inside Out, 1987
  6. "Swan Swan H" (Acoustic version) – 2:41
    • Originally released on the soundtrack to the film Athens, GA: Inside Out, 1987
  • Note: "Rotary Ten" and "Toys in the Attic" can be found on Dead Letter Office.
  • Note: Although sometimes referred to as such, the first release of this edition does not have the original tracks remastered. They follow the first print of the album and only add the extra tracks.
2011 25th Anniversary Edition reissue bonus tracks (The Athens Demos)
  1. "Fall On Me"
  2. "Hyena"
  3. "March Song (King of Birds)"
  4. "These Days"
  5. "Bad Day"
  6. "Salsa (Underneath the Bunker)"
  7. "Swan Swan H"
  8. "Flowers of Guatemala"
  9. "Begin the Begin"
  10. "Cuyahoga"
  11. "I Believe"
  12. "Out of Tune"
  13. "Rotary Ten"
  14. "Two Steps Onward"
  15. "Just a Touch"
  16. "Mystery to Me"
  17. "Wait"
  18. "All the Right Friends"
  19. "Get On Their Way (What If We Give It Away?)"

Track listing notes:

  • "Superman" was listed on some early copies as "Superwoman."
  • The track listing on the back of the album is incorrect. It has never been corrected. The order is given as 1-5-10-8-2-7-4-9-3-11, which leaves out "Superman" and "Underneath the Bunker." The track listing is correct on the actual vinyl, cassette, and some CD versions.
  • Early pressings of the CD have the track number for "Cuyahoga" as "0R" instead of "04" printed on the CD itself.
  • On the vinyl and cassette releases, R.E.M. labeled side one (tracks 1-6) as the "Dinner side" and side two (tracks 7-12) as the "Supper side."
  • The UK 1993 release for 'IRS Years Vintage 1986' preserves the uncorrected album cover, but lists the unreleased tracks.

Personnel

R.E.M.
Production

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom 01986-07-28 July 28, 1986 I.R.S. vinyl LP MIRG1014
United States 01986-07-29 July 29, 1986 I.R.S. LP IRS-5783
cassette tape IRSC-5783
Compact Disc 72434-93478-2-3
Brazil 01986 1986 Epic LP 14495
Greece 01986 1986 I.R.S. LP 57064
The Netherlands 01986 1986 Illegal LP ILP 57064
New Zealand 01986 1986 I.R.S. LP ELPS 4550
Spain 01986 1986 Illegal LP 57064
United States 01990 1990 I.R.S. Compact Disc IRSD-5783
Worldwide 01990 1990 MCA Compact Disc 5783
United States 01990 1990 I.R.S. cassette tape IRSC-5783
United States 01992 1992 Universal Compact Disc 19080
The Netherlands 01993-01-26 January 26, 1993 EMI Compact Disc 7 13201 2 5†
Japan 01993-02-24 February 24, 1993 Toshiba/EMI Compact Disc TOCP-7269†
Worldwide 01998 1998 Capitol Compact Disc 93478
Europe 01998 1998 EMI Compact Disc 13201†
Europe 01999 1999 EMI Compact Disc 7132012†
United States 02011-07-12 July 12, 2011 EMI Box Set N/A

†I.R.S. Vintage Years edition, with bonus tracks

Chart performance

Album
Year Chart Position
1986 Billboard 200 21 (32 weeks on chart)[citation needed]
1986 UK Albums Chart 43 (4 weeks on chart)[citation needed]
Singles
Year Song Chart Position
1986 "Fall on Me" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 5[citation needed]
1986 "Fall on Me" The Billboard Hot 100 94[citation needed]
1986 "Superman" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 17[citation needed]

Sales certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold January 23, 1987[citation needed]
CRIA – Canada Gold September 30, 1987[citation needed]
CRIA – Canada Platinum September 30, 1987[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ All Music review
  2. ^ Robert Christgau Record Guide
  3. ^ College Music Journal review
  4. ^ PopMatters review
  5. ^ Rolling Stone review
  6. ^ Slant review
  7. ^ Rosen, Craig (1997). R.E.M. Inside Out: The Stories Behind Every Song. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-177-8.
  8. ^ "R.E.M. > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p116437. Retrieved 2009-08-12. 
  9. ^ Spin October 1986

External links

v · d · eR.E.M.
Personnel
Managers
Bertis Downs IV • Jefferson Holt
Studio albums
Compilations
Dead Letter Office • Eponymous • The Best of R.E.M. • The Automatic Box • Singles Collected • In the Attic • In Time • iTunes Originals • And I Feel Fine • Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011
EPs
Chronic Town • Not Bad for No Tour • Vancouver Rehearsal Tapes • Live from London • Reckoning Songs from The Olympia
Other albums
Man on the Moon • r.e.m.IX • R.E.M. Live • Live at The Olympia
Singles
"Radio Free Europe" • "Talk About the Passion" • "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" • "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" • "Cant Get There from Here" • "Driver 8" • "Wendell Gee" • "Fall on Me" • "Superman" • "The One I Love" • "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" • "Finest Worksong" • "Orange Crush" • "Stand" • "Pop Song 89" • "Get Up" • "Losing My Religion" • "Shiny Happy People" • "Near Wild Heaven" • "Radio Song" • "Drive" • "Man on the Moon" • "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" • "Everybody Hurts" • "Nightswimming" • "Find the River" • "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" • "Bang and Blame" • "Strange Currencies" • "Crush with Eyeliner" • "Tongue" • "E-Bow the Letter" • "Bittersweet Me" • "Electrolite" • "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" • "Daysleeper" • "Lotus" • "At My Most Beautiful" • "Suspicion" • "The Great Beyond" • "Imitation of Life" • "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" • "I'll Take the Rain" • "Bad Day" • "Animal" • "Leaving New York" • "Aftermath" • "Electron Blue" • "Wanderlust" • "#9 Dream" • "Supernatural Superserious" • "Hollow Man" • "Man-Sized Wreath" • "Until the Day Is Done" • "Mine Smell Like Honey" • "Überlin" • "Oh My Heart" • "We All Go Back to Where We Belong"
Other songs
"Gardening at Night" • "Perfect Circle" • "Begin the Begin" • "Ages of You" • "World Leader Pretend" • "Turn You Inside-Out" • "Texarkana" • "Country Feedback" • "First We Take Manhattan" • "Ignoreland" • "Star 69" • "New Test Leper" • "All the Right Friends"
Videos
Succumbs • Tourfilm • Pop Screen • This Film Is On • Parallel • Road Movie • In View • Perfect Square • When the Light Is Mine • R.E.M. Live • This Is Not a Show • R.E.M. Live from Austin, TX
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