Murmur

1	Radio Free Europe 4:05
2	Pilgrimage 4:30
3	Laughing 3:55
4	Talk About the Passion 3:23
5	Moral Kiosk 3:32
6	Perfect Circle 3:29
7	Catapult 3:56
8	Sitting Still 3:18
9	9-9 3:03
10	Shaking Through 4:30
11	We Walk 3:01
12	West Of The Fields 3:19

Barnes & Noble

After their 1982 EP Chronic Town started a buzz, Murmur arrived in a blaze of glory. Optimistic yet not naïve, R.E.M.'s lean and propulsive tunes invigorated a music scene lost in the post-disco doldrums. Although they seemed like true believers in the healing power of rock, R.E.M. were no garage band; their sound was meticulously detailed and its density was highlighted by Peter Buck's chiming guitar, Bill Berry's percussion, and Mike Mills's percolating bass. Songs like "Radio Free Europe" and "Talk About the Passion" typified the recording's smart lyrics and clever arrangements. The band built its following via college radio and this constituency helped make alternative a marketing category (then a cliché) in years to come. Meanwhile the band went on to make some of the defining recordings of late 20th Century rock and roll. Martin Johnson

All Music Guide

Leaving behind the garagey jangle pop of their first recordings, R.E.M. developed a strangely subdued variation of their trademark sound for their full-length debut album, Murmur. Heightening the enigmatic tendencies of Chronic Town by de-emphasizing the backbeat and accentuating the ambience of the ringing guitar, R.E.M. created a distinctive sound for the album -- one that sounds eerily timeless. Even though it is firmly in the tradition of American folk-rock, post-punk, and garage rock, Murmur sounds as if it appeared out of nowhere, without any ties to the past, present, or future. Part of the distinctiveness lies in the atmospheric production, which exudes a detached sense of mystery, but it also comes from the remarkably accomplished songwriting. The songs on Murmur sound as if they've existed forever, yet they subvert folk and pop conventions by taking unpredictable twists and turns into melodic, evocative territory, whether it's the measured riffs of "Pilgrimage," the melancholic "Talk About the Passion," or the winding guitars and pianos of "Perfect Circle." R.E.M. may have made albums as good as Murmur in the years following its release, but they never again made anything that sounded quite like it. Stephen Thomas Erlewine