Monster

Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 -- "MONSTER now sounds more like the next logical step for the band -- it's loose, loud, and unsentimental..." Rolling Stone (10/6/94, p.84) - 4.5 Stars - Excellent - "...MONSTER is a deeply felt, thematically coherent, consistently invigorating challenge to 'evolve or die,' with all the courage of its convictions..." Spin (12/94, p.76) - Ranked #6 in Spin's list of the '20 Best Albums Of '94.' Spin (11/94, p.91) - Highly Recommended - "...this is its most implacable --and convincing--music since MURMUR....Even as MONSTER flirts with unreason and breaks down old taboos, it observes the strict protocols of the forms it plays havoc with..." Entertainment Weekly (9/30/94, pp.56-57) - "...MONSTER proves no one cranks the amplifiers and mumbles lyrics in quite the same thrilling way as the originators..." - Rating: B+ Q (11/94, p.118) - 3 Stars - Good - "...MONSTER is a balder and starker bit of landscaping and whether everything in the garden remains lovely is up to debate..." Uncut - "MONSTER found them settling back into their old roles and becoming a more traditional rock band again, but this wasn't the Southern post-punk of their early albums. These new songs were grounded in the stomp and crackle of '70s glam rock..." Vibe (12/94-1/95, p.142) - "...Lulled by the aural Prozac of their more melodic tunes, it's easy for one to forget that R.E.M. are a rock 'n' roll band. Their new MONSTER puts them back on the block of their noisy origins and Stipe's buried-in-the-mix lyrics..." Musician (11/94, p.91) - "...the band hasn't really changed at all: the songs still stress melody over meaning, the playing still emphasizes the unit over the individuals, and the sound remains as fresh as it was a dozen years ago..." Village Voice (2/28/95) - Ranked #3 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Mojo (Publisher) (p.110) - 4 stars out of 5 - "With '92's AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE, R.E.M. reached their creative peak." New York Times (Publisher) (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Jon Pareles' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...Peter Buck's guitars blare and buzz to carry the pioneering collegiate-rock band into the age of grunge." New York Times (Publisher) (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...This is R.E.M.'s big, dumb rock record. Except it's not dumb at all..." NME (Magazine) (12/24/94, p.22) - Ranked #14 in NME's list of the 'Top 50 Albums Of 1994.' NME (Magazine) (9/29/94, p.47) - 7 - Very Good - "...At best stunning, at worst merely diverting, MONSTER sounds like the album they 'had' to make, to clear out their system..." Blender (Magazine) (p.106) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "MONSTER is music of a moment -- '90s alt-rock perfected." Pitchfork (Website) - "[T]he original songs remain strangely oblique, full of glam rock poses and sly subterfuge."