Out of Time |  | Artist: R.e.m.
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $24.98
Buy New: $9.77
You Save: $15.21 (61%)
New (1) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $3.48
Rating:  164 reviews
Sales Rank: 283895
Format: Limited Edition
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
UPC: 075992652728
EAN: 0075992652728
ASIN: B000008JOX
Publication Date: 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Radio Song | | • | Losing My Religion | | • | Low | | • | Near Wild Heaven | | • | Endgame | | • | Shiny Happy People | | • | Belong | | • | Half a World Away | | • | Texarkana | | • | Country Feedback | | • | Me in Honey |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
Though R.E.M. titled a later album Monster, this 1991 smash was the true monster, with the little Athens, Georgia, quartet graduating once and for all from its jangling independent-rock roots. The confusion Michael Stipe communicates in the catchy "Losing My Religion" and the dark-and-dreamy "Low" hit the mainstream-rock audience when it was most primed for uneasy angst. (Nirvana's Nevermind was released a few months later.) There are also odd but successful experiments, like ceding the opening "Radio Song" to rapper KRS-One (with Stipe playing the moaning straight man) and going peppy for the surprisingly nonsarcastic "Shiny Happy People." --Steve Knopper
Amazon.com
Matching their ugliest album cover with some of their most sublime music, Out of Time inaugurates the finest phase of R.E.M.'s work. This meditative yet sometimes seething album offers not only their greatest single since "Radio Free Europe" ("Losing My Religion," about which critics and programmers agreed for once), but a moodscape that ties together that song's ambivalence, the sneer of "Radio Song," the doom of "Low" and the sprightliness of "Shiny Happy People" and "Me in Honey." Their bestseller, and deservedly so. --Rickey Wright
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| Customer Reviews:
That's Me In The Spotlight November 29, 2008
Tim Brough (Springfield, PA United States)
The first voice you hear on R.E.M.'s second album for Warner Brothers wasn't even a member of the band. Rapper KRS-1 asks a question about what's on the radio before Michael Stipe intones "The world is collapsing around our ears." If that didn't give you notice that something was up in the R.E.M. camp, then Bill Berry taking lead on "Near Wild Heaven" and two more songs should have. Then there is the matter of the international hot single, "Losing My Religion," which feature lead instrument is a...Mandolin!?!
"Out Of Time" was the sound of a band that, having hit its stride, was no longer content just to do what was automatically expected of it. The expanded line-up (including frequent touring buddy Peter Holsapple of The dB's on guitar) both fleshed out the band's sound and pushed it away from its core jangle-pop. The second big hit, the Kate Pierson assisted "Shiny Happy People" was an irony free unabashed pop-song (even with its slowed down break for strings). The band may have eventually tried to disown the song, but stands as one of the band's most unaffected. (Kate showed up later for "Me In Honey," one of the album's lesser songs.)
While "Out of Time" was R.E.M.'s most experimental album, it is also a disc more noteworthy for its sounds than for its songs. The final trio of "Texarkana," "Country Feedback" and "Me In Honey" are weak. The oddest thing about that statement is that "Texarkana" is the closest song to match the older R.E.M. of the Reckoning days of Byrds-ian pop. It saps the album of its drive, robbing "Out Of Time" of a fifth star. But offered as the middle chapter between Green and Automatic for the People, it shines in the period where R.E.M. was at both a commercial and creative peak.
 A Classic July 3, 2008
librarylady (USA)
Here it is 17 years later, and I'm still listening to this CD. Every song on here is awesome. A timeless classic.
 Out of Patience... June 29, 2008
Red Rivere (Home on the Range)
am I with tirades against this CD! Okay, it's not nearly as good as Automatic for the People or their first three, but it's not unremittingly awful either. Sure, the standout by far is Losing My Religion, but the unheralded other classic here is "Country Feedback," a brillaint, disjointed precursor to the genius of "Drive" and E-bow the Letter." "Texarkana" and "Low" are quite good as well. And I'll defend "Near Wild Heaven," a sweet Beach Boys confection and, really going out on a limb, "Shiny Happy People." Okay, it comes off as hoplessly naive optimism and it's as silly as "Stand," but there are moments in life like that. I love intense REM too, but it's not a crime to be a kid for three minutes again. And lay off poor Kate Pierson, she's just right here (and isn't she on Country Feedback too, in a more serious tone?). All in all, Out of Time is at least better than Green, which has even more misfires.
REM - A Slight Step Down February 12, 2008
Steven Sly (Kalamazoo, MI United States)
The two previous albums by REM brought the band to the notice of radio, making them headliners in large venues throughout the country. The momentum would continue with "Out Of Time" the album that would push them over the top into superstar status. The singles "Loosing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People" were all over MTV getting played dozens of times nationally every single day. Although vastly overplayed "Loosing My Religion" is still a great pop tune and one of the best singles the band ever released. Overall though I feel this album is a step down for REM. The album starts out with a rap from KRS one in "Radio Song" which sounds pretty dated today. Actually my favorite song on the album is one of the two that bassist Mike Mills sings in "Texarkana". It is great little tune. Kate Pierson from the B-52's appears all over the album on backup and occasional lead vocals. Her voice works well with Michael Stipe, but a lot of this material is much more pop oriented than REM fans might have been used to. One positive note found the band using a lot wider instrumentation on this album. Mandolin, strings, and other non-traditional instruments began to appear on this disc, and would be used much more effectively on their next one. Overall this is an album that a lot of people love, and I still like it ok, but I think several other REM albums are better.
Stipe sings! WHOOHOO! September 28, 2007
Untitled (nowhere)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Man, it's a good thing I gave this a listen. Automatic For The People bites, and if I would have walked away from R.E.M, I bever would have liked them. This is refreshing to hear, and to be honest, I don't think Michael Stipe dosen't mumble and moan like he did on the next album. Out Of Time is very great for the first eight songs, with the the album really taking a dip after Texarkana.
Personally, the songs Country Feedback and Me In Honey are the low points. Country Feedback has a nice emotion coming out of it. I just wished I wasn't so bored listening to it (and his vocals are total _______). And Me In Honey is absolutely annoying. The song hangs in the air and dosen't go away. And while Texarkana has a nice, hopeful, epic sound to it, it's not a real strong standout. It's a decent song, and nothing else.
The great thing is, that's it for the weak tracks. The rest of the album will last a long time, and for good reasons too. There's a _____load of instruments used here, and with REM's knack for making great melodies, it's pushed to the _______ max, with a lot more to work with. COnsidering they could make catchy music like the songs on Murmur with the three piece set up, they got Mandolins, strings, organs, horns, and more! They use em' well, and make some great pop songs that some people hate, but that's people for you.
My personal favorites would be Radio Song, Shiny Happy People, Near Wild Heaven, Low, and Half A World Away. Despite what other people think, I like Shiny Happy People, which is listen in a list of the one of the "100 wussiest songs ever". If you don't like relentlessy poppy music, than you won't like it.
It's a bit short, (when you take out the last two, which I don't listen to because the songs suck), yes, but it won't matter. You may just repeat it when it's over. By the way, the cover and music actually can match a bit. I don't know, but some of these songs hover like it's looking over the horizon, just like the cover. I thought that was pretty cool.
7.5/10
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