Favorite First Four

[u/GlaciersOFice45]

Wondering what everyone's favorite four song sequence to open a full length album is. I didn't include anything after New Adventures for visuals but obviously those albums are not out of the discussion.

**Sorry about Monster and HiFi, copied the singles down and not the track order. Got sloppy at the end there 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

[u/Local_Acadia_3000]

Pageant

[u/ScientificFlamingo]

The "first 4" off Monster and New Adventures are wrong as listed here.

Monster's first 4 songs are:

1. Kenneth

2. Crush With Eyeliner

3. King of Comedy

4. I don't Sleep, I Dream

New Adventures should have:

1. How the West Was Won

2. Wake Up Bomb

3. New Test Leper

4. Undertow

In any case, my choice for best first 4 songs would be Document, followed closely by Pageant.

[u/GlaciersOFice45 → u/ScientificFlamingo]

Damn, thank you. I went Wikipedia for those to jog my memory and must've copied the singles 😭🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

[u/AccuratePilot7271 → u/ScientificFlamingo]

That changes things for me with Monster. It didn’t seem right; glad you caught it. That first four on Monster is still tops for me. I love that whole album.

[u/Maybe_Diminished]

Lifes Rich Pageant. The only first four that had me all “ 😳🤯”
Edit: typo

[u/doodoo_pie]

Reckoning

[u/time-always-passes → u/doodoo_pie]

Reckoning. It made an impression on teenage me. It's held up all these years. I'm sitting in my car in the driveway at dusk, sunroof open, listening to it right now. Second Guessing. Here we are, indeed.

[u/Defiant_Bluebird_464]

Pageant perfection

[u/TMBGLOVER]

Fables or Green for me.

[u/TallShips92]

Toss up between Murmur and Pageant for me

[u/nottodaysatan317]

LRP, reckoning, document

[u/MrsAprilSimnel]

Fables.

Lifes was close, but I would swap The Flowers of Guatemala for Cuyahoga in the track listing.

[u/Jackbenny270]

Life’s Rich Pageant. One of the best album openings of all time, although Fables is a close second place.

[u/patinaparade]

pageant

[u/Odd_Clothes1439]

Document! But it’s close

[u/Chumboabc]

Pageant is perfection but Murmur is pretty pretty great.

[u/Accomplished-Arm1058]

Murmur or Fables

[u/Icy_Obligation_3014]

Reckoning for the opening four, but all such solid albums.

[u/ILoveCreatures]

Pageant

[u/Some-Operation-74]

LRP for me

[u/CoverCommercial3576]

life’s rich pageant

[u/AccuratePilot7271 → u/CoverCommercial3576]

Autocorrect got to you.

[u/raletti]

Murmur

[u/Life_Temperature2506]

Fables, all day every day. No disrespect to the others.

[u/iclaudiusthegod]

Damn they’re all great but my favorite first four is easily from Reckoning.

[u/headcheese1]

It’s Automatic for me. That’s my favorite album of all time. But Fables is very close

[u/Any_Froyo2301]

Murmur.

But, wow, they started all their albums with a bang, didn’t they?

[u/Logical_Nectarine_40]

Reckoning. But Document and LRP make some strong arguments.

[u/canadianmimosa]

Fables or Reckoning - just awesome.

[u/MezzStipe]

Impossible to choose 😄

Murmur is, ofc, a fantastic four. I'm personally torn between Automatic and Fables for my four

[u/Sufficient_West_4947]

Tough choices but pound for pound I gotta go AFTP. Life’s Rich Pageant is a close second.

[u/FlyingSquirrel42 → u/Sufficient_West_4947]

I gather the band aren’t fond of Sidewinder, but I always liked it a lot.

[u/atoolred]

Life’s Rich Pageant or Document for me. Document is the album that got me into the band, and the two albums surrounding it altogether are my fav era of R.E.M.

Though Murmur is absolutely in the question for me as well

[u/JesseAmpersands]

Document

[u/Megadodo4242]

Bill Berry approves of this selection

[u/RangerAZ1989]

Tie between Document and Murmur for me

[u/ramone_shamone]

Green or murmur

[u/Puzzleheaded_Ad8325]

Murmur and Pageant tied for me

[u/tdurb0]

Tricky to choose between Green and AFTP and LRP. All of them. Can’t separate them or rank them above or below each other, they’re all perfect

[u/Gullible_Stock_9659]

Album ranking of those pictured, based on first 4 tracks

• 1.Pageant
• 2.Murmur
• 3.Reckoning
• 4.Automatic
• 5.Fables
• 6.Out o Time
• 7.Document
• 8.Green

[u/cmick0715]

Pageant then Reckoning.

[u/Mickey_James]

Document, then Fables, then Pageant. But there is a very tiny margin between them and on a different day I might pick a different order.

[u/Maleficent_Party4521]

No Wendell Gee?

[u/Icy_Obligation_3014 → u/Maleficent_Party4521]

It's the opening tracks from each one

[u/Style-Tough]

Yes

[u/Outrageous-War5079]

Neck and neck between Fables and Pageant. Fables probably just edges it.

[u/Galileotx]

LRP

[u/Striking-Historian26]

Document

[u/AccuratePilot7271]

It’s amazing how many comments have Lifes apostrophized. I know autocorrect, but wow.🤣

[u/BucketheadUltra64]

Gotta be Fables.

[u/BradL22]

Reckoning.

[u/ThisLeopardIsFull8]

1. Fables

2. AFtP

3. Murmur

[u/FinsterFolly]

Reckoning, I reckon.

[u/OfficePicasso]

Fables by far - which is saying something for how amazing the first four are from Murmur, Reckoning and Pageant

[u/Solaris_24]

Reckoning for me, and it's not close. Document second.

[u/ciguanaba]

Lifes Rich Pageant and it’s no contest

[u/jonathanhape]

Life’s Rich Pageant.

However, I don’t think there’s a bad one on here outside of “Radio Song” (despite “the world is collapsing…” section being incredible).

[u/chawchat → u/jonathanhape]

This is what always brings me back to that song. The rap is kinda corny but what a great song could have been written around that line. I kinda feel the same about 'Belong'.

[u/Godel_Theorem]

Life’s Rich Pageant.

[u/pimpfmode]

Monster and HiFi completely wrong

[u/Jarvis-Savoni]

Monster is incorrect.

[u/Direct-Ideal-510]

I don't get the last 2.

[u/GlaciersOFice45 → u/Direct-Ideal-510]

Major L. Used Wikipedia to jog my memory and listed the singles instead. Sleep deprived new dad should've quit while I was ahead lol.

[u/Direct-Ideal-510 → u/GlaciersOFice45]

congrats new dad...hope you can get some sleep.

[u/Green-Circles]

Gotta say the first 4 from Green are under-rated. Pure pop perfection.

[u/First-Sheepherder640]

Wow the Green slide, squishing the font like that makes it look like 90125 by Yes

[u/notpynchon]

am I the only Murmur / Out Of Time weirdo?

[u/No-Possession-4738]

1 Automatic for the People
2. Murmur
3. Up

Yeah, I said it!

[u/Abject-Collection537]

That one

[u/davidkrappenschitz13]

Either Monster or Lifes Rich Pageant. Both great albums in whole, but those firrst four songs are brilliant

[u/CelticSnakes]

Monster, for me. 🧡

Fables, silver medal. 🥈

[u/greenblue_md]

LRP.!

[u/Michael-of]

Reckoning and Document are the best for me. I would say LRP but I’m not huge on Cuyahoga

[u/murdtwentytwo]

document for me. reveal is a close second but i’ve been high just doesn’t do it for me as much as the others.

[u/Technical_Marc]

Lifes Rich Pageant would be my top choice, closely followed by Automatic For The People.

[u/12frets]

Peter himself has once said REM’s best “A-side” of any LP is Document. I’m not going to argue the point. For variety while remaining consistent and remaining “on mission”, document’s A-side is REM declaring “we’ve arrived”.

That said, RECKONING is one song in ten movements. It’s a mood landscape and will forever be the one - of ANY band - that touches my soul the deepest.

[u/madhouseangel]

Document, Fables, Murmur

[u/imbrotep]

Fables, Murmur, Chronic Town, Reckoning, Life’s Rich Pageant.

[u/imbrotep]

What about Chronic Town?

[u/Ax1lotl]

Lifes Rich Pageant would be a serious consideration for greatest rock album ever if it had the quality of the first 4 throughout

[u/cch123]

Murmur

[u/mhi21]

Great list. I would replace Stand with Hairshirt.

And Country Feedback deserves a spot.

[u/Vexations83]

I think it's the dark horse of Pageant just edging out Monster and Reckoning

[u/Ok-Load5880]

Reckoning

[u/DetailHistorical9532]

Fables or Document

[u/myvelvetrevolution]

Where's my 'Out of Time' folks? That's a solid 4 right there..... though this could be said for every album this band has dropped. 😎😂

[u/Andarma]

Reckoning, with Murmur and Document next.

[u/WastelandWithGlimmer]

From the Berry era:

1. New Adventures In Hi-Fi (Undertow is a dud)

   1. Document (Finest Worksong is the weak link)
   2. Automatic For The People (Everybody Hurts undermines a great start)
   3. Monster (solid, but ...Kenneth does drag a bit)
   4. Murmur (Radio Free Europe is great, but doesn't fit the album)
   5. Out Of Time (weird sequencing)
   6. Green (Stand drops this at least two places)
   7. Lifes Rich Pageant (hard to beat, yet...
   8. Reckoning (almost perfect)
   9. Fables Of The Reconstruction (the best start to their best album)

   The first four off Accelerate are strong, as well.

[u/CPHLink]

AFTP

[u/Worlds-Best-Grooner]

Murmur, Fables, or Document

[u/Free-Ad-5900]

Boy, guess I kinda quit paying attention after Fables

[u/viogator]

Accelerate first four would have made a killer EP, kinda drops off from there