In Defence of Up

The exact point at which R.E.M. 'lost it' is a topic of hot debate. Some say that things started falling apart in 1994, when Monster was released; others might argue that it wasn't until Around the Sun, in 2004, that things went off the boil.

And then there's Up, which came out in 1998. Ask the average music fan which album burst the R.E.M. bubble, and this will be most people's prime suspect; with Bill Berry gone, Up was the first full-length release from the band's 'three-legged dog' incarnation, and they marked it with electronic experiments, chart-dodging miscellanea, and some of their most ponderous work yet.

The Enemy is Everywhere!

Some will tell you that The Monitor by Titus Andronicus is an album about the American Civil War. But those people are wrong (I think). While the spirit of the Civil War is certainly in there somewhere, the historical stuff is really just a framing device, rather than the record's central theme. Aside from the spoken word parts that pepper the album - quotes from Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and other movers and shakers of the era - direct references to the war are few and far between; instead, these songs tend to concentrate on far more modern matters.

Inside Album Artwork (Guest Post)

Guest post by Penny Hines

My name is Penny. I have an undergraduate degree in History of Art; my specific areas of interest are Georgian furniture and classical architecture. I am currently studying for an MSc in Museum Studies at Glasgow University.

My favourite tipple is a G&T. I'm from Cardiff, and I know Joel through his girlfriend Sarah.

But why am I guest blogging for The Album Wall?

In this blog post, I hope to address an often-overlooked aspect of the album: the artwork. This was Joel's idea, but he's passed the joy of this exploration over to me.

Dislcaimer in advance: I know very little about music - Joel sent me a selection of album covers to look at and I'd only heard of half of them, so please bear that in mind as you read this.

Reflektor by Arcade Fire (2013)

Reflektor is a double album and the fourth studio album by Arcade Fire, released in October 2013.

You Know, for Kids!

Busted's audience mostly consisted of pre-teens, right? I rediscovered them a little while ago and I was struck by the number of...mature themes that Charlie, Matt and James were willing to tackle back in the day. Here are some choice excerpts from the Busted songbook:

"I climb a tree outside her home to make sure she is all alone. I see her in her underwear, I can't help but stop and stare."

- What I Go to School For

"You're just a whore who sleeps around the town...you stupid, lying bitch! Who's David? Some guy who lives next door?"

- Who's David? [Uncensored Version]

"He took me to the future in the flux thing, and I saw everything: boy bands, and another one, and another one, and another one. Triple-breasted women swimming 'round town, totally naked!"

- Year 3000

"Then you whispered in my ear the words that I longed to hear: 'I want you to thrill me here.'"

- Air Hostess

i to Z

When I wrote about The Magnetic Fields' i in my Beyond 69 Love Songs blog last month, I mentioned its main gimmick (all of the song titles begin with the letter 'I') but failed to mention the other one. See if you can spot it: