Click on this link to go back to the town where everything's chronic (and the main R.E.M. page)... Chronic Clown Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 I was a bit shocked at hearing this! The All-Music Guide described Chronic Town as being a garage-band album ... making me think that it would be at least somewhat different than Murmur. Even though Murmur is slightly more post-punk, you'd have to be rather keen to spot the major stylistic differences. Chronic Town is R.E.M.'s debut EP (there are only five songs on it), and it's exactly the same sort of quality as you probably would expect from R.E.M. ... although, it's not nearly as good or enjoyable as Murmur. ... Oh well. It's an EP! What can you expect? I think I might have these tracks in the wrong order ... I have them in the order that they appeared at the end of R.E.M.'s 1987 'Reject Compilation Disc' Dead Letter Office. At any rate, that is an essential album for R.E.M. completists. Not only would you be getting the 'rejects,' (which are all basically good) you'd be getting this EP as well. Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 (There are no shocks or surprises in R.E.M.'s debut EP.) Average Song Score: 8.4 (These songs aren't particularly exciting, but they're nice!) Album Tilt: 8.0 (This is a good debut EP from one of rock's most consistent bands. Really ... even what might be considered the band's 'roots album' sounds exactly like almost every other album they've ever done.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (R.E.M. has a great style! It's not particularly exciting or anything, but it's good.) Track Reviews Wolves Lower 8/10 I'm a bit surprised that R.E.M. didn't emerge from something! You would think these songs might be a little bit different from what they would do on Murmur. Nope ... R.E.M. started sounding like R.E.M. They must be extraterrestrial beings or something. Also, the band is as good with their music and instrumentation here as they were in all their subsequent albums. Gardening at Night 9/10 Interesting! This one's lucid melody makes the song sound almost mystical. ... This is interesting. It even has some subtle sitars in the background. But ... alas ... this is still R.E.M. No matter what trinkets they can put around their songs, they are, and always will be R.E.M. Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars) 8/10 This is a pleasant, mid-tempoed R.E.M. song ... what else do you need to know? ... NOTHING! 1,000,000 8.5/10 This one has an interesting riff! And, this is all-in-all a very coooool song that simply has coolness dripping all over it! Yes ... this sounds like something right out of Murmur, which is always cool. Stumble 8.5/10 This is a really neat song. It's totally R.E.M. by nature, of course, but this one is nice and jangly! Although, this really isn't so much better than the last song. Hmmhmmm! Send me your comments from your town, you chronic person here!

All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He has many chronic illnesses.