| Reckoning | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 74 reviews)
Sales Rank: 3206
Category: Music
Artist: R.e.m.
Publisher: A&M
Studio: A&M
Manufacturer: A&M
Label: A&M
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
MPN: 70044
UPC: 044797004421
EAN: 0044797004421
ASIN: B000001I0G
Release Date: October 25, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Harborcoat | | • | 7 Chinese Brothers | | • | So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) | | • | Pretty Persuasion | | • | Time After Time (Annelise) | | • | Second Guessing | | • | Letter Never Sent | | • | Camera | | • | (Don't Go Back To) Rockville | | • | Little America |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Mid-priced reissue of the foreign edition of their 1984 & second album with five bonus tracks added, 'WinD OuT (With Friends)', 'Pretty Persuasion' (Live In Studio), 'White Tornado' (Live In Studio), 'Tighten Up' and 'Moon River'. 15 tracks total, also featuring the chart hit 'So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)' and the college radio anthems 'Pretty Persuasion', '(Don't Go Back To) Rockville' and 'Time After Time (Annelise)'. 'Reckoning' reached #27 in the U.S. 1992 release.
Amazon.com essential recording
The 1984 follow-up to R.E.M.'s brilliantly murky debut features Michael Stipe's ambiguous moan, drummer Bill Berry's strong backbeat, and guitarist Peter Buck's endless wave of catchy, jangling riffs. They wouldn't fully beef up their hard rock until roughly 1986's Life's Rich Pageant, but the swimming melodies of "Pretty Persuasion," "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and "Rockville (Don't Go Back To)" recall why the band frequently earned comparisons to a power-pop Beatles and the country-rock Byrds. Also, the jittery rhythms and deceptively simple guitar lines make the underappreciated "Harborcoat" and "7 Chinese Bros." worth revisiting. --Steve Knopper
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 Reckon this is excellent. November 29, 2008
Compared to the murky, modern sound of Murmur, this, R.E.M.'s second album, was a more straight-forward approach, something of a folk rock album with its jangly guitar-driven sound. Just as with Murmur, the lyrics draw repeated listening to fathom their meaning, as with "7 Chinese Brothers" (..."Seven Chinese brothers swallowing the ocean..."), and they inspire, as with "Letter Never Sent" (..."Heaven is yours, heaven is yours, heaven is yours where I may live...". But the lyrics are more focused, some like stories, even with a little country thrown in, as in "So. Central Rain" and "Don't Go Back to Rockville," which perhaps hinted at the direction of the next album, "Fables of the Reconstruction." Stipe's delivery is still understated, not the clearly enunciated rendering that would begin with the album Document, but it's part of what made the songs in this early period so enigmatic--I almost wish they would go back to that style yet still somehow make it new.
Just about all the songs are great, and the three or four that aren't great are still quite good.
Do not miss it.
 Don't waste another year November 22, 2008
The second album from R.E.M.'s IRS years was a logical step forward from the stunning Murmur. Touring incessantly had stripped the band of some of their murky atmospherics, towards a cleaner sound. Not like Michael Stipe was becoming Paul McCartney; the vocals were still often undecipherable. But Peter Buck had become an inauspicious Guitar God, making his Rickenbacker ring like vintage Roger McGuinn. There are moments on "Reckoning" that sounds like they were time-ported from 1967 ("Camera" "Time After Time").
R.E.M. had not yet found their inner-rockstars, so the ambiguous sounds and easy pace was still here. "Seven Chinese Brothers" and "Don't Go Back To Rockville" find the band flirting with alt-country, while "Little America" offers a preview of more rocking songs to come. This is also the "garagiest" of R.E.M.'s early albums, as the follow-up's, Fables of the Reconstruction and Lifes Rich Pageant, began moving into darker territory. "Reckoning" is not the stone classic that "Murmur" is, but it ranks up their with the best work the band has done.
Great Chemistry, Great Album April 22, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This album was another great release in the same style as Murmur. R.E.M. at this point had established themselves in the music circuit with their jangly Rickenbacher guitars along with singer Michael Stipes' sweet, yet slightly muffled vocals. Not to forget the other members who make R.E.M.-Billy Berry with his hard hitting sturdy drumming amd the melodic bass of Mike Mills.
This release is a bit tighter and stronger than their first as heard on "Harbercoat" and "7 Chinese Bros.", because of it's overall meatier rhythm. Then it has "So. Central Rain", a mournful moody ballad about a love lost. which we all have experienced. The song "Pretty Persuasion" delivers in a big, hard hitting way as a perfect rock song. Overall the band still doesn't disappoint, with each song on this album proving their great chemistry and excellent songwriting abilities.
A step down from Murmur, but no sophomore slump April 3, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Reckoning's first side is absolutely brilliant and arguably more impressive than Murmur's in terms of energy and variety of melodies and moods. The upbeat jangle of "Harborcoat," the inimitable pop enigmas "7 Chinese Brothers" and "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry), the jaw-dropping beauty of "Pretty Persuasion," and the elegiac ballad "Time After Time (Annelise)" all stand as some of the best songs R.E.M. has ever penned. Together they could have made a phenomenal EP and easily stood up to Murmur's impressionistic brilliance.
The second side, however, is decidedly lackluster except for "Second Guessing" (which still sounds like it could be a b-side to "Harborcoat") and of course the country-inflected "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville." "Letter Never Sent" is pleasant but ultimately forgettable; "Camera" plods lifelessly as the longest (and probably most disposable) song on the album; "Little America" merely retreads the album's other upbeat jangle-pop numbers with less memorable melodies and harmonies.
Still essential for its first side and "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville," but R.E.M. would really step it up with Fables of the Reconstruction, Murmur's true rival.
Second album is still their second best July 5, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
R.E.M.'s follow-up to Murmur is nearly as good, and although it lacks the distinctive edge that marked the debut, it's even catchier with pulsating riffs and the familiar Stipe mumble-to-plead vocal style. Also like Murmur, the two halves vary in quality (the first side is top-notch from start to finish, the second a bit of a grab bag with filler like "Letter Never Sent" and the somnolent, sometimes dull "Camera" mixed in).
They still hadn't directed themselves toward the beefier and harder sounds that would identify later work, nor had they perfected (or resorted to?) capturing delirious pop hooks. "Harborcoat" is still one of their all-time best songs and "Time After Time" is a delicate and iridescent dirge. Little known outside of the fan base and college rock listeners, it deserves as much, if not more, attention than their 90s mainstream hits like Out of Time and Automatic For the People.
Best cuts: "Harborcoat," "So. Central Rain," "Time After Time (Ann-Elise)," "7 Chinese Brothers," "Little America," "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville," "Pretty Persuasion," "Second Guessing"
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