Reckoning is like that to me. The songs sound like they recorded them in one or two takes and they bleed with raw intensity. The way Michael Stipe and Mike Mills blend their voices is superb because they sound equal but entirely different. And Mills' bass is a captivating force - there have been plenty of times I've heard this song only just to follow the bass line. The middle section cacophony, the way the music shakes and rattles throughout - and the way i can't stay still while it's playing - all very special to me.
On "Little America" the frenetic energy is still on full display with Stipe's menacing lyrics. He spits out verse after verse, diving even into some colloquial dialogue at times. The music is unapologetic and this theme of seeking comfort, or trying to be comfortable in a shifting land, or trying to be comfortable at being uncomfortable, or just what exactly is comfort? is a continuous theme. Whereas on "Harborcoat" they're needing their favorite coat to brave the cruel outside world, on the closer they're trying to run away from the massive and ever-changing world around them. And the music is equally brimming with that same kind of fervor; asking questions that sometimes will never be answered. One's thing for sure, these are the original freaking geniuses in my book.
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