2000 Great Songs #1223: Mr. Richards

Having fallen in love with R.E.M. fairly close to the beginning, and seeing my (musical) life changed by early masterpieces like Murmur and Reckoning, I not surprisingly listen to their later work with far less frequency, particularly the last batch after drummer Bill Berry left. Which doesn't mean I don't love a lot of this work; but when spinning up an R.E.M. record on my stereo, it's tough to opt for a later one when the earlier releases sitting beside it on the (figurative, digital) shelf are still so incredibly meaningful to me.

And this sentiment, which I assume a lot of fans of long-running artists feel, is what makes my love of "Mr. Richards" so oddly inexplicable. 2008's Accelerate, R.E.M.'s 14th and penultimate album before dissolving, is my favorite post-Berry release, one of their more electric, hard-rocking records, yet even among a surprising wealth of solid, highly energized material, this one song grabbed me from the start. Something about the guitar sound blended with Michael Stipe's vocals hits me hard, though it's the strangely familiar melody I find most striking, especially as they pivot from the verses into the chorus. It's a rare late-period R.E.M. tune I find as magically captivating as those earlier records.

Live:

Another one:

Cover by Kyle Richards (no relation...):