Monster

Spin (12/94, p.76) - Ranked #6 in Spin's list of the '20 Best Albums Of '94.'
New York Times (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Jon Pareles' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...Peter Buck's guitars blare and buzz to carry the pioneering collegiate-rock band into the age of grunge."
New York Times (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...This is R.E.M.'s big, dumb rock record. Except it's not dumb at all..."
Village Voice (2/28/95) - Ranked #3 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.
New Musical Express (12/24/94, p.22) - Ranked #14 in NME's list of the 'Top 50 Albums Of 1994.'
Rolling Stone (10/6/94, p.84) - 4.5 Stars - Excellent - "...MONSTER is a deeply felt, thematically coherent, consistently invigorating challenge to 'evolve or die,' with all the courage of its convictions..."
Spin (11/94, p.91) - Highly Recommended - "...this is its most implacable --and convincing--music since MURMUR....Even as MONSTER flirts with unreason and breaks down old taboos, it observes the strict protocols of the forms it plays havoc with..."
Musician (11/94, p.91) - "...the band hasn't really changed at all: the songs still stress melody over meaning, the playing still emphasizes the unit over the individuals, and the sound remains as fresh as it was a dozen years ago..."
Q Magazine (11/94, p.118) - 3 Stars - Good - "...MONSTER is a balder and starker bit of landscaping and whether everything in the garden remains lovely is up to debate..."
New Musical Express (9/29/94, p.47) - 7 - Very Good - "...At best stunning, at worst merely diverting, MONSTER sounds like the album they 'had' to make, to clear out their system..."
Vibe (12/94-1/95, p.142) - "...Lulled by the aural Prozac of their more melodic tunes, it's easy for one to forget that R.E.M. are a rock 'n' roll band. Their new MONSTER puts them back on the block of their noisy origins and Stipe's buried-in-the-mix lyrics..."
Entertainment Weekly (9/30/94, pp.56-57) - "...MONSTER proves no one cranks the amplifiers and mumbles lyrics in quite the same thrilling way as the originators..." - Rating: B+