The film, and therefore the soundtrack, beg this question of this reviewer: Would it have been made had R.E.M. If you like R.E.M., go out and get 'Fables of the Reconstruction' or 'Monster', or any of their albums for that matter, as they are far, far superior to this offering. I really don't have much to say on this one. Tony Clifton's (Andy Kaufman's insult-laden alter ego for those of you who haven't seen the film) rendition of 'I Will Survive' is humorous, but pointless without the visual. I must admit I saw the movie expecting to see some surreal shots of a man 'pushing an elephant up the stairs,' a 'piano crashing,' etcetera. 'The Great Beyond' is decent, with very strong stream of consciousness imagery. Other highlights? Well, 'Man On The Moon' is a good song - and a big hit for R.E.M. The instrumental version of 'Man On The Moon', on the other hand, does travel dynamically and features a nice string arrangement (with a couple of horns thrown in for padding). My complaint on this one is that it doesn't go anywhere dynamically. 'Miracle' was a nice surprise in that it has a very dissonant string arrangement accompanying the piano. (They also have two songs on here - 'The Great Beyond' and 'Man On The Moon'.) For my money, two of the score numbers, 'Miracle' and the instrumental treatment of 'Man On The Moon', hold promise. (There are one or two decent moments on the disc.) The 'score' was penned by R.E.M. I do have some highlights to tell you about. Well, the film was far superior to the soundtrack. What the hell is Courtney Love doing in films? Did the filmmakers intentionally throw out all ideas of structure and pacing? Okay, okay… so I thought the film left a little to be desired (a lot actually). Even making it through once was a formidable task.

Well, the first note I must make about my latest assignment, the soundtrack to Man On The Moon by R.E.M., is that I couldn't sit through the thing more than once. The first time just to see how it hits me as I hear it the second time as a real listener paying close attention to the lyrics (if applicable), the harmonic progressions, the progression of the songs, etc.

When I write these reviews I usually try to listen to the soundtrack at least two times.

Tonto man on moon song