I'm a quite big R.E.M. fan, so your post naturally caught my eye. However, I'm not really sure I understand what you're saying. Yes, Out of Time was R.E.M.'s huge break, but what is the parallel between that album and Ringleader of the Tormentors?

All we know about Ringleader is the album title, the track names, who's worked on the album, a few details like the children's choir, and so on. Isn't it a bit early to say it's going to be anything like Out of Time? Or that it will have the cultural impact of Out of Time?

Sure, I believe that Ringleader could be Morrissey's greatest album yet (though I also don't believe Out of Time is R.E.M.'s greatest - being great and being popular are not the same thing). But, I also believe Ringleader could be Morrissey's worst album. For me, at least, there's no way to tell.

One thing that might be worth noting about Out of Time is that R.E.M. specifically tried to make it a 'niche' album after the huge success of Green and the subsequent stadium tour; they didn't want to become an arena-rock band. Regarding Losing My Religion, there's that famous quote from Peter Buck, something like, 'It was 1991, we were listening to the radio and thinking, hmmm? Does it seem like a song with, say, a MANDOLIN would get major radio play? It certainly didn't seem to fit with what was popular at the time, so I decided to play a mandolin. And what did we get? Our biggest hit ever! From then on we just threw up our hands.'

So, although this isn't my personal view, I suppose we COULD speculate that after the much-lauded Quarry tour, Morrissey decided to make a more 'personal' album, aimed at a smaller fanbase. Titles like 'To Me You Are a Work of Art' and 'At Last I Am Born' are certainly less expansive than 'America Is Not the World' and 'Irish Blood, English Heart,' though overall I have to say I don't see a huge amount of difference in the Ringleader titles v the Quarry titles (and again, titles are one of the only things we've got to go on, at this point). Morrissey has described the album as 'gentle,' and Out of Time is assuredly one of R.E.M.'s most 'gentle' albums too. And after this current era of Franz/etc angular disco, maybe the pop world will crave a turn toward gentility, just like it did in 1991? Maybe it will. But maybe it won't.

So, while making all these thought-somersaults regarding R.E.M. and Morrissey has been extremely pleasing for me (thus, thank you for posting!), I still don't see what you see, Ken S. Would you care to extrapolate?