Lifes Rich Pageant is the fourth album by the American band R.E.M. and was released in 1986. Intended as an upbeat reaction to the sobering and historical Fables of the Reconstruction, R.E.M. chose Don Gehman to produce the album at his Belmont Mall Studios in Belmont, Indiana.
The source for the title of the album is based on an English idiom. Its use is very old, but R.E.M.'s use (minus the apostrophe) is, according to Peter Buck, from the 1964...
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Lifes Rich Pageant is the fourth album by the American band R.E.M. and was released in 1986. Intended as an upbeat reaction to the sobering and historical Fables of the Reconstruction, R.E.M. chose Don Gehman to produce the album at his Belmont Mall Studios in Belmont, Indiana.
The source for the title of the album is based on an English idiom. Its use is very old, but R.E.M.'s use (minus the apostrophe) is, according to Peter Buck, from the 1964 film A Shot in the Dark:
The missing apostrophe in the title is deliberate. Nearly all contractions used by R.E.M. lack apostrophes, though "life's" in this case is a possessive.
The cover of the album depicts drummer Bill Berry on the upper part of the cover and a pair of bison, signifying an environmental theme, on the lower part. It also alludes to Buffalo Bill.
With R.E.M.'s fan base beginning to grow beyond its college rock boundaries, Lifes Rich Pageant proved to be their biggest U.S. album yet, peaking at #21 on the Billboard charts...
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