Lifes Rich Pageant is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on July 28, 1986, by I.R.S. Records. R.E.M. chose Don Gehman to produce the album, which was recorded at John Mellencamp's Belmont Mall Studio in Belmont, Indiana. This was the only album the band recorded with Gehman, who moved them from the more obscure and dense sound of their earlier albums to an accessible, hard rock-influenced quality. The album was well-received critically.
Recording and production
During the first half of 1986, the band took a break from touring to recover energy. They wanted to make a change from the sound of their previous album, with Mills saying "We wanted to get away from the sort of murky feelings and sounds that we got out of Joe [<nowiki/>Boyd, producer on Fables of the Reconstruction] in London". They wanted a "really hard-driving record, but we also like to throw in a lot of things: pianos and organs and accordions and banjos and what-not" and considered working with Gehman as they liked the acoustic sound of his work with John Mellencamp. which she also uses at the end of her cover version of "Privilege (Set Me Free)" from her 1978 album Easter.
Packaging
The album title is based on an English idiom. Its use is very old, but R.E.M.'s use is, according to guitarist Peter Buck, from the 1964 film A Shot in the Dark, minus the apostrophe:
:Inspector Clouseau opens a car door, falling into a fountain.
:Maria: "You should get out of these clothes immediately. You'll catch your death of pneumonia, you will."
:Clouseau: "Yes, I probably will. But it's all part of life's rich pageant, you know?"
The cover of the album is a photograph of drummer Bill Berry, on the upper half, and a pair of bison, signifying an environmental theme, on the lower half. It also alludes to Buffalo Bill. on the Billboard charts and heralding the band's first gold record.
| rev2 = Chicago Tribune
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| rev3 = Christgau's Record Guide
| rev3score = B+
| rev4 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev4score = A
| rev5 = The Guardian
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| rev6 = Pitchfork
| rev6score = 8.8/10
| rev7 = Q
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| rev8 = Rolling Stone
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| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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| rev10 = Uncut
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PopMatters included it in their list of the "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums". Slant Magazine listed the album at #52 on its list of "Best Albums of 1980s" saying "Lifes Rich Pageant stands as a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." In 2000, it ranked at number 162 in the list of Virgin's All-Time Album Top 1000 List.
Anthony DeCurtis, writing a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, called it "brilliant and groundbreaking, if modestly flawed", praising it as "the most outward looking record R.E.M. has made." He found that it "carries on... the dark Southern folk artistry of last year's Fables of the Reconstruction" and "paints a swirling, impressionistic portrait of a country at the moral crossroads". Robert Christgau gave the album B+ in a dismissive review that complained of a lack of progress from earlier albums.
- Some early UK compact disc copies list the track as "Superwoman".
Personnel
Sources:
R.E.M.
- Bill Berry – drums, vocals
- Peter Buck – guitar
- Mike Mills – bass, vocals
- Michael Stipe – vocals
Production
- M. Bird – illustrations
- Jim Dineen – engineering
- Gregg Edward – mixing at Can-Am Recorders, Los Angeles, California, United States
- Rick Fetig – engineering
- Don Gehman – production, mixing
- Ross Hogarth – engineering
- Stan Katayama – engineering
- Bob Ludwig – mastering, at Masterdisc, New York City, New York, United States
- Sandra Lee Phipps – photography
- Juanita Rogers – back cover painting
- R. O. Scarelli – packaging
- B. Slay – illustrations
Chart performance
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Chart
!align="left"|Peak<br />position
|-
|align="left"|1986
|align="left"|Billboard 200
|align="left"|21 (32 weeks on chart)
|-
|align="left"|1986
|align="left"|UK Albums Chart
|align="left"|43 (4 weeks on chart)
|-
|align="left"|1986
|align="left"|Australia (Kent Music Report)
|align="left"|73 (7 weeks on chart)
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Song
!align="left"|Chart
!align="left"|Position
|-
|align="left"|1986
|align="left"|"Fall on Me"
|align="left"|Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks
|align="left"|5
|-
|align="left"|CRIA – Canada
|align="left"|Gold
|align="left"|September 30, 1987
|-
|align="left"|CRIA – Canada
|align="left"|Platinum
|align="left"|September 30, 1987