Indeed the finest Connecticut offered, was the band 'that mate', who just had to be different to everyone else (just out of sheer cussedness and a need to exercise their self-proclaimed heightened sense of individuality) used to proclaim preference for from the US College Rock scene.Such au contraire types were desperate to differentiate between the two bands, usually dismissing R.E.M as too commercial in the absence of any other definitive explanation.
In fact the opposite was true. Miracle Legion released this EP, then sauntered off touring in the UK signing for Rough Trade while R.E.M remained with the relatively small I.R.S label in a bid to retain artistic control.
However, that really is the only fundamental difference. Miracle Legion have the same liquid chord structures as R.E.M and Mark Mulcahy had amazingly similar vocal stylistics, albeit a tad deeper than Stipes allowing him to handle the moody Everybody Hurts type tracks that both bands were capable of producing. However the difference was essentially very subtle.
