R.E.M. news - yay

"Drive" a standard? I mean, that just came out, right?

that's from automatic for the people.

oh yes there have been albums since then, i forgotted

They played "Feeling Gravity's Pull" in 2002.

The only R.E.M. could excite now is if they got Christine McVie to join.

Nitpicker! It would be fun to see them play "Harbourcoat" and "Carnival of Sorts" and "Kahoutek!"

I know you can't accpet Bill Rieflin, Alfred. : D

http://www.remhq.com/cms_files/images/cms_image_14825.jpg

Dude still sets up the dinosaurs on his amps.

one day, when we are all old, we will sit through a tribute to R.E.M. including Thom Yorke moaning through "Swan Swan H" while Johnny Greenwood plays the backing on a pupil-tracking sequencer

or at least billy bragg and natalie merchant

I always thought "West of the Fields" sounded like it would've killed live

OK guys, as a point of comparison, when the critically-lauded, recently reunited Mission of Burma play concerts, does anyone in the band JUMP IN THE AIR and do a SCISSOR KICK?

oh please, james brown was doing the splits during his own eulogy

i was comparing them to mission of burma.

(i.e., not james brown)

This is exciting. I am excited. Also, scissor kicks are neat.

Harborcoat— wow!

WOW!

(no irony).

don't worry, tim, it was mostly a joke -- although seriously, a scissor-kick from a barely-middle-aged guitar player is really not stop-the-presses exciting, is it? most instances of this phenomenon that i have personally witnessed have been more embarrassing than anything else.

PLZ TO NAME EMBARASSING SCISSOR KICKS YOU HAVE WITNESSED. PETE BUCK ONE IN THE PHOTO LOOKS SWEET.

http://www.abqjournal.com/shock/s_hagar306-19-02.jpg

that said I am all for REM to start playing good songs again, though "Gardening At Night" at the hall of fame show implied that Stipe sadly can't re-learn mumbling.

and Burma's pretty damn enthusiastic live

lol Hagar's pants

that's Mike Mills.

rofz

okay mikey, maybe the nudie suits weren't so bad after all.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/gallery/2005/06/16/stipegall3.jpg

they really haven't played Harborcoat since '85???

(^^^ ALSO TIM PLZ NOTE CORRECT SPELLING)

That's probably true. It doesn't seem like they were playing it by the time of the Lifes Rich Pageant tour.

I love "Feeling Gravity's Pull", I should like to see them do that live, its a wonderful song.

I'm glad it only took them about ten years to realize that the fans who're still with them love that material. [Back in '99 I cringed when people booed 'Cuyahoga.' Somebody needed to sit down with a focus group before the Up tour it seemed.]

ugh, except Cuyahoga sucks and Harborcoat doesn't!

Wait, I really like this Christine McVie idea!

people booed them during 'cuyahoga'? jeez. i thought that was pretty much the highlight of the 99 show i saw.

The Dublin clips i've seen show Stipey mostly turned to one side, reading "Feeling Gravity's Pull" and "1,000,000" off a piece of paper. This tempers my jealousy toward the concertgoers a bit.

How can we talk about middle-aged rockers kicking up their heels & not mention GBV?

do GBV have heels? can they kick them?

Converse have heels, yes.

R.E.M. could have been the college rock Led Zeppelin if they just broke up when the drummer died. Instead they're the college rock Stones, right down to OMG THEY DID PARACHUTE WOMAN.

Tim, Mission Of Burma bring it live, esp. Conley. They all look like they're having tons of fun. I don't think I saw a scissor kick though.

This does seem like a welcome resurgence.

R.E.M. could have been the college rock Led Zeppelin if they just broke up when the drummer died

They could have asked Phil Collins to join too! What's he doing lately?

Mission of Burma could have asked Zak Starkey to join if their drummer had quit.

Umm dude I believe REM still have time left to "break up when the drummer dies."

Also: is it just me, or has Stipe's voice progressed kind of backwards? He spent his youth being husky and mumbly, and slowly converted into bleaty projection and clarity -- it's hard to imagine him now getting back at the vocal tone of those early songs.

("Progressed backwards" meaning over his life span, of course -- it seems like aging usually makes people more soft and husky.)

Umm dude I believe REM still have time left to "break up when the drummer dies."

Gee, you'd think I was making a joke or something.

Heavens! ;)

Sorry! He had that whole brain-aneurysm thing, I thought maybe you thought he died then!

I saw Zombie Bill Berry play on the Monster tour and didn't notice a difference

You know what's weird? Really weird? Right now I find myself wishing R.E.M. made another album that sounded exactly like Monster. If you think about, in all this time since 1994 not a single band has made an album that sounded like that (vox amp + digital delay as the main instrument).

no, there have plenty of shitty albums since 1994 duder

we don't need more shitty albums

haven't their past couple tours been pretty tragic affairs, scissors kick notwithstanding? i mean, they did that one where they took all those requests...and they played the liacouras center at temple u. i'd go if they played the tower again tho.

i think i saw the last three u.s. tours and they've all been great!

R.E.M. could have been the college rock Led Zeppelin if they just broke up when the drummer died. Instead they're the college rock Stones, right down to OMG THEY DID PARACHUTE WOMAN.

otm

for some reason it didn't surprise me that they hadn't played harbourcoat since 1985. then i realized that i last saw them in 1985.

http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=1225

10. 15. 10
COLLAPSE INTO NOW
The band's new record, slated for a spring 2011 release, will be titled COLLAPSE INTO NOW. BBC6Music first reported the title following a conversation with Bertis who was in Manchester earlier this week for In The City, a music business conference.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Y'all, that album title is complete ass. But I'm still cautiously optimistic about the music contained within.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/bzzagent-bzzscapes-prod/collapse-into-cool--lrg.png

Since their titles are often thematically relevant to the album, what will "Collapse Into Now" signify? Are they conceding to commercial reality by duetting with Rihanna?

Their ability to write a tune has dropped off, unfortunately. The last album had all the LRP/Document sound but no tunes. Has anyone ever grilled Stipe on his use of lyric stand...even now? The Dublin shows notwithstanding their setlists recently have been ass given the back catalogue.

Yeah, I liked Accelerate for a number of listens but I only find myself going back to a handful of songs now. The bridges in particular are really rote. God that new title is awful. Cautiously optimistic in spite of everything.

1. “Discoverer”
2. “All The Best”
3. “Uberlin”
4. “Oh My Heart”
5. “It Happened Today” (featuring Eddie Vedder)
6. “Every Day Is Yours To Win”
7. “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter” (featuring Peaches and Lenny Kaye)
8. “Walk It Back”
9. “Mine Smell Like Honey”
10. “That Someone Is You”
11. “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I”
12. “Blue” (featuring Patti Smith)

That's the tracklist for Collapse Into Now. http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2010/11/24/rem-collapse-into-now-tracklist-new-album/

Track 7 is a joke right?

9. “Mine Smell Like Honey”

.. what do yourn smell like?

'Mine Smell Like Honey' was the one that made me think this might be a joke. This is probably going to terrible but I'm still strangely looking forward to it, especially the Patti Smith collaboration.

I suspect I'll be wishing Stipe would go back to being a mumbler before this is all over.

Also people need to stop letting Jacknife Lee produce things.

Oh, I liked his prod/remix of Badly Drawn Boy's "Born Again" more than the original. But they didn't release it beyond promo.

Thought for a second that said "featuring Danny Kaye" and thought Stipe was getting into some Natalie/Nat King Cole duet-with-a-zombie shit.

well it does say 'featuring peaches' so you're still right

It's peaches the tinned fruit not the singer Peaches.

Read it as "(featuring Peaches and Lenny Beige)" myself.

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2010/03/30/article-1269972408037-08EF542C000005DC-731652_636x300.jpg

I hear the song features an interpolation of the Stranglers song. Plus Lenny Kaye.

you can get the opening track at remhq.com -- sounds ok? kinda has an all tomorrow's parties piano thing going on.

thanks, tyler. with a heavy heart and depressingly low expectations, i'm going to listen now.

I like Monster so this new track isn't half bad. they seem to have the classic middle aged rocker problem with thinking hooks are better than they actually are but the guitars sound nice. And the overall sound isn't nearly as horrible as those overcompressed Accelerate tracks.

How long did it take you guys to get your email? I'm still waiting, 15 minutes later.

i got the email within minutes.

it's still the same dreadful producer as on the last album, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uMf-JxR5mQ

did they get confused about which old-in-the-way alt-dinosaur they are and accidentally make a bloated throwback to 1983 U2?

thx!

Okay, I'm surprisingly WAY into this.

Guessing true believers will find it worth comparing to Green

This song is terrible. Too many guitars and Stipe needs to sing less or be buried in the mix more. The new Duran Duran album is great though.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

they're utterly lost. and for me, there was a time -- not that long ago -- that this band could do no wrong whatsoever.

The new Duran Duran album is great though.

I've never been a big fan, but I can tell they're at least trying to be good again.

This song is terrible.

RONG-O

yeah definitely didn't sound terrible to me. kinda stadium rock REM, but pretty good.

there was a time -- not that long ago -- that this band could do no wrong whatsoever.

I've always loved the Eponymous album but their proper albums never struck me as being without flaws. In fact, I think Murmur kind of sucks, and I've yet to find one that I like cover to cover. Any recommendations?

I agree with the Green thing mentioned before...kind of a Green/Monster hybrid-type song. I like the guitar sound a lot.

It's kinda like they took the hooks and organ out of "Turn You Inside Out"

xp Cover-to-cover, my favorite is probably Green.

I think Murmur kind of sucks
crazy talk!

totally meh

and yeah res gotta b trollin)

natch

I took Lazarus' comment to be a joke since Eponymous isn't an album and Murmur is brilliant. Green is probably my fav. cover to cover as well but Out of Time is pretty solid end to end.

The internet has (d)evolved to a point where an unpopular opinion = trolling.

oh you're entitled to your (crazy) opinions

their last 2 'returns to form' haven't interested me much. wonder if this one will. struggling to recall what their last stop-you-in-your-tracks song was.
maybe You're In The Air off Up?

still on the upside, that remastered/ deluxe Lifes Rich Pageant should be along soon.

Do you think the songs are of the same caliber as the ones on Eponymous? They strike me as being generic REM, and not very memorable. Granted, I've only listened to the album about 4-5 times, but I really didn't have the inclination to listen to it any more. xp

Accelerate had a short shelf-life for me, but I appreciated the intent. I guess New Adventures was probably the last "return to form" album before that one, though, and it paid off imo.

The only R.E.M. could excite now is if they got Christine McVie to join.

An idea that should not be dismissed.

oh no don't get me wrong i loved New Adventures.. but everything after Up has left me very cold. i still shelled out to see them live on the last 2 tours mind.

speaking of Up, i haven't seen this since it was first broadcast in 98:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noHD6diOlLU

Why didn't they break up in 2000? I thought they promised to do that.

"Up" was total genius, sounds like a completely different band as they tried to do without a drummer.

yeah i think Up is probably the most successful post-Berry record. might be a few songs too long, but it has some great stuff.

Do you think the songs are of the same caliber as the ones on Eponymous?
idgi -- there are songs from Murmur on Eponymous ...

The only R.E.M. could excite now is if they got Christine McVie to join.

On "You Are The Everything"

Only 2, but the Radio-Free Europe on there is a non-album version, I think. Anyway, nevermind-- this probably isn't a productive conversation. xp

In fact, I think Murmur kind of sucks, and I've yet to find one that I like cover to cover. Any recommendations?

__________________________

crazy talk

CRAZY TALK. but for other recommendations, i'd say fables, which has held up very well (and, of course, chronic town; also, i know you asked about full album recommendations, but i'll also point out that r.e.m.'s pre-chronic town bootlegs -- available on youtube -- are stunning).

yeah, my wife just put on fables the other day and it sounded great.

Isn't Eponymous a singles collection? I don't get why that's being thought of as an album. Like when people say Substance is the best New Order album. facepalm.jpg

I have time for all the REM albums up to New Adventures -Monster.

I call a compilation of songs placed on a storage medium an album. what do you call it?

a Compilation.

let's not get bogged down in the details though. my point is, you're preference for Eponymous is down to that compilation featuring lots of singles from several different albums. their albums have some filler and also some classics besides the singles. Lightning Hopkins, for example. Freaking love that song. That was my go-to track to play at the student disco when I dj'd.

Please note that I specifically excluded Eponymous from the designation of being a proper album. I am aware that it is a compilation. My point was that my experience with REM is that they are much more a singles band than an album band. That is all.

couldn't disagree more, at least with respect to their albums up to and including life's rich pageant.

lol at this quote from the Up doc that piscesx posted above (Peter Buck speaking, I think):

"I just never in my wildest dreams thought that someone in the band would quit while we're doing great work. My picture that I of us breaking up is that we'd do a couple of really bad records...and then we'd go to a Chinese restaurant and get drinks with umbrellas in them and say 'you know guys it's been a really haul but we just don't have it anymore', you know, and have a good toast and go home"

siiigh. I'm glad that a couple like that new song, but I'm in the camp that thinks it's really really awful. Just like Around the Sun was awful. and (imo) Accelerate was pretty mediocre, at best. I liked a few songs at the Accelerate it came out, but I think that was partly because it's much better, relatively, than Around the Sun, and plus I really liked the idea of R.E.M. being awesome and relevant again. Very few bands (as opposed to solo artists) are very good after 30+ years together. For god's sake, go to the Chinese restaurant and order some drinks with umbrellas in 'em.

at one point before the new century, stipe said he wanted to do a final concert in 2000, then call it a career.

as much as i loved this band, stipe should have stuck to his plan.

"I just never in my wildest dreams thought that someone in the band would quit while we're doing great work. My picture that I of us breaking up is that we'd do a couple of really bad records...and then we'd go to a Chinese restaurant and get drinks with umbrellas in them and say 'you know guys it's been a really haul but we just don't have it anymore', you know, and have a good toast and go home"

are they still working off that megacontract signed right before berry left? Would love to believe they'll finally say sayonara once it's fulfilled. I don't necessarily think a Mike Mills solo album would be great but I think its almost embarrassing the guy hasn't made one yet.

it's kinda funny that Peter Buck always envisioned them breaking up after making a couple of bad records. First, because most people seem to want to go out "on top", and also because most pop stars aren't honest enough to admit that they're capable of making a really bad record in the future, let alone two in a row!

tbf when they said all this "always the four of us, always great, done in ten years" they were total King Shits

yeah, i remember that too. nye 1999 was going to be the last show. now we get to see a bloated peter buck do imitations of the child molester from that 60s group.

are they still working off that megacontract signed right before berry left?

Presumably. It was signed right after Monster, and none of the albums since then have sold as much. It's doubtful Warners would choose to re-up with them after so many eh-selling albums.

on't necessarily think a Mike Mills solo album would be great but I think its almost embarrassing the guy hasn't made one yet.
it is weird -- has an interviewer ever asked why he hasn't? doesn't seem like he does much of anything outside the band these days.

if you spend all your time on the band, why should it take years for an album to come out, i wonder.

dunno, not like the other people in the band don't have 20 other things going on besides REM.

REM's famous mega-deal must have been so much more lucrative than those similar mega-deals accorded Motley Crue or ZZ Top.

That's a interesting point. What DOES Mike Mills do outside REM, other than play golf? Peter Buck, as we know, tours with Robyn Hitchcock, hangs around Portland, and breaks my heart by working with the Decemberists and the bloke from Snow Patrol. But what does Mike Mills do? I envision him living a Curb Your Enthusiasm style bored millionaire lifestyle, doing the rounds of the country clubs, going to charity dinners and the like. I'd hope not though. He's a bit of a mysterious one. Mike Mills, what is your life?

Er, anyway, this new single. Oh dear. The guitar intro is ok, but the tune is completely unmemorable and takes some gimmicky and rather unpleasant turns. Jacknife Lee's production sucks as well. I wish they'd see sense and get someone like Jim O'Rourke in. Or produce it themselves. Up! was overlong, but it had some good songs and an interesting sound, suggesting a more interesting future than the one they've taken.

My understanding is that Mike Mills lurks in the shadows of Athens, catching the eyes of girls who SHOULD have been paying attention to ME, but I might be sort of biased on that point.

http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/m/REM_2_260309/mike_mills_of_rem_1803183.jpg
Mike Mills, man of mystery

Haven't heard the single yet, but to my ears the biggest problem with post-Berry R.E.M. is the band clearly playing to a rigid click track. It just makes everything so lifeless and precise. Then again, I can understand why they might do it this way. First, they probably got in the habit when they started working on demos post-Berry, sans drummer. And these days I bet they record in the studio one at a time. Because they hate each other and stuff.

I wonder why more bands don't produce themselves? Dylan's done a great job with his last few albums. Hasn't Neil Young produced or co-produced nearly everything he's done?

Anyway, R.E.M. should do a no-fuss live in a church album of elegiac new songs - Berry can guest on piano or something - and then call it a day. At least until true inspiration strikes, because working with Jacknife Lee is the opposite of that.

Yeah, live in a church with Berry sounds good. I guess by bringing in Jacknife Lee they think they're remaining relevant by getting a hot, punchy modern commercial rock sound. But it doesn't suit them. All the mystery is gone.

Sort of fascinating belated appreciation of REM from Robbie Fulks:

http://robbiefulks.com/blog/posts/185-some-music-that-sounds-good-and-why-does-it-

they hate each other?

I can only assume, right? Their interaction level on stage or otherwise out and about is pretty nil, and recalling the conflicts circa "Up" re who gets what songs on the disc and how many, it doesn't sound like a band prone to compromise and cooperation at this point. Recent REM has always seemed to me two very different songwriters who live far apart from one another, linked by Stipe. But that's cool. I assume most bands together as long as REM hate each other. Like, the Drive-By Truckers, my current fave - those two guys apparently literally never speak between tours and records, but they've stayed together for decades. Decoding the Keith book, he and Mick never buried the hatchet after the early '80s, if not earlier, but they know how to work together.

those two guys apparently literally never speak between tours and records

to be fair, these guys tour constantly

if I spent ten months of the year on the road with my best friends, i wouldn't want people to assume i hate them if I hung around the wife and kids the other 2 months.

Fair enough. What's the Pete Townshend line about the ironies of being in a successful rock band? About how when you first get together to play you have no idea you'll be forever linked to these three other often very different guys?

made the same exact sigh that hot lava hair made when i read that quote too.

just last summer, mills was playing with Buck in Steve Wynn's Baseball Project, for at least a few shows.

well there's a pretty well documented rivalry in the band, but they certainly don't *hate* each other check this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4HnrS0nCFg

that was the rescheduled end-of-tour London gig that was originally cancelled because of the 7/7/05 bomb fyi.

stipe should have done a little snoopy dance on top of the piano

I guess by bringing in Jacknife Lee they think they're remaining relevant by getting a hot, punchy modern commercial rock sound. But it doesn't suit them. All the mystery is gone.

this is 100% otm (tho, to me, the mystery was gone around document's release, though the band made some very good -- if somewhat indistinct -- rock albums during their midcareer period).

Kind of amazing to hear the "Finest Worksong" groove in this new one.

why not just listen to "finest worksong" instead?

though the band made some very good -- if somewhat indistinct -- rock albums during their midcareer period

REM was the first band I got into as a kid (well, aside from the monkees), so it takes some effort to imagine how their first 7 or so albums would have sounded to people who had a better comprehension of where these guys were coming from and how they stacked up against the competition (doesn't help me that the press was just as rapturous about them as I was). That "indistinct" quality is especially striking now in the mid-period albums. Wonder if the band is like "uhh, we shouted vague lyrics over ridiculously amped up rock for years - why are we getting shit for it now?"

it takes some effort to imagine how their first 7 or so albums would have sounded to people who had a better comprehension of where these guys were coming from and how they stacked up against the competition

to me, early r.e.m. sounded like it was beamed in from another planet.

Because I also think it's a pretty good song.

And I didn't hate the Jacknife Lee production on the last album, fwiw.

x-post

Accelerate certainly didn't sound like an album on Siltbreeze or something, but I think there was definitely an element of allowing a sense of decay into the production. I thought it suited their aesthetic pretty nicely and it seems like I'm hearing that again on the new one with, for example, the reverb on the lead vocal.

The way he's mixed on this song, Stipe has to really project and I think he nails it. It works.

I like the opening guitars but this sounds VERY laboured, a lot of that is Stipe's fault. He seems to be trying very hard to work a melody out of this without getting there. I really wish he'd give up on that barking. One. Syllable. At. A. Time way of singing, ditto the lurch upwards at the end of the chorus. They strike me as stock devices he uses these days and they just aren't very good.

One more new song is out there: "It Happened Today" w/ Eddie Vedder (although he seems barely audible)

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2010/12/20/rem-it-happened-today-stream/

Not quite as enthused by this one as I was the other one.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb3-9kgXU3U

this trailer is depressing me.

generic and unmemorable.

yeah, i gotta unbookmark this and move on, the dream is over (11 years ago?)

yeah, that's about right. really sad. this band meant so much to me. and now everything they do further tarnishes my memories, and diminishes them in my mind's eye.

You guys are nuts. This sounds excellent to me.

really?

xpost - really?

really what?

the dream is over (11 years ago?)

wouldn't say 11 -- clown me all you want but i think Reveal had some fucking great tunes on it ("Saturn Return" anyone?)

horrible.

also, it isn't whether the band has a good -- even great -- song or two on a new disc.

they're not special/unique anymore. that's what is so sad.

I dunno, I still get a chill when they do the "R.E.M." thing right, and I hear a lot of right in that youtube video.

that's kind of what i mean. i'm guessing you're much younger than me, and that your vision of doing the "r.e.m. thing right" is radically different from mine.

I'm 36 and I came to know them around the time of Document (although I think I'd heard "Fall on Me" prior to that). I don't like either one of the biggest albums (Out of Time and Automatic For the People) and don't ever ever listen to Reveal or Around the Sun, but think Accelerate was a passable return to form if a little aimless. This album seems to have aim.

ah! yeah, i'm 42. i grew up with them around the time of their full-length debut. to me, r.e.m. is chronic town; murmur; reckoning; fables; and to a lesser extent, life's rich pagent. document is a killer, albeit conventional, rock record, and automatic for the people was an exciting reinvention of the band's aesthetic, but those two -- plus a few songs on hi-fi -- aside, it's been a long, sad slide.

to me, r.e.m. is chronic town; murmur; reckoning; fables; and to a lesser extent, life's rich pagent.

I love all these albums retroactively, but yeah...I was still listening to Top 40 and contempo xtian music when they were all current. Once I did sink my teeth into R.E.M. around 1987, I fell hard for Reckoning.

I'm 49, saw them in a club in '83. Loved them right through to Document, lost some interest for a while, loved a few songs on Automatic, settled into liking one or two songs per album after that. (The songs tend to find me, rather than the other way around.) I sort of split the difference between the two of you; I always think I have zero interest in what they're doing, and I'm always surprised by how much I'll like the occasional song.

When did Andrew Sullivan start singing for them?

i'm 25... the first REM album i heard was Up soph year of high school. didn't think much of it. then I heard Green during a memorable overnight/drunken party of some sort, freshman year of college, went to bed w/ a stranger intending to yknow, do what college kids do after parties, but we just stayed up for a couple hours listening to Green. better than sex at the time, i swear... so, over the next couple years i picked up everything from Murmur through Up.

my all time favorite's New Adventures in Hi Fi, possibly my #1 album ever. played that sucker at least 100 times. so good.

I have such a weird love/hate relationship with NAIHF. Love the straight rock numbers like Binky the Doormat, but other stuff like Electrolite is emblematic of the shit-REM they were headed toward. LOVE 'Green'.

Green's def my favorite.

Up until about 'Up' their career arc makes complete sense, it's only from 2000 onwards that they've really felt like they're dragging their career out far longer than anyone needs them to. Although I thought Accelerate was pretty good, production aside.

Best thing since 'Up' for me is the demo of Beat A Drum on the Best Of. Possibly the only great thing from the last 10 years :(

100% agreement with piscesx. Gorgeous song. The chorus gives me shivers. Such a shame they ruined it with that elaborate cod-Brian Wilson arrangement on Reveal. Thing is, Brian Wilson, for all baroque tendencies, knew when to let a song breathe. Rather than let the melody hang in the air, they smother it parping brass fanfares, killing off the emotional impact.

Reveal does have a few good songs, but the production tends to be overdone. The Lifting is really good, even if the middle-eight is a bit rote, and I've Been High is fairly gorgeous, even if the beats are a little ho-hum. Really don't like Imitation of Life. It's catchy, but there's something antiseptic about it. The real dog is I'll Take The Rain. I really wish they wouldn't try and be U2.

I've been revisiting Up this past week though, and think it's largely excellent. A better album that NAIHF, which I've always found patchy. Some really strong melodies and the arrangements are really interesting. Shame the cheap organs, analogue synths and ancient drum machines were replaced with increasingly bland keyboard sounds on subsequent records. You're In The Air is the one that particularly knocked me out, but Hope and Sad Professor are great too.

Monster was my first and then I worked backwards. It was only in college that Murmur really stuck. It's understandable how people who started with the 80s stuff can be turned off by the "new" R.E.M. but we're not talking about a Weezer-level meltdown here, just some weaker songwriting and occasionally strange production decisions.

A couple I like from later LPs I have but barely know: "The Lifting" from Reveal and "Leaving New York" from Around the Sun. Which both happen to be lead tracks--but I really did take the time to play the entire CDs. I also think "Supernatural Superserious" from Accelerate is a good song.

But they're not "Radio Free Europe," are they? Maybe I'm closer to Daniel, Esq. than I thought.

My biggest problem with Accelerate was that it was just presented as a slab of sound, with very little differentiation between each individual song...and that makes it hard to pick out favorites. At least the upcoming album seems to embrace a little bit of variety.

I'm a defender of Reveal... I think it's mostly great with a few bits of filler. It's a sunnier version of Up and I think the two albums make a nice pair. The last two albums, though... I think both have good songs but neither is compelling all the way through. Accelerate is the better of the two, but the production bugs me. From what I've heard of the new one so far it seems to suffer in the same way. I'm willing to give it a chance, as I am with all things REM.

scott otmfm ^^

I'll make my case for liking Around the Sun a lot. The aesthetic is more focused than on the two previous records. It has a handful of eccentric tracks - "Electron Blue," "The Outsiders," "The Ascent of Man" - but I actually like things about all of these. And I think "Leaving New York," "I Wanted to Be Wrong," "Wanderlust," and "Aftermath" make for a core of tracks that feels a little more solid to me than any core of tracks I might think of as ones I especially like on Up or Reveal.

I actually really love "The Ascent of Man" but man, "The Outsiders"... what are you sayin'? what are you playin'? Rap and REM don't mix, no matter how often they try.

Was watching a documentary about Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. Peter Buck makes an interesting comment -- says he likes how with Robyn, he doesn't know anything about how the song goes beforehand, he shows up, Robyn shows him how the song goes, Buck plays whatever it occurs to him to play, that's the record. Buck says he likes working that way and that working with Robyn is a nice break from working with R.E.M., who (he says) like to plan everything carefully and work it over a lot.

I dislike the weird opening of "It Happened Today," but you know, the big Arcade Fire - New Porno-style finish has won me over! (Specifically, it sounds like the end of "The Bleeding Heart Show.")

And: I had the good fortune (or so I think of it) of getting Murmur and Document at the same time, in 1987. For me, too, they seemed to come to space. But R.E.M. for me was a chain hung between those two albums and so everything from Chronic Town through Out of Time makes a kind of sense to me.

Speaking as a onetime REM-maniac, I think their post-Automatic career has maybe three real keepers -- E-Bow, Kenneth and Electrolite -- and a dozen or so almost-but-not-quite songs (mostly on Up and Monster), but that's about it.

I do have a weakness for "I'm Gonna DJ" though -- the naff lyrics actually make it sound less than usually self-conscious, which works, somehow.

Matt DC: "I really wish he'd give up on that barking. One. Syllable. At. A. Time way of singing." is OTM. The real heartbreak in REM is Stipe's declining voice. Perhaps it's the smokes? He did sound somewhat recovered on that Dublin live record, though.

The guitar at the beginning of "It Happened Today" sounds like they recorded somebody playing a cassette tape of "Out of Time" in an adjoining room.

I think I'd like this song a lot if the first minute and a half were instrumental.

"'ll make my case for liking Around the Sun a lot".

^^^^^ Amen, as lyrically naff and pious Stipe is on this, it all somehow works, even the rap, and it's one hell of a summer pop record, highly underrated. Never got the return to form buzz around Accelerate which was duller than anything that had gone before. In true dad rock style Im looking forward to the new one.

R.E.M., who (he says) like to plan everything carefully and work it over a lot.

No duh, Buck.

I like "Up" a lot. I think it has some of the band's loveliest songs. They've been pretty much aimless ever since (though, ironically, better live than they've been in years).

I made a conscious decision to stop caring about new R.E.M. material after Berry left. Therefore, the last R.E.M. album was NAIHF, and the last words on an R.E.M. album were "I'm not scared... I'm outta here." Which is a perfect way to end a career.

I guess I'm pretending that R.E.M. doesn't make any new music so that they'll fit the narrative that I've constructed for them. As denials of reality go, this one's not especially unhealthy.

The single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ggQBU8eSXM

Hmm, they've been playing "Discoverer" a lot on the local alt-rock station so I assumed that was the single.

TO THE FINAL FAIL

lol. yeah, it's sad.

i thought the phrase was "my shit smells like roses"

Somewhere Bill Berry's all "Man, glad I got off that train."

meh. just after he left the band, berry did an interview where he said, "oh geez, i leave and they make their best album yet -- up!" tr: bill berry has dick cheney-like credibility.

(ah. maybe in his heart-of-hearts he is glad he got off that train.)

well, he's always seemed like a gentleman, and "hey, they're doing a great job without me!" is what a gentleman would say.

but "mine smell like honey" is some boxcar shit.

yes, you are right. berry does seem like a gentleman. they all seem like gentlemen, to be honest.

i'm just bitter about what's happened to the favorite band of my youth.

yeah, i just watched youtubes of three songs off this album. kind of crushing. i'd successfully avoided the disappointment for years.

Intro to this is pretty funny!

is that also supposed to be 3d?

uhh . . . i've grown to kind of like this single with the terrible, embarrassing title?

still generic and indistinct -- and i've heard some other songs from the album that are just awful -- but i can still appreciate this one song, at least.

There is something of the muse with R.E.M., especially apparent given that a lot of Stipe's lyrics come from dreams. Surely, someone doesn't think to take some of these very same themes (simple encouragement, "the end") and re-work them once again in simple, childlike terms like this?

And then to put it into a three-chord anthem? R.E.M. are amazing.

This is better than the stuff on the previous album, but I seriously hope this one will also contain some great partly acoustic ballads or semi-ballads, in the style of "Wendell Gee", "Losing My Religion", "Drive", "Try Not To Breathe" and "Daysleeper". All among their best moments.

Well, "Uberlin" seems to fit that category:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/emhuffpost-video-exclusiv_b_812864.html

That's the best of the songs I've heard from this album so far. For whatever that's worth.

"This is, song for song, the best thing we've ever done." Buck
"our best record since Out of Time," Mills
"A lot of people say we did our best work in the early Nineties. But 15 years later, here we are again." Buck again

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-e-m-roar-back-with-collapse-into-now-20110207

oh, ILICISCOMK. actually, FFS, i'm SMDH. no, in fact i'm ROTFLMAOWTIME. now i have to GPF that opinion is so appalling. mills and buck must have their HWUA to even suggest that.

____________________________

got this from the CLOAKA btw.

A lot of people say we did our best work in the early Nineties

he's off by a decade.

A lot of people say we did our best work in the early Nineties

he's off by a decade.

bah.

Bassist Mike Mills agrees, calling Collapse Into Now, out March 8th on Warner Bros., "our best record since Out of Time," the group's 1991 hit. "We took the shackles off and wrote whatever sounded good — balls-to-the-wall rockers, slow sad songs, great mid-tempo songs in the tradition of R.E.M. We had quality, top to bottom."

slow, medium, AND fast!

Accelerate is no better than the 2 preceding albums despite all the hype beforehand so i shan't hold my breath this time. glad THEY like it though. that's something.

Isn't it maybe on the journalist, though, to ask questions that might get responses other than the little soundbites we've already heard several times?

"this is our best record in terms of tempo"

When the band itself adopts the hoary "best album since ..." line, I steer clear, because inevitably, doing press for their next album ("the best album they've done in years," natch) they relent and admit all the things wrong about the previous record.

I stick with what I said earlier in the thread: get these guys in a room and have them make a simple, few-overdubs album. Hell, just get T-Bone Burnett (who did a good job capturing that last Mellencamp album, a one-mic in a room deal). Get this band away from anything digital and see what happens.

in fairness, r.e.m. always says their new album is their best, iirc.

Still, that's lame. That's like a band calling their new album a return to form.

Mike Mills should just start calling the new one their best one since "Some Girls" and see if anyone notices.

Is it true, though? I mean, I've certainly heard them say it before, but I don't think they always say it. Don't seem to remember it for the last couple of albums.

Someone cited the Bill Berry quote about Up above, but, you know, you can look back and see why he might have said it.

that was me. i can't see why he said it, but i guess i'm more tied to r.e.m.'s past than the band is?

My guess would be that due to their expansiveness and Michael's development as a lyricist, they might have thought that New Adventures, Up, and Reveal were, at least from a certain perspective, the best records they'd done up to that point.

slow, medium, AND fast!

huge lol

But 15 years later, here we are again.

This is so weird to say when your band NEVER LEFT.

Also what "shackles" could explain their last few albums

It's their best album since Scary Monsters, oh wait

I hear it's their best since "Blood on the Tracks."

i am looking forward to this new album less and less -- and i liked fucking Reveal, i mean come on

this is gonna be baaaaad

Meanwhile, what *are* the Decemberists up to with this track, I mean it's so blatant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_gykjRkVec

Um, I think the REM single is miles better than any lead-off single they've done since E-Bow Shite.

MaresNest, yes, that one is a blatant R.E.M. rip, BUT, considering Peter Buck plays guitar on that one, its kind of hard to fault the Decemberists.

Ah righty, but that's kinda worse no? 'Hey Pete, yeah buddy, 1984's where it's at, brought yer Ricky I hope'

Of all the albums to say it's the "best since," Out of Time seems a weird choice to me. Sure, it was their most popular, but I think it might be the patchiest in their whole discography (mind you, that's not saying it's their worst). Never mind that Automatic came after OOT!! /nitpicking

Like they had a run of three more albums after OOT that were all superior.

Sure, it was their most popular

I would not be surprised if an artist of such rarified wealth/fame/acclaim eventually convinces themselves that their most popular album is also their best. Because it sold the most copies, you see?

that plus the "15 years and we're back" (which dates back to their last multi-platinum album) does suggest they're quite conscious of their commercial heyday

can a mod plz change thread title to "R.E.M. news - *sigh*..."

thx much

Then again, I can see why bands grow to underrate or outright resent their formative works. It reminds me of a time I went to see Eleventh Dream Day. A fan went up to Rick Rizzo and told him he'd been to two dozen EDD shows. Rick Rizzo was impressed, but then quipped "well, I've been to all of them." So, like, as long as we have all lived with "Murmur," it's not nearly as long (or as deep) as REM themselves have lived with it. Therefore, whatever's freshest may seem the best by default. Call it the delusion of the now.

Maybe. But I would think there are issues of maturity and "We couldn't have done this before" that are significant. And they've never put out an album where it would just have been utterly ridiculous to compare it to Out of Time or Automatic for the People.

I actually think they're a different enough band now that I can't very well compare a recent album to Out of Time or Automatic for the People in the same way that I can't compare either of those albums to their early records.

Mills saying 'best album since Out of Time' is interesting (and, as a fan, I certainly hope it's true) because I think those two early '90s albums have great compositional solidity throughout and great cohesiveness of feeling as far as the album structure goes. This album will certainly be great if it has that.

You can get "Oh My Heart" free here, by the way:

http://www.amazon.com/Oh-My-Heart/dp/B004LKJPCY/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297305902&sr=301-1

Does sound like something from Out of Time!

hey, it could be worse than this -- they could sounds like the decemberists covering old r.e.m. songs!

http://pitchfork.com/news/41553-watchlisten-the-decemberists-cover-rem

One listen to the new album and it's ... pretty good. In the way that Accelerate was ... pretty good. Again, it's REM doing the core REM sound, more or less. But 30 years into their career, it's no longer appropriate to compare their new work to their older work, I think. I'm strugging to think of bands 30 years into their career who've made better albums (note bands: excludes solo artists).

REM, continuing to be the acceptable edge of the unacceptable stuff.

I'm strugging to think of bands 30 years into their career who've made better albums

The Fall. The Ex. Wire.

Well, at this point I'm long past agreeing with you about the Fall: think they're pretty awful most of the time these days. Wire have had long breaks: it's not a 30-year continuous career. And I don't know enough of the Ex's stuff to have an opinion.

You can get "UBerlin" for free today on iTunes.

Whole thing streaming here: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2011/03/01/stream-rem-collapse-into-now/

"Not bad" is kind of a backhanded compliment, but I'm enjoying it.

I'm kind of tired of 'not bad' REM albums.

I was flicking through Q magazine the other day and was really shocked to see the new album getting a really bad review, think it got 2/5. Q usually give them good reviews no matter what the album sounds like.

yeah this is pretty good so far (4 tracks in) better than the last few albums. lyrics suck a bit like.
it's on Spotify too by the way.

Haha Q hating this is really my first indication that this might be really good!

this feels like the first amazing album since bill left. maybe patti's stepped-up presence has filled the void of his absence a little? i don't know. so glad to like an rem album on first listen again. imho the call and response bookending of "discoverer" as "blue" closes out is the most affecting close-out since "me in honey"

"closes out" . . . "close-out" oops. these new songs have me pretty excited, have to admit

I think Stipe is a big part of the reason why. If you think about these songs, it's not so much that Buck and Mills have all of a sudden started writing significantly better music. But these songs just really came together and I agree that they've outdone themselves here. (If you want to say "recent selves" instead of just "selves," OK.)

I think I need to listen to this again. I was underwhelmed on first listen, though I did appreciate that the album felt a lot more varied than the last couple of efforts.

I think you guys must be listening to a different album to mine because all I hear is an obvious lack of effort from all concerned, especially Stipe. The bit where he sings "the storm didn't kill me, the government changed" made me wish I had a physical copy so I could throw it across the room.

Stipe's always written lyrics separately but now it feels like he just turns up in the studio and just barks them over whatever Mills and Buck have done. More than one note on the rock songs would be nice. I like 'Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter' (even though it's basically 'Revolution' shined up a bit) and 'Blue' is fantastic, but everything else just smacks of "will this do?"

I liked Accelerate quite a bit, but this one is just a more boring version of that album.

I'm not sure what's specifically CD-throwable about that line, but fair dos.

The songs are growing on me in a way REM songs haven't for a while. They're all quite superficially soprofic, but they have a certain pleasing edge that, say, "Until The Done Is Done" clearly didn't. There's a little more melodic effort, and less of Stipe doing his "I Took Your Name"-style fallback robot voice.

It's a shame, though, that Mike Mills seems to have taken a backseat on backing vocals after being over quite a lot of "Accelerate." And there's nothing as instantly lovable as "I'm Gonna DJ" and "Horse to Water".

I've been listening to this on Spotify and I like it quite a bit, it's got some really strong songs and nothing so annoying that I can't listen to it.
Uberlin is the first REM song since Parakeet on Up that's gotten stuck in my head and I've had to listen to over and over again.

i'm really scared to hear this ;_;

This album is making me feel like the past 20 years never happened--I like it.

It's not really a proper REM album till you've read the David Cavanagh review.

God help me, I'm really starting to like "Discoverer," though there is no way to deny it sounds like a dropped track from "Monster" or "New Adventures."

Discoverer is my favorite of the bunch too. Someone way upthread (or was it on twitter) called it a Finest Worksong retread, which it kinda is. It's the only track that's really stuck with me so far though. HATE the last track with the Stipe monologue.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2011/3/2/1299070673612/michael-stipe-REM-intervi-001.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/06/michael-stipe-rem-collapse-interview

Seems to be getting good reviews cos it has a 'classic' REM sound, but a lot of it sounds like a marginally less boring version of boring bands who've ripped off all the boring bits of REM. Uberlin reminds me of Idlewild at their most earnest, erk! There are a couple of nice enough tunes, but I don't know if I can be bothered letting it grow on me. REM has always self-plagiarised, sometimes improving on the originals (I'll take Strange Currencies over Everybody Hurts) but Blue is such a blatant rip off of Country Feedback it's almost funny - same chord sequence, tempo, guitar drones, everything. Except it's a bit boring, with none of the ache and burn of that classic. Oh My Heart is good though: has a bit of Swan Swan H (never a favourite) and Try Not To Breathe (a big favourite) to it, but it's quite affecting nonetheless.

That photo!!!

Stipe's not 50 yet, is he? Looks about 64.

http://i.imgur.com/6Tjzu.jpg

lots of lazy reviews knocking "blue" as a "country feedback" or "e-bow the letter" knockoff, as though the spoken word thing is some warner bros era development. hint: there's another rem closer that features prominent spoken word vocals. it's called "stumble." thanks

I think the country feedback comparison comes from the chord progression - it's nearly identical. You can sing country feedback over the top and it sounds fine.

i get that. and sure, it's got patti smith on it, too. just saying that if a writer's gonna diss a song for rehashing elements from a band's catalog, familiarity with the whole catalog doesn't hurt

That's silly. Bring back Patti Smith for a second moody cameo, and people will mention "E-Bow the Letter." If they brought KRS One back for a track, people would be comparing it to "Radio Song." It's the specificity of the similarities that can't be avoided. How much importance one places on such similarities is another matter.

i don't think it's that silly. lots of people know rem's music inside and out. j. michael's lyrics and delivery are such a huge part of rem's appeal that a pertinent nod to "chronic town" when discussing their new album, thumbs up or down, would boost a review's authenticity. complaining that "blue" is just like "e-bow the letter" but without mentioning "stumble," the only other rem song that closes an album (ep, whatever) with a prominent spoken word bit, is a blown opportunity

But it sounds nothing like Stumble.

It's not that want to discount your theory - it is quite interesting to think about artists making references to earlier work - but too often these naggingly familiar new REM tunes come across as slightly lazy retreads rather than ludic allusions to their back catalogue.

I actually thunk it sounds most like "Belong" from OOT.

i think it has the spirit of that song, too; patti's "cinderella boy, you've lost your shoe" bit is somewhat similar in sentiment to the mother whispering to her child "belong"

stew, "blue" closes with a coda that's a ludic allusion to the first song on the record. might that not suggest further referentiality? i only consider that, again, because michael has so often offered inspired lyrical moments over the years

Lept out at me like E-bow meets Country Feedback. Sorry.

But don't you see! The lyrics are totally different!

not to be obnoxious, but would you say that about hip hop? REM's a band whose lyrics are pretty important overall to how they've been celebrated over the years, wouldn't you say? i mean, first it was michael mumbles, you can't understand him, then it was, wow, he's a poet! i guess all i'm saying is, to beat a dead horse, it's kind of shallow to limit discussions of how song X on 'collapse into now' is a retread of song Y on another one of their major label albums, as though the IRS REM is a different band. i mean, i keep reading how "all the best" is a 'rock song,' like what's on 'monster,' as though "just a touch" doesn't even exist. i like REM enough that i'd appreciate a bit more perspective when i read reviews of their albums, that's all

The reason that Stumble doesn't get mentioned in reference to Blue is that the two songs are NOTHING ALIKE.

they don't SOUND alike. there's a spoken word thing in each, and each concludes its respective sets of songs. i really don't care enough to keep pointing that out, so whatever

Reprising the riff of the opening song at the end of an album is fairly common: Sgt Pepper being a famous example. And it works quite nicely on Collapse, taking things full circle. But I think the stumble thing is a coincidence. There are several spoken word REM songs which don't end albums. Furthermore, Stumble doesn't sound anything like Blue. Its spoken word section isn't what you immediately remember about it - you remember the tune and the fast, stumbling rhythm.
As I said, the intertext idea is interesting, but with REM it's a tricky one. They certainly have songs that self-consciously revisit elements of earlier ones - it's impossible to think of Strange Currencies without thinking of Everybody Hurts. But all too often they're rehashing old tricks, trading on the familiarity. In some respect they're playing to their strengths, but it does seem a little lazy, even cynical.

they don't SOUND alike. there's a spoken word thing in each

Perhaps the reviewers should have been mentioning 9-9 and Belong as well, for the sake of completeness?

This is all way too "intertextual" for my liking. Why would you want to listen to most of these songs when you could listen to the better versions from 10+ years ago?

"me, marlon brando, marlon and i" is "intertextual" with neil's "pocahontas." michael's updating the refrain from the last song on the last great album they made with bill, new adventures, "20th century go to sleep." "hipster town" and "collapse into now" are the last words spoken, stamping their first EP and this latest album, though sure "chronic town" is a better name. i could see how none of that's interesting though if you're just hearing a retread

-- reggie (michaelstipe)

Still really enjoying this record, Uberlin and, uh, Mine Smell Like Honey especially. Definitely seems like their most consistent and filler-free since Automatic.

Heard "Mine Smell Like Honey" on the radio for the first time (haven't heard the album yet), and while I enjoyed it fine, I was really struck by its ... genericness? Just a general lack of inspiration, I guess. I mean, not offensively so, but it still sounded kind of pro forma to me.

Surprised by how much I like this. Some serious auto-plagiarism going on but that's OK. The good thing about them having made Around the Sun is that everything since is an improvement.

Silver lining.

I've got this theory that the reason there is so much interesting stuff going on in earlier R.E.M. is that the constant tour/record/tour cycle more or less forced the band to accept the odder or more unusual aspects to their (rushed) songs and move on. Whereas now the band has the luxury of hammering away at things in the studio until all the quirky character edges get sanded off. Like, I wish I could hear more of Buck's guitar and not all the effects it's going through. I wish it didn't sound like it was all quantized to a click track. I wish the band threw in a few musical wrenches (and no, hiring Peaches doesn't count). Since "Up" (which would have been a sound swan song) R.E.M. albums have been light on inspiration or general reason to be. I mean, I heard "Nightswimming" for the first time in a while yesterday and I thought, jeez, what a simple, beautiful, unfussy song. It may have taken 100 attempts, but it may as well have been a perfect first take.

Basically, the band needs a vision.

Basically, the band needs a vision.

OTM x100.

Lack of "general reason to be" has definitely been the problem since Up at least so at this stage of the game I don't even expect it - soldily pleasurable is enough. The sound of Accelerate was obviously designed to signal hunger and renewed energy but it didn't make the record any more essential. The needy titles are beginning to remind me of Sly Stone's later albums though - Accelerate! Collapse Into Now! We Still Got It!

soldily pleasurable is enough
haven't heard this new one yet, but this is otm. Since REM were such a BIG band people have high expectations, but I think of them now in the realm of, i don't know, the new Steve Wynn album. it's not gonna be an *important* album or anything, but it might be good, who knows?

The lyrics to All the Best seem pretty knowing in this context:

"It's just like me to overstay my welcome man
Let's sing it and rhyme
Let's give it one more time
Let's show the kids how to do it fine, fine, fine, fine"

"Oh My Heart" has no reason to exist except to remind me of how awesome "E-Bow The Letter" and the second side of Out of Time are.

I have no idea why so many critics have picked that one out as a highlight - it's a snooze. Equally, I really like Blue, which keeps coming in for a kicking.

Apologies if the gist this has been posted previously but REM last 17 album releases have been deemed 'a return to form'. They never fucking have been since the disaster that was Monster.

Apart from All The Way To Reno

Since REM were such a BIG band people have high expectations, but I think of them now in the realm of, i don't know, the new Steve Wynn album. it's not gonna be an *important* album or anything, but it might be good, who knows?

You know, that's not true for me. The highlights of their albums from the last say, fifteen years, whether it's "Electrolite" or "Imitation of Life" or "Leaving New York" or others, have been some of my very favorite music of these times!

sure, i've liked a lot of their stuff from the last decade, but i guess i just don't get too worked up over whether the newest is "a return to form" or a "horrible embarrassment" or w/e. they've made a lot of great music over the years, if an album isn't that hot, no big deal. all part of life's rich tapestry, right?

Life's rich pageant even, one might say.

it's all just new adventures in hi-fi knowwhatimean?

REM "return to form"

About 598,000 results (0.33 seconds)

Isn't it just what happens when a) being in a band becomes a career and b) it's lasted long enough that there is no other way for the people involved to find a way of self-definition and c) the career becomes so successful that it actually becomes harder to split, given the number of people who are dependent on REM (or U2, or the Stones or many other bands) for their living. It becomes a grind of trying to find inspiration, sometimes with success sometimes not. I'd guess REM had said everything they needed to say by Automatic, and since then they've been trying to find things to say.

so i haven't wanted to turn this off yet!
(i almost wanted to during the peaches duet)

hey this was OK! just a little generic-y sounding at times.

Pageant next on the reissues list, second CD with 19 demos from '86 including an early take on King Of Birds (although that might be instrumental) and Wait, which iirc from bootlegs is pretty good.

that sounds cool. stil haven't gotten the last two reissues, but i plan to.

I think LRP might be my favourite REM record, but I just don't listen to it as much as say Up.

i go back and forth between 'pageant' and 'fables.' excited for this

If I'm allowed I'll post a tracklisting for the demo's disc later.

I think LRP might be my favourite REM record, but I just don't listen to it as much as say Up.

Wow! Maresnest, I feel exactly the same way! I've always felt like "Up" was made by a different band yet still showcasing what makes REM great.

:) There's something consistently bright, optimistic and headrush-y and also weirdly a bit post-hardcore about it, like those tours with Minutemen got to the core of Buck's songwriting for a while.

Here we go:

Disc Two: The Athens Demos – all previously unreleased
(Recorded March 1986 at John Keane’s Studio, Athens GA)

1. Fall On Me 10. Cuyahoga
2. Hyena 11. I Believe
3. March Song (King Of Birds) 12. Out Of Tune
4. These Days 13. Rotary Ten
5. Bad Day 14. Two Steps Onward
6. Salsa (Underneath The Bunker) 15. Just A Touch
7. Swan Swan H 16. Mystery To Me
8. Flowers Of Guatemala 17. Wait
9. Begin The Begin 18. All The Right Friends
19. Get On Their Way (What If We Give It Away)

Oh jeez..

Disc Two: The Athens Demos – all previously unreleased
(Recorded March 1986 at John Keane’s Studio, Athens GA)

1. Fall On Me
2. Hyena
3. March Song (King Of Birds)
4. These Days
5. Bad Day
6. Salsa (Underneath The Bunker)
7. Swan Swan H
8. Flowers Of Guatemala
9. Begin The Begin
10. Cuyahoga
11. I Believe
12. Out Of Tune
13. Rotary Ten
14. Two Steps Onward
15. Just A Touch
16. Mystery To Me
17. Wait
18. All The Right Friends
19. Get On Their Way (What If We Give It Away)

I love "Cuyahoga" so much.

1) "Let's put our heads together & start a new country up"---been feeling this a lot lately; & Stipe sounds so earnest about it, a totally suitable attitude imo. I want to do this too.

2) The rush from the third chorus into the bridge ("rewrite the book")---sublime. And the idea goes too far & it dies out, into the opening again.

3) How the rhythm section swings: the opening bass riff gets it started, and then whilst the first verse kinda thuds on the drums, the pre-chorus bit ("this is where we walked...") just dances; and so does the chorus; you could dance to this & it wouldn't be that awkward!

4) "We are not your allies, we cannot defend."

5) Is that feedback on the second verse? Or is that an organ? It adds to the menace, whatever it is. I think there's an electric piano in that second chorus at the end, so it's probably keys. I don't have any session notes handy.

euler you are otm. the whole album's galvanizing. the first two songs are calls to arms

The bridge of Swan Swan H has always been one of my fav rem moments

My main problem with this album is that "What If We Give It Away?" & "Just A Touch" are the worst songs on an REM album until "Ignoreland". I know they're old songs & I love pre-Murmur REM but they don't fit the flow of the album. They'd work ok as singles, though they're still sub-par. The chorus of "What If We Give It Away?" is a whine; & "Just A Touch" doesn't pop like the raver they're envision, plus its chorus sounds like a mishmash of lines ending up in "I Believe" with, well, just a bunch of garbled words---the kind of thing REM haters accuse Stipe of! I'm happy when it ends because that moment of Stipe falling off is a highlight & it leads into a couple of great songs.

"just a touch" works for me like a reassertion of "little america" -- "i can't see myself at 30" to "i'm so young, i'm so goddamn young." never been a huge fan of "what if we give it away" though either

yeah that last bit is the good part of "Just A Touch". They must have been struggling for material to put those two old songs on there.

man "The Flowers of Guatemala" is REM's first power ballad & it's a great one. Another ace bridge! that feedback blast on it is a hook, & then into a rare guitar solo. I'd kinda like to have heard more Mills vocal on it, maybe even a lead or a duet? Stipe hits a few too many drones that I think helixing with Mills could have cured or at least blurred.

maybe we'll hear more mills on the demos?

true! I didn't find the Fables demos to be much of a revelation but tbh I only listened through once & anyway I like the murk of Boyd's production.

ok I take that back, the demo of "Auctioneer" is really swell; it ends with Stipe saying "another...engine....another...engine" à la "Horses" & then someone yells really loudly & then it ends; really tense!

What is it with PSA? Surprised at it popping up here, I thought it was written around the time of Green, odd to be reiterating such an obvious lame duck.

LRP's second side is weak in the songwriting dept - they didn't have enough songs, had to flesh out old 1980/01 live numbers. Disappointing given the first side is so cohesive. Would say the same for Document (ace first side) but I like the oddball stuff after the big hit - people obviously don't. But it was more interesting than LRP's.

Fables better the whole way through both albums.

xp
It sounds like "I Believe", so maybe it's a version of that? It also sounds like "It's the End of the World..." so I dunno.

Can't wait for this, as this is my favorite R.E.M. album by quite a ways. This was the one where I REALLY got them as a band. And if these songs benefit from the remastering as much "Fables" did, I'll probably listen to it exclusively for days on end. "Begin the Begin"/"These Days" is as good as it gets for a one-two punch in the whole R.E.M. catalog.

That half acoustic, half electric thing they were after on Green should/could have been LRP - Guatemala, Swan, Fall on Me, Cuyahoga on one side and Begin the Begin, These Days on the other - problem is they didn't have enough examples of the latter and fleshed it out with light stuff like Superman/Bunker/JAT, which don't fit on the album IMO. Superman I love, but better as a standalone single.

"My picture that I have of us breaking up is that we'd do a couple of really bad records...and then we'd go to a Chinese restaurant and get drinks with umbrellas in them and say 'you know guys it's been a really haul but we just don't have it anymore', you know, and have a good toast and go home"

Peter Buck 1998.

How many bad records had they made at that point?

<- got off the bus with Out of Time

4

I just wanted to see Buck with the Baseball Project but he hurt his back and skipped a month of gigs.

So is Stipe gonna do an album with Patti Smith now that REM are broken up ?

heard some REM news - yay

lol

wait until you get the Bill Berry ''they've sucked the last decade'' interview now

album of the year?

when I heard this my first thought was 'but don't they have an album that is coming out pretty soon?" and then I remembered that it already came out, and I listened to it, and didn't remember anything about it. so I guess that says it all.

it's good, i find myself whistling the beginning of "it happened today" quite a lot

hearing "blue" now as their "riders on the storm." what a great band

do we think they knew it'd be the last album so threw their all into 'Collapse...' to go out with some dignity? i mean you know even the title suggests it.

http://r-e-m-cycle.blogspot.com/

http://www.uncut.co.uk/rem/rems-peter-buck-working-on-solo-album-news

Spotify is crazy comprehensive on these guys now; all the recent IRS years 2 disc remasters are there and even UP which was weirdly missing on there for years.

I don't which REM thread to put it on so I am putting a link to this nice live version of "Harborcoat" here
http://open.spotify.com/track/3xRaBjpIWB444tvpxAeP87

Although this one is good too
http://open.spotify.com/track/3HvhvwCvKUbuIlxPNgUXfv

except for the harmonica solo

whoa

http://www.remhq.com/news/r-e-m-at-the-bbc-coming-october-19th-read-press-release/

Looks 99% shit, unfortunately. One good show from 85, and the rest is garbage mid 90s / 2000s.

99% great, you mean.

It'll be great to have an official release of Milton Keynes '95 and that Jools special performance is where I heard the Up tracks for the first time prior to getting the album. It was so good it put all my fears of them continuing without Berry to rest.

rest is garbage mid 90s / 2000s.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, September 6, 2018 8:35 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a seven minute "country feedback" from 1998 is not going to suck

they never really stopped being an incredible live band imo. live versions of "walk unafraid" really cook, they're the reason its still one of my favorite r.e.m. songs

Clearly it was of interest to a lot of people or it wouldn't have been compiled and released. Unfortunately for me, I don't care to hear anything live from REM after 1991. Country Feedback being the exception, so good shout on that 7min version. I am very happy others are excited. It's good to be excited.

I could do without a couple of the Around the Sun tracks, but that's about it. Live versions of the 1998-2004 stuff have generally been better versions.

a seven minute "country feedback" from 1998 is not going to suck

Is it the Neil Young one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CERhzm6t7I

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/05/michael-stipe-new-songs-webster-hall-video-performance/

The fact that he's doing something is brilliant news. It'd be a shame if he'd let that great voice of his go to waste.

Producer Marc Urselli posted this seven weeks ago on his Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwhxx9GHL2U/?hl=en

I love my musical life: yesterday I was in Oslo listening to extreme metal today I’m in New York City recording the mesmerizing #BillFrisell @billfrisellsmusic at @eastsidesoundstudios with the revolutionary producer @willnerh #HalWillner doing to overdubs for #MichaelStipe of #REM

No more info though...

Up vinyl preorders are presumably coming this week (maybe even Tuesday morning). FINALLY