Still find it amusing how much of an after thought New Adventures felt, if not to critics but in the kind of media and places REM would be found 2 or 3 years previous
Less than a year on from the end of the gaudy Monster tour, the Nico/L&K line is good but it seemed to happen so quickly, as if their fanbase average age suddenly jumped 10 years. Then again, an album in 1991, 1992, 1994, and year long world tour in '95, there must have been an element to some of 'just fucking go away for your own sake', they almost seemed to know it going by the NAIHF cover.
New Adventures is the last great REM album cover IMO, everything since has been poor to horrible. Some of those 80's covers are beautiful.
― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 29 September 2011 11:35 (twelve years ago) link
New Adventures is also, I think, the only album where the idea of REM as a stadium rock band feels like a great one. Monster is kind of forced, the earlier Warners albums a little too low-key.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:05 (twelve years ago) link
Wasn't that fabled 96-97 span when even Sub Pop was signing bands like Saint Etienne?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:14 (twelve years ago) link
yeah it's definitely true they were over exposed in that early 90s era. re: their audience's age, they managed to get a much younger audience along for the ride with the oldsters, up until Monster but the Monster tour did a very good job indeed of baffling/disenchanting the new more mainstream audience they picked up. the night i saw it they played nothing before Document, played a LOT off Monster itself and threw in THREE brand new tracks. don't think it did them any favours.
― piscesx, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:16 (twelve years ago) link
I seem to recall from interviews that until that 2003 tour, there were a lot of old songs the band simply forgot how to play. Though really, how hard could it be for R.E.M. to relearn R.E.M. songs? #lazyrockstars
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:18 (twelve years ago) link
How would playing nothing before Document put off a newer more mainstream audience?
Dunno, the night I saw them, Milton Keynes in August 1995 (Radiohead supporting), they killed it, even if there was quite a lot of Monster in the set it was very hit-heavy as well.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:19 (twelve years ago) link
They were one of the bands who ran into a juggernaut of UK jingoism very shortly afterwards as well, that needs to be factored in.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:20 (twelve years ago) link
well i dunno it just lacked variety. it just lacked.. the magic, instead we got long LONG versions of Departure and Circus Envy and gawd knows what.. oyyy. Revolution sounded pretty good that night i recall mind.
― piscesx, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:26 (twelve years ago) link
mm every britpop band supported on that tour. Blur, Echobelly, Oasis, Sleeper.. Dodgy? a shedload anyroad.
"Suspicion" is a good song from Up.
― dog latin, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:37 (twelve years ago) link
xp The covers of the 00s albums are distressingly bad. Around the Sun was at least a fair advertisement for the music - three boring, indistinct figures. There was such a strong sense after Berry left that they never knew what the hell to do next.
― Science, you guys. Science. (DL), Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:47 (twelve years ago) link
All their album covers are terrible, but yeah those last few were reaching.
― dog latin, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:53 (twelve years ago) link
Nah, some of the 80s ones were great. The kudzu image on Murmur was perfect.
― Science, you guys. Science. (DL), Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:55 (twelve years ago) link
On the Monster tour's Edinburgh date, we got Belly, Spearhead and Cranberries supporting. An odd bunch. Belly were pretty good, if rather dwarfed by the stadium. Spearhead were cheesy but put on a good show. Cranberries were absolutely hideous, unveiling the terrible songs from their 3rd album - I Shot John Lennon, stuff like that. Grim. REM were good, although they ruined Try Not To Breathe with a grunged up arrangement. They did play the hits and crowdpleasers - we got Everybody Hurts, Man on the Moon, Losing My Religion, End of the World etc plus a lot of the upbeat songs from Green. But it's true to say that it was quite a weird stadium show: pretty noisy and a maybe bit too arty for a mainstream crowd, with all the surrealist films and backdrops. They didn't really fit into that long hot summer of Britpop jingoism either. The press were going crazy for Blur and Oasis and REM seemed to belong to a different world and era. I must I have a copy of the Milton Keynes show I taped of the radio somewhere. Would be interesting to revisit it now. Saw them at Stirling Castle on the Up tour and that was great. A much more atmospheric venue, quite a scale down from the stadiums of yore, but still pretty big. They played early 80s stuff: Cuyahoga, Pilgrimage, Pretty Persuasion, and did a fine job of the new material. They only played Everybody Hurts on one of the nights though. Perhaps my memory fails me, but there wasn't a huge amount of NAIHF the night I went. The setlists are probably online somewhere.
― Count Palmiro Vicarion (Stew), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:08 (twelve years ago) link
I was at the Murrayfield gig in Edinburgh and confirm just how bloody awful The Cranberries were.The first night at Stirling Castle was the best of the REM gigs I went to. One the best gigs I've ever seen - despite it pouring rain for most of it!
― the result of limited imagination (treefell), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:26 (twelve years ago) link
does anyone actually like the way Michael Stipe would yell "COOOOOOOOL!" after the chorus on live versions of "Man On The Moon" - I feel like it might be the alt version of "Does anyone remember laughter?"
― da croupier, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:29 (twelve years ago) link
lol i remember that yell, was he really saying "cool"?
― wes2gully (some dude), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
No he wasn't.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:32 (twelve years ago) link
wait so if he wasn't yelling "COOOL!" after a chorus that ends "nothing is cool," what was he yelling? "FOOOOL"? "DROOOOL"? "
― da croupier, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:33 (twelve years ago) link
maybe it was "hoos"
― wes2gully (some dude), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:33 (twelve years ago) link
I thought he was just yelling 'COME ON!' or something.
I saw them just before Accelerate came out, in a room above the Apple Store on Regent Street, which is about the least rock and roll venue ever but it was sort of amazing because there were about 100 people in the room, and they played West of the Fields.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:34 (twelve years ago) link
that is definitely "COOO-ULLLLL!!!!"at 2:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTtixBih0PM
― da croupier, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:36 (twelve years ago) link
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqrrylVyfU1qkb66ro1_400.jpg
― Woolen Scjarfs (Phil D.), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
Jealous! Shame I didn't see them around that time, as they were playing loads of classics. The Live At Olympia sets are something of a fan boy's dream. Think their last Scottish show was Balloch Country Park around the time of Around The Sun? Didn't have much desire to go cos the album was so dull, and there wasn't a huge amount of fanfare around the gig. That's a big space - Oasis did two nights there in their pomp - perhaps too big for REM at that stage? Scratch, that it was T In The Park, an awful corporate festival. Wish they'd done a headline date as well, back then. A friend saw them at Twickenham and said they were brilliant, but tellingly, the venue wasn't quite full.
― Count Palmiro Vicarion (Stew), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:43 (twelve years ago) link
For some time I've wanted to start a thread about Stipe's inexplicable tuneless chant during live versions of Man On The Moon, speculating as to WHY.
― Colin Allstations (PaulTMA), Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:25 (twelve years ago) link
Like to think of Stipe as a good singer with some real chops but every once in a while he does something to make me ask that question, but maybe it is some deep stuff, some Ornette Coleman stuff or something.
― Pollabo Bryson (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:39 (twelve years ago) link
It would have been better had he done likewise throughout Leaving New York instead. Perhaps then they'd still be together
― Peas, Ants, Pigs & Astronauts (PaulTMA), Thursday, 29 September 2011 17:46 (twelve years ago) link
One of the things that really bothered me about Monster was the short bridge on "Bang and Blame" that sounded like a lazy rip off of the one from "Orange Crush". I always fill in the vocals from the latter when I hear the former. It's like they couldn't even be bothered coming up with something new...
― john. a resident of chicago., Thursday, 29 September 2011 18:40 (twelve years ago) link
god, that live clip...stipe with the black bar painted across his eyes, that stupid hand wave thing he does in time to every "yeah yeah yeah" and when the camera pans to the audience every fucking person is doing it back to him..."coool" almost doesn't even rate as one of the most embarrassing things happening there.
― some dude, Thursday, 29 September 2011 19:21 (twelve years ago) link
always hated bang and blame, chorus just super shrill and annoying. and i like most of monster. sort of hated the video for it too, whereas most of the monster videos were cool.
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 September 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
I was absolutely floored by this acoustic version of "Let Me In" they were bringing out on the last (final?) tour:
http://youtu.be/hDt29lklkUc
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Thursday, 29 September 2011 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
VERY comprehensive REM setlist guide here http://www.remtimeline.com/
― piscesx, Thursday, 29 September 2011 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
xp re the venues, yeah in Cardiff on the last tour they had to move from a 48,000 cap venue to an arena with a cap of 7,500http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7548038.stm
― piscesx, Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
wow. that makes me more sad than the news of their breakup.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:03 (twelve years ago) link
I hated the REM set I was in Baton Rouge on the Monster tour. Looking back at the setlist shows me why. Michael was helped offstage at the end of the show. Saw them again at Bumbershoot in Seattle in the early 00s and the sight of Peter Buck doing windmills and jumping around turned me off for good. Wish I had seen their show at the Crocodile when they played all the old stuff though.
― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
was = saw in that first sentence, btw.
― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:23 (twelve years ago) link
In the wake of the split, listened to all of the REM albums in discographical order after having not listened to them for quite some time...
Murmur - ****Reckoning - ****.5Fables Of The Reconstruction - ***.5Lifes Rich Pageant - ****Document - ****Green - ****.5Out Of Time - ***.5Automatic For The People - *****Monster - ****New Adventures In Hi-Fi - ****.5Up - ***Reveal - ***Around The Sun - **Accelerate - ****Collapse Into Now - ***.5
― Turrican, Friday, 30 September 2011 11:17 (twelve years ago) link
People hating on Bang & Blame are wrong. Not mad on the chorus, but I love that shivery "Shakin' All Over" guitar tone and eerie "If you could see yourself now ba-by" verse...
― dog latin, Friday, 30 September 2011 11:22 (twelve years ago) link
this was the first REM gig i went to:
2 December 1984 - Lyceum Ballroom, London, England support: The Lucy Show, The Lyres set: Second Guessing / Harborcoat / Seven Chinese Brothers / Hyena / Talk About The Passion / Auctioneer (Another Engine) / So. Central Rain / Good Advices / Letter Never Sent / Driver 8 / Gardening At Night / 9-9-Hey Diddle Diddle-Frogmore / Windout / Old Man Kensey / (Don't Go Back To) Rockville / Pretty Persuasion / Little America encore 1: White Tornado / See No Evil / We Walk-Behind Closed Doors / 1,000,000 encore 2: Moon River / Wendell Gee / I Can Only Give You Everything / Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
Even at the time it seemed like a really long show!
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 30 September 2011 11:37 (twelve years ago) link
turrican they are regs in my listening life. this is how i rate them
Murmur - *****Reckoning - ****.5Fables Of The Reconstruction - ****.5Lifes Rich Pageant - ****.5Document - ****Green - ****.5Out Of Time - ***.5Automatic For The People - ****Monster - ***New Adventures In Hi-Fi - ****.5Up - ***Reveal - ***Around The Sun - **Accelerate - ***.5Collapse Into Now - ***.5
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 30 September 2011 12:07 (twelve years ago) link
you all aren't rating chronic town? it should get a ******
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 30 September 2011 12:09 (twelve years ago) link
wow now i feel like an asshole for discussing a 4 and a half star album so much the other day
― some dude, Friday, 30 September 2011 12:10 (twelve years ago) link
lol
― call all destroyer, Friday, 30 September 2011 12:48 (twelve years ago) link
Chronic Town AMurmur - A+Reckoning - A-Fables Of The Reconstruction - B/B-Lifes Rich Pageant - A-Document - Side 1: B Side 2: D+Green - DOut Of Time - DAutomatic For The People - CMonster - Give me a fucking break. New Adventures In Hi-Fi - Stop itUp - Are you kidding meReveal - Would you guys just break up alreadyAround The Sun - [throws up]Accelerate - [eats his own throw up]Collapse Into Now - [throws up his own throw up]
― Mr. Que, Friday, 30 September 2011 13:12 (twelve years ago) link
Chronic Town through Monster - memorized in adolescence, unable to accurately judge, own all in entiretyNew Adventures - thought it was bloated from the get-go but still the work of geniuses, kept about 7 tracks, most from side 1Up - convinced myself it was a 7 out of 10 when it came out, now have "daysleeper," "hope," "suspicion"Reveal - shit sundae, only ever liked "Imitation Of Life" Around The Sun - heard "Leaving New York" stayed awayAccelerate - heard "Superserious Shit Sundae" or whatever, stayed awayCollapse Into Now " - heard "Discoverer," stayed away
Now curious to force myself to hear the last four albums in full
― da croupier, Friday, 30 September 2011 15:30 (twelve years ago) link
Is there any other post-1980 band that seems to have such strong lines drawn along generational gaps?
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Friday, 30 September 2011 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
I really like the production on The Lifting, the first song on Reveal, it's got this awesome swirl of sound going on. The song itself is only okay.
― Matt DC, Friday, 30 September 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
How can people be giving Out Of Time Ds and 2/5 stars? Other than Radio Song, what the fuck is wrong with it?
― dog latin, Friday, 30 September 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know if I'd love shit like "Texarkana" if I heard it for the first time as an adault
― da croupier, Friday, 30 September 2011 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
On Out Of Time, they don't sound like they enjoy playing with each other...or at all.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 30 September 2011 15:38 (twelve years ago) link