REM: Classic or dud?

Bertis gets it re: fables!

https://xpn.org/2023/06/29/a-28-year-old-r-e-m-song-gets-a-new-life-in-the-bear/

Saw that show tonight with Michael Shannon and friends, including Jason Narducy and John Wurster (and my guitar teacher) covering"Murmur" in its entirety (plus some deep cuts). It was for the 40th anniversary of the Metro; REM had played the club's first ever show. Super cool icing on the cake, Mike Mills showed up to sing on about a half dozen or so songs! Shaking Through, 1,000,000, Swan Swan H, These Days ... He was having a blast, and the whole night ruled. I'll post some videos once other people put them up.

I was there too! Loved it.

https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/364175731_5836574386442069_2206285378740769288_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s1080x2048&_nc_cat=111&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Sw--mgTRob4AX-xB2uo&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=00_AfBwEjFHZJniZVFHXVbDAw9CiX6q8lnGtjhlNbI_Ib5TvQ&oe=64CD58D0

smh tv shows… for a second there I thought that both REM and Steely Dan had a long lost outtake called “The Bear”

Good god, extreme FOMO (or AAMO, anguish at missing out?) about that Metro show! (I mean, I would have had to go to Chicago, but had I known that was happening and that Mills was showing up, I might have!

Here's one of a few clips I found (this one sans Mills, but the band killing it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjh1TgtG6bg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fymNrKVECg8

Here's a clip from the same dude that has Mills:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18eIyXlDvno

they sound great

One fun thing about the show is that it felt like it would be just Murmur start to finish and 1-2 songs for an encore, what you might expect from a pick-up band of this quality. Then they got to the end of the album, did "There She Goes Again" as a quasi-encore, took a short break, and then went on for an hour or more.

Full setlist here. A standout for me was "Nightswimming", with just Shannon singing and keyboards and cello.

Under the Silver Lake used “Strange Frequencies” before The Bear. It plays in its entirety through the end credits

My friend/guitar teacher Curt (manning the Rickenbacker) told me from his perspective that one reason why it didn't feel like a cover band was that focus on early stuff and deep cuts, and no hits.

Had to check to make sure it was THAT Michael Shannon. Had no idea he was a singer and REM fan.

Shannon’s done a bunch of these tribute nights in Chicago, in addition to working with the theater company he’s part of (sometimes onstage, sometimes working the box office). He’s done The Cars, The Smiths, Velvet Underground, a few others I can’t remember (and I never saw one until last night).

He’s doing a live interview tonight for Mark Caro’s Caropop podcast, and when that airs I’m sure he’ll talk about these nights. (And it’s kind of the perfect thing for an actor/musician to do during the WGA/SAG strike.)

It’s also fun that the band felt like basically guys of the same generation, so I imagine they all knew these songs well before rehearsing them for this show (only one rehearsal, according to Wurster’s FB post).

Obviously Stipe has a one-of-a-kind voice, but Shannon fits this very well

This dude has a few more clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd8oP3hoRZo

Here's one with Mills (this song ruled):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwqu59yntnU

He also did a Neil Young tribute thing too. I have mixed feelings about all the tributes but I admit at least part of it is the monopoly he holds on such things and the preponderance of men onstage. So my feelings are partially petty but also partially not.

Someone posted most of "Shaking Through," which is a good vantage, especially if you want to see Wurster's sartorial tribute to Berry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn3M3ZBzkJk

For those with access, Tom Breihan just posted his essay on "Orange Crush":

https://www.stereogum.com/2231808/the-alternative-number-ones-r-e-m-s-orange-crush/columns/the-alternative-number-ones/?1690980791

I used to have a great tape of REM's appearance on KCRW's Snap show w/Dierdre Donoghue in 1991, really loose, with lots of chat and impromptu cover versions. Well I lost the tape over time and could only find boots with the chat all cut out but thankfully KCRW have put it up on an online archive, it's a great listen.

https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/bent-by-nature/rem-out-of-time-acoustic-live-1991

Thought this revive would be about REM tribute act Dead Letter Office, or DLO for short.

good show, MaresNest, thanks for sharing

Ha, I think that interview was on the B-Side of the Bingo Hand Job bootleg cassette I bought in Camden Town, nice to hear it again

I've never heard of this podcast, but the latest ep. = "R.E.M. founding member and bass player Mike Mills waxes nostalgic about his band's iconic 1992 release Automatic for the People": https://ncpodcasts.com/the500podcast

https://www.stereogum.com/2236106/micky-dolenz-rem-covers-shiny-happy-people/music/

Dolenz’s covers EP has the Michael Stipe seal of approval, via RS:

These songs are absolutely incredible. Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style, I have died and gone to heaven. This is really something. ‘Shiny Happy People’ sounds incredible (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It’s wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith). I am finally complete.

Never one of my favorite REM tracks, but this does sound like a good idea.

seems appropriate ... R.E.M. did "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" in a lot of their earliest shows

Dolenz Sings R.E.M. Tracklist:
01. Shiny Happy People
02. Radio Free Europe
03. Man on the Moon
04. Leaving New York

Cool

Daydream BeSleeper

ok, i have to really tip my cap for getting Wuxtry Records into that cover. next best thing would've been the tree that owns itself.

Some commentary by Mike on various songs and other R.E.M.-related things: https://www.vulture.com/article/mike-mills-rem-michael-stipe-superlatives.html

Kind of fascinating how much they (and others) rep for "Reveal." Like, “All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)” as the best song after Bill left? Really?

Maybe it’s an in-joke

Number six.

Mike talks extensively about Up and other things: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/r-e-m-mike-mills-up-no-reunion-1234867325/

(Mike's a talker these days!)

daaaaamn -- that's a good long interview.

I will now promptly read the whole thing

Thanks for that!

Reunited! (in their appreciation of Michael Shannon)

heh, I suspected at least most of them would show up, but this is cool.

My friend Dag (plays guitar in the band, lifer) shared this fun pic of him and Stipe last night.

That's a great pic! (I'm friends of friends with Dag, he's sort of replacing my guitar teacher.)

wow!

This is a great show, with a few special guests in the encore... highly recommended, if you ever put concert recordings up on the TV while you putter around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JulR2TPAUfA

My friend Dag (plays guitar in the band, lifer) shared this fun pic of him and Stipe last night.

― paisley got boring (Eazy),

I can't tell them apart!

nice, I was just watching that REM-in-Jersey show a week or so ago. really kicking myself for not going to the Michael Shannon thing in Chapel Hill (pretty sure it was reading an interview with Shannon that prompted me to watch that old REM show).