REM: Classic or dud?

yeah i'd say it's more "you can see youself at 40" for early REM nostalgia.

i get that feeling in early summer, too.

you know what sounds especially good as summer really begins to swelter? fables of the reconstruction.

Daniel, don't you live in Florida? It's always swelter there!

lol, yeah. we actually had a cool -- sometimes cold -- winter. but the swelter has returned now.

i used to have about five rem bootlegs on cassette. they had some of my favorite rem songs. i can't find them, and if i could find them, i couldn't play them (it's all discs and mp3s now, sadly).

and by "favorites," i mean unreleased stuff.

Lots of o/w unreleased material floats around out there, if you're inclined that way. The one I love the most is called So Much Younger Then, from 1981. Evidently there's a fuller version of that set, called Georgia Peaches—Ripe!, but I've never managed to track it down.

i had so much younger then! i can't begin to describe how much i adored that cassette. i wish they would somehow make these bootlegs available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdrz1AHXJE

is that the set that so much younger then was taken from? i've heard the entire muti-video set on youtube. i think this is part one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq2kTRR1YJo&feature=related

Your link seems to be from a month later, but there shouldn't be any essential difference otherwise.

here's a bootleg list. i had so much younger then; bodycount; that beat; and maybe more, but all from around 1981.

just checked ebay and amazon. sadly, no sign of anyone selling the bootlegs (i realize you're not supposed to, but i took a chance).

I'll just say that it's trivial to get So Much Younger Then via your search engine of choice, and if you're willing to pay for a boot, this is just as sketchy & has the benefit of not having to pay a possibly shady dealer $20+ for it.

i'll look into it.

a different view, from the guy who hated most of miles davis' discs, i think. anyway:

On a foggy Monday in September, I hapt upon a miracle at the thrift store. In the dollar bin of cassette tapes filled with garbage and pish-posh rested a gentle TDK featuring the lilting handwriting of a young girl or "girly man," as popular political figure Hans and Franz might say. But this was no ordinary lilting TDK: this tape featured illicit tapings of two already illegal REM bootlegs -- which actually brings up a point I hadn't considered. We know bootlegging is wrong, but how about if you bootleg a BOOTLEG, as this enterprising human bean had done? Is it considered a good deed to take money out of the bootlegger's pocket? I don't know the answer. I can't even fathom how such a moral conundrum might be resolved. As our discussion continues, my mind is spinning with the possibilities, slowly tearing away at the delicate brainstem attachment. OW!

(*rests lazily in chair like Christopher Reeve*)

(*laughs uproariously at such a biting irreverent jab at a well-loved public figure*)

(*reads this week's obituaries; squirts intestinal bile out of nose*)

To cut to the quick chase, REM used to be a hellaciously rotten new wave/punk rock band. All the right instrumental elements were there from the beginning -- Peter Buck's clean jangly guitar tone, Michael Stipe's light Southern drawl, Mike Mills' excitable backup vocals and presumably bass playing of some sort, the drummer's peppy 4/4 beat later utilized in folk-punk classics like "Radio Free Europe" and "These Days" -- but one key element of the band's sound had yet to come to fruition. I'm speaking of course about the ability to compose anything remotely suggesting that the band members held even an ounce of collective common sense. Presumably they were going for some sort of Ramonesy beachpunk feel with the constant speedy 4/4 rhythm and simplistic chord sequences, but the "riffs" are just -- I mean, just TERRIBLE! Absolutely TERRIBLE! Straight out of 1958 A-E-D simplistic crap -- like the worst Buddy Holly outtakes of all time played fast on a clean guitar. It's not beachy, nor punky, nor Ramonesy in any other way, no matter how many times they rip off the "Blitzkrieg Bop" riff (which is PLENTY). It's just BAD! Even when they try to take a darker approach with minor chords and pessimistic lyrics, the songwriting remains clueless and the songs hookless. It's truly astonishing to think that this band would soon become one of the greatest songwriting teams in rock and roll history (I mean have you heard Reveal? It fuckin' TEARS!!!).

The bootleg was recorded at a live "gig" in 1980, and features the following tracks: Body Count (not an Ice-T cover), A Different Girl, Action (not a Paul Revere & The Raiders cover), Narrator For The Jacques Cousteau Show, She's Such A Pretty Girl, Baby I, Permanent Vacation (not an Aerosmith cover), Wait (not a White Lion cover), Scheherezade, Lisa Sez (probably a Lou Reed cover, though I didn't compare the two songs to check), Mystery To Me (not a Fleetwood Mac cover), I Don't Want You Anymore (not a Ramones cover), Little Girl (indeed a Syndicate Of Sound cover), Dangerous Times.

Do you recognize these rare REM songs? From b-sides, later album appearances, mixed artist compilations, rarities collections, box sets and any of the other many outlets that a band of REM's stature would naturally have for stray tracks? No, you don't. AND THERE'S A GOOD GODDAMNED REASON FOR THAT!!! Here I am all excited thinking I'm going to get this all-new collection of great REM tunes that nobody's ever heard, and what do I end up with but stereo speakers so filled with shit that everything I play now is completely muffled. Aside from the Syndicate of Sound cover, there is not a single good -- or even DECENT -- song on this bootleg. Okay, "A Different Girl" has a couple of good parts. But that is IT. REM's earliest material is shockingly bad. Horrifyingly bad. Dip your balls in a blender bad.

Oh, I'm sorry. Do you not generally dip your balls in a blender when you hear a bad record?

Wait, now I'm really confused. If I'm the only one who does this, where did all these "women" come from? THEY certainly must have dipped their balls in a blender after hearing a bad record at some point!

So basically what you're saying is that I'd might as well give up sending Billy Joel tapes to Steve Guttenberg. I knew it! I shall die alone!!!!

this enterprising human bean

"I mean have you heard Reveal? It fuckin' TEARS!!!"

lol

sadly, yes, i have heard reveal.

So Mark Prindle is now known as "the guy who hated most of miles davis' discs." LOL

should he be known as something else?

No, it's just interesting that those reviews have completely overshadowed the rest of his output. Well, that and his review of AC/DC's Ballbreaker.

http://victoriansquidmusic.blogspot.com/2010/04/rem-so-much-younger-then.html

yeah, i read that earlier. i liked that post. it's a bit overly-harsh on monster, which is an underrated disc (but by no means in the upper-tier of REM's discography).

i'm not a guy who thinks their post-college rock stuff is a waste of time, but I do just think of REM in the 80s being a different band than REM in the 90s.

i do agree that fables IS a perfect sweltering-summer type of record. in fact, it was the first proper REM record that i'd ever bought and it always takes me back to the summer when i first heard it (listening to it at my parents' vacation cabin in Vermont, during what passed as a "sweltering summer" by Vermont standards).

wendell gee: perfect summer, moody, southern gothic rock.

definitely going to get this:
R.E.M. will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their third album Fables of the Reconstruction with a double-disc reissue that pairs the complete digitally remastered original record with a second disc of demos and unreleased tracks from the era titled "The Athens Demos." The Fables reissue, due out July 13th, will also come with new liner notes written by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck packaged in a lift-top box with a poster and four postcards. The reissue will also be available digitally and on 180-gram vinyl.

"It's a personal favorite," writes Buck of the album, which includes the band's classic "Driver 8," "and I'm really proud of how strange it is. Nobody but R.E.M. could have made that record. It took our four twisted personalities and the legendary Joe Boyd to make an album that character-filled and vibey."

Fables of the Reconstruction found the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers leaving behind their native Athens, Georgia, and recording for the first time in London, though "The Athens Demos" captures the group's initial recordings in their hometown. In addition to all 11 Fables tracks in demo form, the second disc also features the debut of the fan-favorite unreleased track "Throw Those Trolls Away" plus the demo of B side "Bandwagon" and an early version of "Hyena," which would later appear on Lifes Rich Pageant.

R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction (25th Anniversary Edition)
Disc One: digitally remastered original album
1. "Feeling Gravity's Pull"
2. "Maps and Legends"
3. "Driver 8"
4. "Life and How To Live It"
5. "Old Man Kensey"
6. "Can't Get There From Here"
7. "Green Grow The Rushes"
8. "Kohoutek"
9. "Auctioneer (Another Engine)"
10. "Good Advices"
11. "Wendell Gee"

Disc Two: "The Athens Demos"
1. "Auctioneer (Another Engine) [demo version]"
2. "Bandwagon [demo version]" [final version was B side to "Can't Get There From Here"]
3. "Can't Get There From Here [demo version]"
4. "Driver 8 [demo version]"
5. "Feeling Gravity's Pull [demo version]"
6. "Good Advices [demo version]"
7. "Green Grow The Rushes [demo version]"
8. "Hyena [demo version]" [album version appeared on Lifes Rich Pageant]
9. "Kohoutek [demo version]"
10. "Life and How To Live It [demo version]"
11. "Maps and Legends [demo version]"
12. "Old Man Kensey [demo version]"
13. "Throw Those Trolls Away [demo version]" [previously unreleased]
14. "Wendell Gee [demo version]"

fables doesn't sound one bit like it was recorded in london.

by Joe Boyd (the same dude who produced Nick Drake) even ... wasn't until over a decade later (when i started listening to Nick Drake) that i realized the connection. and even later than that when i realized just WHY there might have been some tension b/w Boyd and the REM-mers during the recording of that record.

I stopped enjoying Wendell Gee when I realised it sounds alarmingly like Wind of Change by the Scorpions.

interesting that this is the firts of the 3 reissues so far without a live disc. i know they HATED making this album, and possibly hated touring it aswell? so that could be why.

there was a fucking killer interview from Melody Maker from the Fables era but it i can't find it online.

*first

well WTF the new album is really good. much better than anything since UP. Maybe better than that album too (depending on how you feel about that album).

mm definitely their best since Up. this is the thread where we say as much:
R.E.M. news - yay

Robot Hull on early R.E.M.:

http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2009/08/a-great-southern-voice-revisited-part-one/
http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2009/08/a-great-southern-voice-revisited-part-2/

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/44074-rem-break-up/

The band broke up years ago. R.E.M. has basically been three solo projects all at once.

Sad, though. End of an era.

And, and obviously: classic.

It's good they finally put themselves out of their misery - had they done this after Up they'd probably be triumphantly reuniting now like Pulp. They had a longer great run than most though, will be listening to Lifes Rich Pageant tonight.

while I can't imagine any doubt now that the only reason these guys stuck together is this mammoth-ass contract they signed after all the multi-platinum, I have to admire what a bizarre road they took while fulfilling it

http://www.svs.com/rem/news/wb.txt

R.E.M.,WARNER RECORDS SIGN $80 MILLION DEAL

GRAMMY-WINNING BAND WILL PRODUCE FIVE ALBUMS UNDER LARGEST RECORDING
CONTRACT EVER.

Here's the whole article: (very long)

R.E.M., the hottest free agent in the music business, signed a
five-album contract Saturday with Warner Bros. Records worth an estimated
$80 million--the largest recording contract ever awarded, sources said.
The Grammy-winning band's deal surpassed the $70-million mark
achieved seven months ago by pop diva Janet Jackson as well as other
mega-deals by such superstars as Michael Jackson and Madonna, whose
six-album pacts included film and joint venture record label components.
The signing was announced unexpectedly at the Anaheim Convention
Center on Saturday, where Warner Music executives were gathered for their
annual strategy summit. Delighted at the news, thousands of employees leaped
to their feet and broke into a standing ovation...

Artist Contract Company and Date
R.E.M. $80 million Warner Bros. 8/24/96
Janet Jackson $70 million Virgin Records 1/11/96
Metallica $60 million Elektra Records 1/10/95
Barbra Streisand $60 million Columbia Records 12/13/92
Madonna $60 million Warner Bros. 4/20/92
Michael Jackson $60 million Sony Music's Epic Records 3/20/91

The signing was announced unexpectedly at the Anaheim Convention
Center on Saturday, where Warner Music executives were gathered for their
annual strategy summit. Delighted at the news, thousands of employees leaped
to their feet and broke into a standing ovation...

this is such a bizarre image!

Oh no, what are all their fans going to do now?

well there's a new coldplay album with a goofy ass name coming out

Sing along!

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

g-g-g-g-g-georgia!

Everything post-Automatic is crap, but you can't be a dud if you have 3-4 classic albums to your name.

What a weird line of demarcation.

listening to the life's rich pageant demos on spotify for the first time. not radically different, but kinda nice to hear these rawer versions. stipe humming through I believe, the big instro version of king of birds.

i actually liked these ^^^ demos far more than i thought i would.

I break with most fans in that I like some of their newer stuff. It's very different than their 1980s sound but occasionally still interesting. You could collect the best tracks from their post-Up (or Automatic or whatever) output and make a strong best-of album.