call me late. just don't call me late for dinner
― Stormy Davis, Friday, 21 October 2011 11:06 (twelve years ago) link
Is it fair to call this new collection "the band's first career spanning anthology?" I think it's more accurate to call it the first anthology that spans the beginning to the end, but what was "Eponymous" if not then a "career spanning anthology?"
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 15 November 2011 20:37 (twelve years ago) link
So what do we make of the final three REM songs on Part Lies... ? Both quite odd and even slapdash sounding. Month of Saturdays is a b-side at best, kinda fun. Talk of Pylon-esque guitars, but that's a bit generous. Hallelujah doesn't try to avoid the Leonard Cohen allusions... Not particularly strong REM ballad, but decent enough with some nice Bill Rieflin drumming. Some weird distorted guitar that's dropped in halfway through then forgotten about. Ends on a typically REM suspended chord. Since they broke up I've gone back to Collapse Into Now and found some lovely songs. It's a pretty obvious 'goodbye' in retrospect - Walk It Back in particular. Of these last three songs We All Go Back Where We Belong is far away the best, a lovely way to go out.
A Month of Saturdayshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVB2IXzLwL8
Hallelujahhttp://youtu.be/otAqA2gPsOg
― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 01:00 (twelve years ago) link
Glad you like it!
― ...options. (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 15:03 (twelve years ago) link
Well, wouldn't say I liked it - Month of Saturdays is pretty weak. In a perverse way, I quite like the fact it's trying to be quirky but fails. Hallelujah isn't much cop either. But at least We All Go Back is a nice send off.
― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=4487
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, I meant "...Belong". I conducted!
― ...options. (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:38 (twelve years ago) link
nice, the strings sound really lovely there! great job. that song is great, sounds effortless in a way that REM hasn't in a while.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
It's a great song. I may prefer it without the arrangement, it had an honesty to it.
― ...options. (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:12 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/14/michael_stipe_why_r_e_m_called_it_a_day/
This interview with Stipe is interesting though the fact that they still won't acknowledge their time as a trio coincided exactly with the length of their major label contract is pretty damn coy, esp when its joined with this:
Salon: But most bands, like most athletes, stick around too long. Was that R.E.M.’s final lesson: Let us show you how to bow out gracefully?
Stipe: No one’s ever done it before, as far as we know.
He then undercuts the idea of it being a "lesson" but it looks like they still know how to push a narrative.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
their "last, precedent-breakingly giant major label contract" I mean
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:23 (twelve years ago) link
someone should also remind stipe about led zeppelin, and that it's too soon to say whether REM bowed out more gracefully than the who.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:25 (twelve years ago) link
There was a thread on this:
Bands That Bow Out Gracefully
― o. nate, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
Though I guess Stipe means bands that went out on a high note and did it without an acrimonious break-up, which narrows the field considerably.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:37 (twelve years ago) link
“New Adventures in Hi-Fi” is in my top-two records we’ve made.
And the other one?
“Collapse Into Now.”
Favorite song?
“Supernatural Superserious.” I took my abilities as a fiction writer and pushed them as far as I could with that song and I’m really proud of it. It does that beautiful thing at the end where the vocals go faster and the drums come in and accentuate that.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
I wish Salon had selected a less enthusiastic fan.
Though I guess Stipe means bands that went out on a high note
so ain't giving him that one
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:42 (twelve years ago) link
and we have to take his word for it that the dissolution wasn't acrimonious.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:43 (twelve years ago) link
mills and stipe are at least still able to shell peas together
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/hugh-achesons-neo-retro-southern-cooking
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:44 (twelve years ago) link
super curious if either guy will bust out a solo album. sure buck will just stay a robyn hitchcock sideman
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:45 (twelve years ago) link
Buck can finally get Tuatara back together.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:47 (twelve years ago) link
mills seems to be up for continuing to work w/ buck
AVC: Do you foresee collaborating with the other members under a different name or set of circumstances?MM: Oh yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised. There could be any number of things. One thing I do want to do is write songs with people, and since Peter and I have always written songs together, we might continue to do that at some point. I would not be surprised at all.
also mentions doing a solo record, though nothing specific.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
are they just decreasing overhead by breaking up or something?
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
sort of! will there be a buck/mills record with different lead singers, a la no talking just head!?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:00 (twelve years ago) link
(hoping for lou reed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^)
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
R.E.(E.D.)M.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/rems-mike-mills,65206/
major points to mills for acknowledging the contract in this.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
Who would expect a band to walk away when they’re hitting creative heights? But that’s just what we decided to do.
points revoked
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:03 (twelve years ago) link
AVC: The two songs that are probably most identified with you personally are “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” and “Nightswimming.”
WHITHER TEXARKANA???
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:12 (twelve years ago) link
not near enough!
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:15 (twelve years ago) link
Fuck a Texarkana, how about maybe SUPERMAN?
― i couldn't adjust the food knobs (Phil D.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:42 (twelve years ago) link
NOT NEAR ENOUGH
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:45 (twelve years ago) link
wait, why "Nightswimming"?
― virginia is for losers (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:46 (twelve years ago) link
Mills is an infamous skinny dipper
― tylerw, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:48 (twelve years ago) link
ha forgot about superman myself. both that and texarkana went rock radio top 20, even. Wonder how Mills felt about that question.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
Love that Salon interview. Softball questions, sure, but they do the job. Stipe's not usually that forthcoming.
― Science, you guys. Science. (DL), Thursday, 17 November 2011 09:37 (twelve years ago) link
Their best album... is Reckoning.
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 17 October 2012 02:43 (eleven years ago) link
It's definitely an easy one to overlook. You go back, you listen to "Murmur," bask in its glow, and then bam, "you want more of that, well here's more of that!"
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 03:28 (eleven years ago) link
Really odd that I have never owned "Reckoning" considering how much time I have spent with "Murmur" and "Fables of the Reconstruction". Next time I see that cheapish on vinyl I am going to buy it. The time has come.
― grandavis, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
I think it's one of their weaker efforts. You have "SCR" and "Don't Go Back...", two of their best, but otherwise, it's a bit lacking.
― Freedom, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 18:40 (eleven years ago) link
lol what?
Pretty Persuasion, Harbourcoat and Seven Chinese Brothers are like all-time.
― C-3PO Sharkey (Phil D.), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 19:52 (eleven years ago) link
^^this
― Mule, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:37 (eleven years ago) link
Reckoning feels like a GOAT candidate when it hits just right.
― omar little, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:40 (eleven years ago) link
Reckoning def my fave, though i've known these albums for so long I basically just bracket the albums in my mind under slots - The Club/Theater Years (Chronic thru Fables), The Arena Years (Lifes thru Green) and The 4x Platinum Years (Out Of Time thru Monster) - and i'll get in a mood to dive into one. It'd be really hard to honestly rank each one individually.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 21:01 (eleven years ago) link
LETTER NEVER SENT
― Euler, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 22:35 (eleven years ago) link
Reckoning is the best
Every song is great... "Camera" is a career highlight; "Seven Chinese Brohans" is near-perfect.
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 17 October 2012 22:57 (eleven years ago) link
The second side of Reckoning is weaker - good, but weaker - but that first side is brilliant.
― Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 23:11 (eleven years ago) link
I would say the same about Lifes and Docu
― Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 23:12 (eleven years ago) link
side 2 > side 1 of Reckoning
LETTER NEVER SENTso the best
― Euler, Thursday, 18 October 2012 01:54 (eleven years ago) link