REM: Classic or dud?

One argument I can remember was with a girl who denied "Man On The Moon" was about Andy Kaufman, despite his name being in the lyrics and the song being all about him.

Can that peel session be found on disc? Is it anything special?

This may have been discussed earlier but does anyone remember that there was the possibility of an acoustic version of Reveal? I recall getting the first single "Imitation Of Life" and the acoustic b-sides were incredible, I thought this might be a sign that this would be the best thing they ever did, but it was just pretty good. I think Peter Buck said that the acoustic version of the album may have been much better than the standard version.

I've mysteriously lost my 2 disc best of In Time, mostly worthwhile for "Fretless". A few of their fan club singles had some really good stuff too, but I never got the impression that all their odds and ends were worth tracking down. But "Fretless" is an essential for fans, I think.

I found out that "Fretless" is a rejected track from Out Of Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je_EDhaqSY0

xpost re the Peel session … I'd stopped listening to Peel by this point. But earlier in REM's career he had actively disliked them, and given that the session was a live show in the BBC Radio Theatre - where they do the special shows by prestige acts – rather than four tracks recorded in Maida Vale, I wouldn't be madly surprised if it had turned out to be a Peel session by default, ie the BBC committeed to a live thing as part of the REM promo campaign, and Peel was felt to be the most suitable home for it.

I found out that "Fretless" is a rejected track from Out Of Time

it's amazing that anyone could choose radio song over fretless. i guess that after they went to all the effort of getting krs-one to contribute they didn't want to leave it off the album, but jeeezus you guys, sunk cost, sunk cost

I would have loved to have heard a faster, more electric take on 'Fretless'. There's something about that chorus that would lend itself well to being "rocked up".

I love "Up." Coincidence or not, the way the songs are grouped on the back cover really makes sequencing sense, like three great EPs.

http://www.doohan-covers.com/Audio/REM_Up_back.jpg

It's their final album, afaic.

I could easily live without 'Sad Professor', 'You're In The Air' and 'Diminished'. 'Why Not Smile' is alright, I guess, but hardly earth shattering.

When it came out, "Up" sounded really fresh compared to Britpop and other guitar bands.It felt like Stipe fronting a new band, actually. Not earth-shattering but very different and it really works for me.

The Peel session is a proper one recorded in Maida Vale, or so I thought. It's not revelatory like some Peel sessions are but it definitely captures that quick recording vibe and enhances the tracks.

xp Sad Professor is probably the last great REM song imo.

I should preface this by saying: I love R.E.M. Fables of Reconstruction is my favorite album of theirs and Reckoning isn't far behind.

That being said, I am very much a big defender of their 90's material. I've maintained since I first heard it in 2001 that Up was really their last great album. But New Adventures is just as good. Do not forget this.

That NYE 1999 split could have been perfect. From what was obviously a joke....jeez...I dunno.

xpost I tell a lie: you're right. The BBC Radio Theatre show and the Peel session were different things on the same day. I"m genuinely astonished he had them in for a session - I remember him upbraiding his listeners for asking him to play them in the 80s.

Holy jeez that 1981 footage. Fantastic.

I totally rep for "Sad Professor." I think it's one of Stipe's better character pieces, the critique comes through as self-loathing and makes the guy sympathetic, it's very open-hearted. Also I like how the chorus pairs this sense of arrival and drama, musically, with a very observational, scene-setting kind of lyric: Late afternoon, the house is hot.

"I could easily live without 'Sad Professor', 'You're In The Air' and 'Diminished'. 'Why Not Smile' is alright, I guess, but hardly earth shattering."

I really adore all those songs, I think "Diminished" is incredible. The whole album has an atmosphere unlike anything else they did.

Peter Buck and Mark Eitzel made an album called West at the time. Eitzel was up for it being a Eitzel/Buck band name but Buck didn't want that (I think he just regarded himself as the same as any other Eitzel backup guy) but it would have sold much better if Buck's name was on the thing and Eitzel might have been a bit bigger than he is. I think Buck even toured with Eitzel (there is a story about Buck being annoyed by Eitzel asking audience members up to dance with him on stage).
It isn't even one of my favourite Eitzel albums but it has an amazing track called "Helium", which sounds like a companion piece to Up's "Suspicion".

The idea of constructing a rock album almost entirely out of synths was pretty novel at the time Up was released. Now that everyone's doing it it's barely worthy of comment but there are still some strange and beautiful songs from that album. It's the one moment from their post-Automatic era that comes close to evoking the strangeness of their early records, but in a totally different way.

It isn't even one of my favourite Eitzel albums but it has an amazing track called "Helium", which sounds like a companion piece to Up's "Suspicion".

Hey wow, you're right! The Eitzel track came out in 97 while "Up" came out in 98, so the timing makes sense. The keys and the gentle strumming on the track make it easy to hear Stipe singing it as well. Good catch.

Also, how are the B-sides associated with Up?

I always liked the run of songs from 'At My Most Beautiful' to 'Walk Unafraid' and I also love 'Daysleeper' but the rest of Up doesn't really work for me. It is a long time since I listened to the whole thing though.

Yeah the tracklisting doesn't really work at all (Suspicion is such a boring song) but that particular run you mentioned is possibly the best section. You're In The Air is still lovely. The last couple of songs are probably my favourite, but I'm not sure I could listen to the whole thing back-to-back any more.

It's the one moment from their post-Automatic era that comes close to evoking the strangeness of their early records

I'm not sure what in the pre-Automatic era (or on Automatic itself) evoked the strangeness of the early records. (I'm assuming we're talking about "Stumble" and "Old Man Kensey" and "Feeling Gravitys Pull" and things?)

The most obvious strange tracks on the later records would be "Blue" on the last album and then, I don't know, "Sing for the Submarine?" "The Outsiders?"

Sad Professor is beautiful!

Accelerate in itself ain't brilliant, but it has spirit and it made me (re)discover the band (up until then I hadn't been bothered to pay much attention to their oeuvre except for the hits)

I actually like Accelerate a lot. Really the only criticism I have of it is the bad mastering; Accelerate and Depeche Mode's Playing The Angel surely must be two of the most painfully loud albums that I own.

this is a good interview:

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/09/peter_buck_i_think_we_were_all_really_ready_for_a_change/

“Man on the Moon,” it’s a great song. But it’s five minutes long and I’ve played it a couple thousand times."

ouch!

that's gotta hurt.

You gotta do the hand movements on that one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW-66e_wyxg

Anyone would get sick of that out of tune wail Stipe always did during the instrumental break

I never liked MOTM live, partly because of that

Plus there was a lot of detail in the studio version that the live misses - all that lead guitar that they just didn't bother with.

Not top 50 R.E.M songs IMO. Not bad or anything, just never did much for me. I find it very un-R.E.M, even in the context of 'Automatic'.

listening to that early boot So Much Younger Then this morning, so nuts that they've never released this officially. "Baby I" is top shelf REM, and so is the rest.

I turned on the radio the other day just in time for the MOTM guitar solo, and it took me a few seconds to realize it wasn't "The One I Love."

huh, just read that Bob Mould played "Sitting Still" at the 2009 REM tribute concert. would love to hear that!

I love Man on the Moon, and I think it slots comfortably into their anthemic lineage - it's ''Fall on Me'' with a different palette. But I can see where it just wouldn't be somebody's thing.

i enjoyed that interview. i can't say that i've thought about peter buck much in a long time. i even listened to a couple of tired pony songs! didn't really thrill me. not horrible though.

MAybe I have thought the "un-R.E.M"-thing properly through. Normally I love anthemic R.E.M. But not this one. Lyrics maybe - no mystery. Makes me think of the movie.

xpost to DC

And "maybe I haven't thought". Jeez.

that is a good interview, seems like peter buck is doing exactly what peter buck should be doing.
interesting that he's on the internet downloading bootlegs -- i guess that makes sense... he should just let mississippi records release that So Much Younger Then show.

so it sounds like he is a silent partner in mississippi? i didn't know that.

Is there an album from the catalog that you feel is underappreciated?

I think if you asked all of us, we’d all have “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” in the top third, in the top five.

REM OTM

Interesting that Buck suggests he was ok with an indie-label/theater-concert future for REM. With Mills also doing smaller scale concerts, it sounds like Stipe was the one that was most put off by the idea of performing without Warner Bros paying for another "recorded on three continents" moneyloser.

i'm also curious if they really didn't take stock of the situation until the end of the contract, or if it was already clear earlier that their declining status would be untenable without that megadeal.

like, if it had been a three album deal, would they had split after Around The Sun?

never realized till now how easily their five-album contracts splits their career into thirds.

they could have been their own money-making machine if they had wanted it. how many r.e.m. records do you think they could sell if they did it themselves? i'll tell you how many. a bunch. they could have done the select city 10 night stand thing. v.i.p. tickets. blah blah blah. so much you can do when you have a base that large.

Peter Buck joined Yo La Tengo in Seattle a few months ago. He didn't add to much to the music but it was cool to see him jamming with Ira.

I think especially after Berry leaving that the aesthetic sense of what REM were supposed to be or what they were in the future seem to to be very different especially between Stipe and Buck. Not sure about Mills (or Mills caught in he middle somehow). Stipe IMO really dragged the band down in the 00s - was nowhere near the force he was in the 80s or most of the 90s. Unlike Buck he had - more than ever - extra curricular activities that had nothing to do with music and it showed.