REM: Classic or dud?

Perhaps Uncut gave me a distorted picture (again, the magazine was huge on Americana) because I thought The Band were still big and they got me into them (and they were huge for me). I'm sure they had a free cd of bands influenced/covering/tributing. Drive By Truckers had a gorgeous song about The Band. Maybe they're bigger in the UK as a result?

The Band was tremendously influential! virtually a sea change in 60s rock... between that, Basement Tapes and John Wesley Harding they changed the course of rock music from summer of love hijinks to ruralism

I'd say Big Pink might be as influential as any album in rock, especially because it seemed to really shake up a bunch of big stars as mentioned upthread

xps Vanessa is amazing, maybe she could front the R.E.M. Reenactment Society

I don't think R.E.M. ever came close to the Band's collective musicianship, but there are definitely parallels in terms of early canonization and subsequent fading from popular awareness ... in terms of ongoing influence on other musicians, the Band looms much larger

the comparison highlights the fact that R.E.M. never really made a roots/Americana move, in spite of the Byrds influences and and occasional mandolins ... maybe "Rockville" comes closest, but that's not exactly "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"

New Wave bands in Georgia c. 1980 had to take a hard line against country, blues, boogie, and choogling

if there's a recording of that set I will pay top dollar just for "Money Changes Everything"

"Money Changes Everything" was the Brains' sort-of-hit when R.E.M. opened for them in May 1979 ... my first R.E.M. show </bragging>

May 1980, god I am such a poseur

no that’s awesome

a few nice photos in this review of last night's show

https://atlantaintownpaper.com/2019/09/concert-review-drivin-n-cryin-drive-by-truckers-and-most-of-rem-play-revival-to-benefit-fox-theatre-institute/

I don't think R.E.M. ever came close to the Band's collective musicianship

Sure, but from the other side of the coin, not sure the Band ever made an album as good as Murmur.

I think the second album is.

I recall reading an interview with one of the Beatles, possibly/probably George, where even though they were all on friendly enough terms they had to always be aware where the rest of their former bandmates were, because they didn't want to all be in the same place at the same time and be pressured to play together.

one of the amazing things about early R.E.M. is how well they wrote and played given Buck and Stipe's limited musical experience ... to me Murmur sounds like a young band making a creative strength of simplicity while Music from Big Pink sounds like veteran players doing deceptively simple things

Yes, but I don't think their simplicity should be overstated. Peter Buck has said that he was pushing and playing at the limit of his capabilities in the early years. Mills and Berry could play.

Berry is a heckuva drummer. Probably my favorite element of the band, how he excitedly speeds up going into a prechorus or chorus. Maybe that’s a standard pop drummer trick but he did it so well, adding a few beats, not a fill but your heart speeding up, getting to the good part

There were no replaceable parts in this band. I might even venture that if you had to replace one, they might have still been interesting without Stipe

He's kind of the most interesting thing about the band (who are all interesting).

I might even venture that if you had to replace one, they might have still been interesting without Stipe

Warren Zevon has a plan for that!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/19/Sentimental_Hygiene_album_cover.jpg

The After Party:

https://defendingaxlrose.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/screen-shot-2012-08-19-at-3-02-11-pm.png

Includes "Battleship Chains"!

Sentimental Hygiene is often my favorite Zevon precisely because of the paces Zevon puts R.E.M. through on "Even a Dog Can Shake Hands."

There's probably an alternate timeline wherein Stipe fucks off in the late '80s, and the rest of the band becomes the Alt-Rock MG's.

Was Stipe an obstacle to people liking the band? I heard that before they broke big, but not much afterward until Berry left.

i can recall, as a kid, hating his voice

don’t remember how or why i came around

Don't forget this one! (Indigo Girls were the opening act when I saw them on the aforementioned GREEN tour.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvIHhYQ8S8E

I never noticed it before last week but my college town record store has a bunch of old show flyers on the wall and one of them is for a house party with a band they were hyping as being from the same as Pylon and the B-52s town

xp I think Stipe was essential to their success ... at the start his manic dancing and yelling were practically the whole show, and when they started doing originals he was the main source of their arty mystique ... he can be pitchy and inconsistent on stage, but his charisma is what made them R.E.M.

Yes, although when you watch the video of him singing his new material, it's cool to hear him writing and singing again, but the music is clearly something other.

my first big rock show was the Green tour, and I don't think I've ever seen that level of charisma matched since

I always loved Stipe's voice. The band was all a cacophony of timbres and jangles that matched my heart. In high school, i would only date people that had that same pull, which was probably a mistake.

Berry is a heckuva drummer.

Berry was always acknowledged to be the primary writer of "Perfect Circle" but were there any other songs that were "his" so-to-speak?

my first big rock show was the Green tour, and I don't think I've ever seen that level of charisma matched since

I saw them at a club in 1983 and even then it was pretty clear that they could easily scale up the show. The year after they played the Palladium, easily 10x the size, and played it like they were in an arena.

xp I know Berry wrote Man on the Moon among others

‘everybody hurts’ was mainly berry’s

Pretty sure Try Not to Breathe and Driver 8 are also Berry's

Buck says:

"I remember Bill came up with the verse to 'Driver 8,' and after he showed it to me he said, 'I need to run to the market, I'll be right back.' I think he went to get some beans or rice or something. In the meantime, I came up with the chorus and the intro riff. Bill came back in about five minutes, and it was done. So I played it for him and he went, 'Alright, that's great!' Bill was totally excited.

“Possibly my favourite band from that era was The Auteurs. Luke Haines and I have just made a record together and I think that’s coming out in the spring. I’d never met him, but we’d just send stuff back and forth and then we went to a show together when I was over in London six months ago. I guess it’ll come out as a Luke Haines / Peter Buck record, it’s hard making up band names, you always have to say who you are!

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/r.e.m.s-peter-buck-nine-songs-monster

Hmm.

Michael Stipe 60 years old yesterday. A bit hard to handle.

I can't see myself at sixty, I don't buy a lacquered dixie

I remember years (decades?) ago Stipe complaining in an interview around the time of peak "omg, Michael Stipe must be sick!" rumors (after he shaved his head and was looking kinda gaunt) that he is just four years older than Brad Pitt. So it's a battle of healthy living vs. good genes, I guess.

Yeah, I mean, he looks 60...

He released a new single y’day, btw.

Good little Q&A; he’s definitely still Stipey, after all these years: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/11/michael-stipe-who-would-i-say-sorry-to-everyone-i-slept-with-before-the-age-of-27

There's really not much going on with it, but that new Michael Stipe single is really pretty.

The “Losing My Religion” episode of this new Song Exploder series is neat, if you have Netflix. Bill shows up!

I noticed this old “UK Collector’s Edition” version of the maxi-single showed up on streaming services this week; must have been timed with the show:

"Losing My Religion" – 4:29
"Fretless" – 4:51
"Losing My Religion" (Live acoustic version/Rockline) – 4:38
"Rotary Eleven" – 2:32

They have such great old faces now, especially Bill, how long before he gets cast in a Coen Bros movie?

Fretless is a really good b-side (also on the Until the End of the World soundtrack)

Oh wow i need to see this. They did Try Not To Breathe on the podcast episode. I guess 'for telly' you need to bring out the bigger guns.

I've seen dozens of little R.E.M. "packages" over the years (with retrospective clips, etc.), and this is a good one :)

I rewatched the 'Rough Cut' documentary recently which is the daddy of them all, imho.

Yeah i love that one.

Also this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT1wdva2jbU

This one is also kinda interesting -

https://www.vincentmoon.com/video-view-rem-six-days-and-ninety-nights-2008-97.html