REM: Classic or dud?

He's kind of one of the great rock band drummers. More than once I've seen him seem to mess up a show, but his grooves and beats are really idiosyncratic and original.

He's never flashy, but he adds that bounce that's the x-factor in their music.

Yeah, his accelerations into choruses make those choruses explode. I love that so much.

Listening to Green today, I was struck by something I never consciously noticed before (but which may not be true?) -- namely, Bill's drumming has more "swing" on that album than any other R.E.M. album.

Am I "OTT" (on the tractor), or have I fallen off?

I think there's that swing lurking in all of his playing, but maybe gets lost in the jittery faster tempos of the earlier albums.

just watched the song exploder thing, really well done and man is it cool to see bill play that drum part for a few seconds.

xp Yeah - he was by no means ever a stiff drummer, but I think he has a feel in the rockers on Green that's not present even in the "funky" songs toward the end of Document. You can really hear it in "Pop Song '89," "Orange Crush," "Turn You Inside-Out," etc.

watching the Song Exploder now ... awesome stuff ... i welled up at parts.

listening to Stipe's unaccompanied vocal - and watching him listen to it - really highlighted how incredible his performance is

this is gonna throw me into a major R.E.M. kick

I have for sure been re-immersing myself for the first time in a while... CT, Murmur, Reckoning, LRP, Green, Monster - all sounding great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoUWmZo_t1s&ab_channel=MaxRomero

I think Niimi's "Murmur" book pointed out something that I'd never noticed, which is that Berry definitely was listening to (sorta label mate) Stewart Copeland, and I think that's where some of that swing came from. It's certainly where the ride cymbal accents come from on tons of the band's music, even "Losing My Religion," I think.

heard Nightswimming on the radio Sunday and goddamn if that song doesn't kill me every time

xp yeah "Laughing" could be a Copeland drum part

heard Nightswimming on the radio Sunday and goddamn if that song doesn't kill me every time

heard that one over the weekend too and yeah, what an amazing song. wild that REM at the time was like the biggest band in the world, making this beautiful, vulnerable, weird music.

This version of Nightswimming slays...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVT0S0j7F9Y

Interesting points about Bill, thanks. I was listening to Chronic Town today, and realized that “Stumble” basically has a disco-rock drum part.

The biggest similarity between Copeland and Berry is the relationship between hi hat and snare, at least in the Chronic Town/Murmur era

Another thing Berry does is hitting the snare and a rack tom together on the 4 after the snare on 2 or sometimes both on 2 and 4

"The One I Love" is a pretty Copeland-y part, especially the ride work.

yeah, that was just lovely xxxxpost ... thanks for posting

Enjoying version of Finest Worksong on this covers compilation - https://godisinthetvzine.bandcamp.com/album/a-carnival-of-sorts-an-r-e-m-covers-compilation

^Just came across this via another source. Never heard of a single one of the 40 bands, but looks like it's R.E.M.-approved:

"All of these renditions are noteworthy— enthusiastic thumbs up!
So proud that younger groups got what we were goin' for. Thanks"

— Bill Berry

“Tell em its cool. I'm in the studio"

— Peter Buck

"I’m listening now, and I’m blown away by the energy and voices that
are coming through this project—what an honor!"

— Michael Stipe

Purchased the comp. Only on track 2 - it's a great, sloppy take on one of my favorite songs ("Get Up").

The Darling Buds
18 August at 03:03 ·
“Younger groups”...*Darling Buds stare awkwardly down at their feet*

The lyrix of "End of the World" seem to be rewritten for the current moment (which is a great move)

"Moral Kiosk" is awesome

Ah - there's a 2nd cover of "End of the World" which retains the original lyrics, but has a great sound

This thing seems grebt! Thanks for the tip!

Why do I find the Peter Buck quote hilarious? “Yeah yeah I’m sure it’s great. I’m in the bathroom.”

Yes, exactly.

Mike Mills broods in silent fury.

Ha!

Enjoying the comp but this cover of "So. Central Rain" is goofy as hell

https://pitchfork.com/news/rem-announce-25th-anniversary-reissue-of-new-adventures-in-hi-fi/

i hadn't heard the alternate version of "Leave" before. it's a pretty incredible vocal performance. listening to the john carpenter-like alternate version, you can hear how they were still searching for the right setting for it.

"Moral Kiosk" is awesome

― Shallot Shortage 2021 (morrisp), Sunday, August 22, 2021 3:39 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just hit this and YES

This compilation looks quite good.

I suppose technically The Darling Buds are about c.5 years younger as a band than R.E.M.

The Darling Buds track on this really sounds like Darling Buds

So after doing a little research it appears the real original 1981 Hib-Tone release of “Radio Free Europe” that apparently was so bad that Peter Buck smashed a copy of the single on his wall was actually a “Johnny Hibbert” mix and every subsequent release of the Hib-Tone single (including Eponymous, the …And I Feel Fine compilation, and that recent 40th anniversary Hib-Tone release) was a different mix overseen by Mitch Easter. I’ve been listening to the wrong version all my life! Has anybody heard the real original version and is it so bad?

Where did you see that about the remix?

I dunno, one of those Steve Hoffman forums.

After a successful show opening for The Police, R.E.M. intended to record material for a demo tape. The group traveled to Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to record some songs with producer Mitch Easter, who was a member of the band Let's Active.[5] The band recorded "Radio Free Europe", "Sitting Still", and the instrumental song "White Tornado", which were placed on a promotional cassette tape. The band sent out 400 copies, one of which was received by Atlanta law student Jonny Hibbert.[7] Hibbert offered to release "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still" as a one-off 7" vinyl single with the understanding that he would own the publishing rights for both songs; the band agreed to his terms.[8] However, Hibbert felt the recording was unsatisfactory, and oversaw a remix. Easter said he found the presence of Hibbert "distracting" and added, "He came into my studio and it was like, now the big city guy is going to do it right. We mixed the song for about 12 hours and really, there wasn't enough equipment to warrant more than 45 minutes."[7] The final mastering of the song disappointed the band. Guitarist Peter Buck, who described the recording years later as "muddy and hi-end", expressed his displeasure by breaking a copy of the finished single and nailing it to his wall. However, Buck admitted that "there's something to be said for the original sort of murky feeling for [the original recording]".[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe_(song)

I read that too, but it doesn’t specifically say they remixed it for later releases? Makes sense, I guess.

Surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be a video on YouTube of someone playing the original single (there is one that has a fake animation like that, but the audio seems to be ripped from Eponymous).

There's a bit about this in Lurie's Begin the Begin: R.E.M.'s Early Years:

... The only difficulty arose over the final mix of "Radio Free Europe." As the label owner and person footing the bill for the sessions, Hibbert felt he should have final say on how the record sounded. Not only did Easter see this as encroachment into his territory, he also actively disagreed with Hibbert's production choices, claiming that Hibbert's mix sounded "murkier than the original mix" (i.e. the Cassette Set version). Peter Buck agreed. It's unclear if the others cared one way or the other. ... In June, the band went to the neutral ground of Bombay Studios to do a comparison test between Hibbert's mix and an alternate mix that Easter had done on his own. R.E.M. came down in favor of the Easter mix, but it made no difference: Hibbert sent his own mix to be mastered. "I put my foot down," he says. "I was probably the last person to ever do that to them."

I think the "original Hib-Tone single" version included on And I Feel Fine is the same one that's on the original 45, but I don't have a turntable available to compare them directly.

Yeah - that’s posted on YT by remhq, and it does sound “murkier”/different from the version I know from Eponymous.

(I like it better, actually…!)

https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/michael-stipe-on-the-music-that-made-him/

I have never read an REM bio or anything. Has he talked a lot before about his year of depression, or almost going blind?

I've definitely known about his depression around that time; but the temporary blindness seems new, at least to me(?) Great piece, btw.

the robyn story is cute

And here I was convinced Al was going to share his latest worst-of: https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2021/11/10/ill-take-the-rain-my-least-favorite-r-e-m-songs/

Glad he didn't crap all over Up. I like that record, even if it's a bit of a late period outlier.

It was a great final album.