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 R.E.M. was the band that got me into alternative rock. The year was 2001, and I heard 'Imitation of Life' in a shopping center. I found out that it was R.E.M., whom I had heard, but never really knew much about. I received Reveal as a gift, and I became hooked. I came in luck in 2005; I won a radio contest to get their entire Warner Bros. output on CD/DVD. From there, I bought the 25th Anniversary editions of their I.R.S. material, all the while getting Around the Sun, Accelerate, and Collapse Into Now. When R.E.M. broke up three years ago, I was sullen. The only time I had gotten to see them live was when I was still a newcomer to the bandwagon, and I couldn't appreciate 'Fall on Me' or 'World Leader Pretend'. R.E.M. may be gone, but that doesn't mean there isn't a plethora of music left uncovered. Just last month, R.E.M. released their entire MTV Unplugged sessions from 1991 & 2001. And then this happened:   iTunes remastered R.E.M.'s entire catalog, and with them comes two compilations of rarities. That's 181 tracks, most of which I've never heard. Now, I've heard there are some technical issues with a few of the songs, so I'm holding off on a few of the tracks. That's cool, but suppose you already own everything R.E.M.'s ever put out. Mike Mills says in a Rolling Stone interview that there's "a lot of stuff in the vaults", so I wouldn't be surprised to hear 'new' R.E.M. over the next few years. If you're new to R.E.M., pick up Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, their career retrospective. It mixes their well-known hits with popular favorites such as 'Life and How to Live It' and 'Country Feedback'.
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May 25, 2014 08:36
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 04:26 |
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CaptainYesterday posted:R.E.M. was the band that got me into alternative rock. Same, but for me it was 1994. I was a sophomore in high school and Monster had just come out. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was all over the radio, and I really took to it. After reading a Rolling Stone interview that came out around the time, I bought the album and fell in love with it. From there, I expanded into their back catalog and ended up loving nearly everything. I was sorry to see them disband, but I also knew they'd never go through the motions just to cash a paycheck the way some bands do. I'm happy to see them walk off on their own terms to pursue other interests. The Unplugged albums are something I've been waiting for for nearly 15 years, though I agree that for new fans, the retrospective is the perfect place to start.
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May 25, 2014 23:48
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Such a fantastic band with a huge and rewarding catalog to dive into. In high school they were my Beatles, I obsessed over them. The first album I ever bought with my own money was Document (on a white tape!) and Automatic For The People probably saved my life. I stopped paying attention after Bill left the band but I've heard a few tracks from that era and they were okay. I really need to dig into their post-Berry albums.
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May 26, 2014 02:16
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Much as I love Ben Folds, R.E.M. is probably my favorite band of all time because they were so good for so long. As much as some people complain about the post-Berry stuff, I can't complain about anything except Around The Sun. And the others have a lot of truly excellent songs. Imitation of Life does not get enough props for the video, it truly deserves to be mentioned with other famous wildly creative ones. I just picked up the Unplugged collection they released. It really got me to appreciate Out Of Time more. Finally: it's an old book but it's well worth reading It Crawled From The South.
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May 26, 2014 05:22
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ElwoodCuse posted:I just picked up the Unplugged collection they released. It really got me to appreciate Out Of Time more. I know Out of Time is overshadowed by Losing My Religion, but it's my personal favorite R.E.M. album. Maybe it's my southern heritage that gets me into this very southern album, but songs like 'Belong' just do something for me that I can't explain.
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May 26, 2014 05:27
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R.E.M. are really a band I've only gotten into in recent years. I was indifferent to them for a long time but liked Losing My Religion and Man on the Moon enough to look into their discography. I really enjoy Reckoning and Document. I like about half of Automatic for the People a lot and am indifferent to the other half. Not big on Murmur or Lifes Rich Pageant.
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May 27, 2014 05:03
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Henchman of Santa posted:I really enjoy Reckoning and Document. I like about half of Automatic for the People a lot and am indifferent to the other half. Not big on Murmur or Lifes Rich Pageant. obligatory http://www.theonion.com/articles/ahmadinejad-kind-of-getting-back-into-old-rem-agai,28139/
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May 27, 2014 05:39
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Early R.E.M. tragic here. Murmur and Fables of the Reconstruction are phenomenal albums. Murmur also has my favourite cover art ever- it reflects the album's atmosphere perfectly. The rarities collections are pretty great. I'd never heard the "First We Take Manhattan" and "Sponge" covers before. Both are ace.
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May 27, 2014 15:33
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I liked The Dead Milkmen and Jane's Addiction first, but after Nothing's Shocking, the first alt-rock album I bought was Green. I wore that poo poo OUT. "World Leader Pretend" and "I Remember California", man. Then I got Eponymous and worked my way back. Honestly never cared much for Murmur outside of a few great songs ("Perfect Circle", "Sitting Still") but I think Chronic Town is probably the best EP ever made. Document was and still is my absolute favorite. "Welcome to the Occupation", "King of Birds", "Disturbance at the Heron House", "Oddfellows Local 151", everything on it is gold. Aside from that and Fables, though, I honestly probably like Monster (setting "Crush With Eyeliner" aside, mostly for side 2) and New Adventures in Hi-Fi the best. e: screw you Stephen, "Time After Time" is the best song on Reckoning t  t
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May 28, 2014 17:00
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XMD 5a posted:The rarities collections are pretty great. I'd never heard the "First We Take Manhattan" and "Sponge" covers before. Both are ace. I remember buying that whole stupid tribute album just for First We Take Manhattan because it was before downloading and the only other release of it was a rare expensive box set.
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May 31, 2014 07:22
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precision posted:e: screw you Stephen, "Time After Time" is the best song on Reckoning t Whether you agree with him or not, you've gotta respect the songcraft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbbQQYyqG74
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May 31, 2014 08:05
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Worth mentioning if you can find a copy is the REM tribute album Surprise Your Pig which features some... unconventional covers. Some, like J Church's excellent take on "Rockville" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrmtNHS4lfI) are true to the original, and some are... not. Like Gumball's "1,000,000" which is a 6 minute loop of someone breaking a rack of pool balls. Also a great cover of "Pretty Persuasion" by Jawbreaker, an Italian version of "Talk About the Passion", a thrash cover of "Losing My Religion" by Tesco Vee's Hate Police, King Missile doing "Get Up", and Mitch Easter himself doing "Shiny Happy People".
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May 31, 2014 10:05
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I remember when Green came out. Their last good album and their best one imo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A3OEr6E3f0
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May 31, 2014 16:44
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bryn987 posted:I remember when Green came out. Their last good album and their best one imo Awesome performance. I only got to see them once, on the Monster tour in '95 in Nashville, which was the first tour they officially lifted the embargo on doing pre-Green songs. They did "So. Central Rain", "Welcome To the Occupation", "Finest Worksong", and a few other classics. The crowd went appropriately nuts, and the stage show was intense. edit: Has anyone read that autobiographical novel that Stipe's ex-boyfriend wrote about their relationship? It's called Outline of my Lover and I've never been able to find a copy, might have to order it: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1136195.Outline_of_My_Lover precision fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 04:39
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I've always been a fan of REM, actually. I think because my Dad bought In Time on CD at some point or another, and I pretty much got addicted to it. Pretty sure that and Gorillaz' Demon Days are the only two albums I've had on every iteration of Mp3 player and iPod I've owned. I'm really more of a casual fan, since the only other releases I own are Around The Sun and the Live in Dublin album they had on iTunes that got bundled with the Times (but I did specifically buy the paper for the album, so there's that). I definitely think I might take a look at the new (old) releases. Also god drat do I have a hell of a backlog to slog through.
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Jun 1, 2014 18:15
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Monster was the first REM album I really loved, mostly because it came out around the time when I was first really discovering music on my own, as opposed to just listening to whatever my parents owned. I don't think I've ever been as excited in my life for a new album to come out as when New Adventures in Hi Fi came out. I listened to pretty much just that CD for a year straight, and its still among my all-time favorites. Its only in the last few years that I've been really delving into the pre-"Automatic for the People" albums, which I knew little about short of the singles that everyone knows. God, I wish I had Out of Time and Green 20 years ago. A fantastic band. Mt. Modular fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Jun 3, 2014 |
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Jun 3, 2014 03:25
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Murmur forever and ever then just turn off the music machine.
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Jul 28, 2014 03:34
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Bump for content: six-DVD set coming this November, including a new documentary, "R.E.M. by MTV". Pre-order it and get a (mono) live set unavailable anywhere else!
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Sep 27, 2014 04:07
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REM have had awesome videos, short films and tour films so that DVD set is going to own, own, own.
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Sep 28, 2014 19:24
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Actually, the DVDs contain pretty much every live performance R.E.M. ever did on MTV and the MTV family of networks. Disc 1: both Unplugged shows Disc 2: VH1 Storytellers, I.R.S. Records presents the Cutting Edge, MTV Livewire, and performances at the MTV 10th Anniversary show, '93 and '95 VMAs, '98 and '01 EMAs, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and the Colbert Report Disc 3: R.E.M. in Dallas, R.E.M. Uplink at the Bowery Ballroom, and Live in Cologne Disc 4: R.E.M. at The Tabernacle, Londo, MTV Sonic Milan, and Rock am Ring Disc 5: Live at Rolling Stone, Milan, Live at Oxegen Festival, and R.E.M. in Athens, Greece Disc 6: documentary All discs contain outtake songs. The Cutting Edge concert contains a performance of 'Smoking in the Boys Room', an early staple of live shows when the crowd was giving them trouble.
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Sep 29, 2014 05:42
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Miyamoto Musashi posted:Same, but for me it was 1994. I was a sophomore in high school and Monster had just come out. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was all over the radio, and I really took to it. After reading a Rolling Stone interview that came out around the time, I bought the album and fell in love with it. From there, I expanded into their back catalog and ended up loving nearly everything. Same but for me it was around 1985 (e. nope looking it up was 83  ). In high school I was part of a teen advisory panel at the main library ran by one of the people who by night were heads of one of the top punk/new wave/alt music clubs in town. I also baby sat for her so she and her husband could go to the shows they organized. One night her husband, as was tradition, handed me a stack of albums he had just got sent in (I learned a ton about music from him), but this time he thrust the top of the stack at me and said that if I listened to nothing else, listen to this. It was Murmur, and I was hooked. I stayed up late when they appeared on Letterman, and have not only grown up with them, but have grown old with them. (Sorry Michael, if I had been in New York I'm sure I could have found $0.50 to give Colbert for you!)I've seen them several times over the years, last at their outdoor show in downtown Toronto in 2001 or so ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-pGPB23BE ). I can find something to love from all of their albums (Automatic for the People and Out of Time were on constant loop while writing my doctoral thesis) but those first three albums were something really special and get played often still. I started playing mandolin because of Peter Buck Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 04:52
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Has anyone picked up 7IN-83-88? I'm interested, but it's a pretty penny at $95.
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Jan 22, 2015 05:36
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CaptainYesterday posted:Has anyone picked up 7IN-83-88? I'm interested, but it's a pretty penny at $95. yeah that is a lot of money when I'm not even sure my turntable still works and I have all those songs already (not much of a collector). Love Wendel Gee though
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Jan 22, 2015 06:11
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 04:26 |
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REM was the band that got me into alternative/"college-rock"/eventually indie, too! Such an awesome/rewarding back catalog. Eponymous was the one that started me exploring it, but just looked at the tracklist of the compilation recommended in the OP and it seems pretty solid. (Though I bet everyone likes Disc One better--even though I always kinda liked a bunch of Reveal, at least, among the post-Berry records.)
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Jan 23, 2015 05:00
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