Listened to R.E.M. lately?

Steel Cranium

Steel Cranium

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If you are current or past fan, give their new live CD set (Live from the Olympia in Dublin) a listen. They play most of their newest CD (still unreleased at the time of the performances) but play quite a few tracks from their debut EP, chronic town. Nice to hear the old tracks with Stipe singing the lyrics as opposed to mumbling his way through. They avoid the hits in nearly 40 songs - 'drive' being the biggest.

I'm not a big fan of live CDs, but this one was done right. A little crowd noise between the tracks but not during the songs. They took the best of five different nights, but you really can't tell when the shows change - good mixing.

This set shows the similarity between their early stuff and their latest CD. Good to see that they're done with the slow/electronic-based releases earlier in the decade.
 
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Molon Labe!
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Steel Cranium said:
If you are current or past fan, give their new live CD set (Live from the Olympia in Dublin) a listen. They play most of their newest CD (still unreleased at the time of the performances) but play quite a few tracks from their debut EP, chronic town. Nice to hear the old tracks with Stipe singing the lyrics as opposed to mumbling his way through. They avoid the hits in nearly 40 songs - 'drive' being the biggest.

I'm not a big fan of live CDs, but this one was done right. A little crowd noise between the tracks but not during the songs. They took the best of five different nights, but you really can't tell when the shows change - good mixing.

This set shows the similarity between their early stuff and their latest CD. Good to see that they're done with the slow/electronic-based releases earlier in the decade.
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I am a big REM fan and I sort of wondered where they had been.

I have seen them in concert a few times and they're always great.

Thanks for the update on this and I will certainly check this out.
 
Casual Fan

Casual Fan

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They began to lose me on "Out of Time" and left me hanging by a thread on "Automatic for the People." Then they really went in the shitter and Bill Berry left. I might check this out, though, if it's older, more obscure stuff.
 
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Molon Labe!
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Casual Fan said:
They began to lose me on "Out of Time" and left me hanging by a thread on "Automatic for the People." Then they really went in the shitter and Bill Berry left. I might check this out, though, if it's older, more obscure stuff.
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I am one of the few that really liked the MONSTER album--thier harder more electric rock sounding album. And I really liked New Adverntures in Hi-Fi.
 
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Jon

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I saw them on the Monster tour and they rocked. This sounds interesting.
 
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Molon Labe!
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Jon said:
I saw them on the Monster tour and they rocked. This sounds interesting.
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I saw them on the Monster tour too.

A little known band called "RADIOHEAD" opened up for them to promote their second album, "THE BENDS." I became a huge fan then.
 
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Bandwagon03

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Yea, I haven't got the new album, I havent bought their last 2 albums actually.
I really like "Lifes Rich Pageant" and "Reckoning" the best. But, I did enjoy "Automatic", and even "Monster" "Out of Time" was definitely not the masterpiece that Automatic was...
 
semipenguin

semipenguin

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Lifes Rich Pageant is the best. I think Fall on Me is my favorite song :)

I saw them during the Document Tour. I can't believe that was 22 years ago :worried:
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Steel Cranium

Steel Cranium

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Bandwagon03 said:
I saw them on the "Out of Time" tour. I also saw them on the "Monster" tour.

LRP is a masterpiece: I am a big fan of "Cuyohoga" ;)
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For me, their best shows were in the 80s. The "green" tour was the last one of their shows I really enjoyed (stops in Cleveland and Cincinnati - the same facility where the "Who incident" happened).

Wonder if Stipe knows about the current state of the "Cuyahoga" river he wrote about. That same river that routinely burned in the 1960s is now mostly bordered by a park (much of it a national park) boasting a decent steelhead/rainbow trout run each year.
 
Vols44

Vols44

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Starting to record First wave on Sirius 33. The classic REM songs are nice to hear.
 
Casual Fan

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Aaron said:
First Wave is now one of my 3 favorite channels on Sirius.
I like early R.E.M. ... Driver 8, Fall On Me, So. Central Rain
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Great stuff. Lifes Rich Pageant is simply beautiful and is to me their best effort before they got all famous with Document.

Nothing like coming home from a night out, a twelve pack in your belly, and cranking "Flowers of Guatemala." Peter's guitar solo is so passionate. That's soul food right there. :cool:
 
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Bandwagon03

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Casual Fan said:
Great stuff. Lifes Rich Pageant is simply beautiful and is to me their best effort before they got all famous with Document.

Nothing like coming home from a night out, a twelve pack in your belly, and cranking "Flowers of Guatemala." Peter's guitar solo is so passionate. That's soul food right there. :cool:
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I might be wrong, but wasn't that Bucks first guitar solo for REM?
Certainly the most memorable one that's for sure.

I love LRP, awesome stuff for sure!

:cool:
 
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Jon

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TSS Pete said:
Have to say, I was quite impressed with the Accelerate album. Almost had that old REM feeling to it.
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I liked it too, it was like the old REM, with a little bit of Monster-era REM mixed in.
 
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Molon Labe!
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Love REM. I think I was the only one that really loved the MONSTER album. Saw them live on the Monster tour and a band called Radiohead (band that became my all time favorite) opened for them. Saw that concert at Hershey Park stadium the summer after my senior or junior year of high school--it's all fuzzy now.

The old stuff is obviously classic but if my wife and I have a "song" it is bittersweet me from the New Adventures In Hi-Fi album, one of their best albums ever, in my opinion.

Have not heard the new album they have--no tour if I understand correctly?
 
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