REM Appreciation Thread

Michael's voice is like a fine wine, just keeps getting better. Saw them live in Calgary Nov 2004, totally killer. I'm one of the rare people who believes that Up, Reveal, and Around the Sun hold their own in the R.E.M. catalogue. They are uncompromising in that they never create the same album twice. I think these guys are the fucking "greatest thing since bread came sliced". I'd love to see Bill behind the skins for the next record, but either way they won't dissappoint.

whatsthefreezer wrote:

Well for me personally I like UP. I think it's a really beautiful album in every way. I think they still would have made it like they had even with Berry still in the band. Reveal I like the songs but those versions I just don't like. With Around The Sun I don't really like any of the songs on it and it's terribly over produced in my opinion. So for me I feel UP is one of their best because it's like nothing else in their catalogue and it's just a great record imo. First one with all the lyrics printed as well. Green just had World Leader Pretend.

I love Up as well, I think it is probably my 3rd favorite of the their records, and I love pretty much all of their albums, all 12 of them. And I totally agree that Around the Sun was overproduced and overthought, those weren't bad songs in their own right, they sounded good live, but on the record they are sterile and boring as hell.

i really love rem but have been seriously disappointed by the last two albums.

I like 'em. I hope they tour the USA soon.

DriftingByTheStorm wrote:

i would appreciate REM if they

1. Cut the CRAP and stopped making Radiohead inspired suck albums that border on easy listening. They used to ROCK ... now they just make me sleepy.

2. LOWERED THEIR TICKET PRICES!


REM is quite possibly THE FIRST band I ever appreciated ... I would listen to Green and Lifes Rich Pagent on tape cassette while taking family trips in my pre-teen years ... I viewed Michael Stipe as like my long lost older brother or something ...

but i've only ever seen them during their performance at the Freedom Concert in '98 ... (which, BTW, wasn't all that great) ...

... i've heard they are good live, but i've also heard the opposite ... and either way ... i'm not willing to find out for the prices they charge ...

... it just irks me ...

... besides, like Jane's Addiction, to me it feels like somethings just wouldn't be the same as they were 10 years ago ... I don't want to here Airport Man or The Boy In The Well ... i just don't.

sorry,
i guess i still appreciate REM, but never have i felt like a band left me to head in the wrong direction of everything i thought they were ...

i have so far followed pearl jam around every bend ... but Stipe lost me after UP, and even that was a bit of a stretch on the whole.

You should reconsider. At their shows they focus mainly on the older favorites as opposed to the newer material. It is damn expensive though, but it's worth it. Their energy level certainly hasn't gone down and they don't play stuff like Airportman live.

whatsthefreezer wrote:

You should reconsider. At their shows they focus mainly on the older favorites as opposed to the newer material. It is damn expensive though, but it's worth it. Their energy level certainly hasn't gone down and they don't play stuff like Airportman live.

I couldn't find '04/'05 tour stats, but here are '03 stats:

http://www.onlineathens.com/rockathens/remsetlists.shtml


Things that make me sad from the above setlist analysis:

1. failure to play Catapult OR Perfect Circle & yet playing Sitting Still & Shaking Through !?!

2. failure to play Harborcoat or 7 Chinese Bros. & yet playing So. Central Rain.

3. Failure to play THE FLOWERS OF GUATEMALA or What if we Give it Away !

4. Playing Disturbance At the Heron House once and The One I Want To Strangle about a million times ! ! !

5. Snubbing You Are Everything (save for final date) and The Wrong Child

6. Playing Losing My Fucking Respect For This Band AT EVERY SINGLE SHOW ! ! !

7. The ONLY other song off of OOT played was Country Feedback ... hey CF is THE SHIT, but what about Belong or Half A World Away !?!

8. Pretty much the same as #6 but insert Drive, Man On The Moon & Everybody Hates This Song

9. Knocking out most songs from Monster & New Adventures in favor of post UP crap.

10. some actual covers would be nice. How bout some of the Dead Letter Office VU covers, at least !?!
(and no, permanent vacation doesn't count!)

Things i like about those set stats:

1. Hey, atleast they played Sweetness Follows a time or two, and picked up Find The River and Nightswimming on the back half of the tour.

2. Country Feedback

3. World Leader Pretend

4. I Believe

5. Exhuming McCarthy

6. Pretty Persuasion at least not forgotten, if not comatose.

7. They DIDN'T play AIRPORT MAN ...

ah shit... i gotta get back to work ...


yeah ... i don't think from seeing that list, that i'd be to interested in seeing what they would play AFTER these last two albums ...

i mean ... they were already snubbing most of Monster and New Adventures in '03 ... along with pretty much every song i WOULD want to hear off of the earlier albums.

sorry i'm such a party pooper.
I'm just not feeling it.

bladworth116 wrote:

Michael's voice is like a fine wine, just keeps getting better.

I thought he sounded terrible and ragged on Around the Sun. Live, he was fine, but there are a couple songs on ATS that I just can't stand because of his vocals... Worst Joke Ever... ugh.

I'm one of the rare people who believes that Up, Reveal, and Around the Sun hold their own in the R.E.M. catalogue.

You might be the only one...

Up is terribly underrated, I'll agree, but the other two certainly are not. Again, live, the songs from these records sound much better, but their actual studio versions are just too sterile and boring. Until ATS came out, I thought Reveal was their worst album. But on the way up to Winnipeg to see them on the ATS tour I listened to Reveal and ATS back to back (figuring we'd get a good dose of these) and ATS made Reveal sound like Automatic For the People. Final Straw is the best thing on that record, and probably my favorite song of theirs since Leave, but that's probably because it sounds nothing like the rest of the record.

Thanks to the REM fanclub I did get to watch that Winnipeg show from the second row just right of center. It was great. During 'Imitation of Life', at the line 'water hyacinth, named by a poet' I pointed at Michael and he gave me a knowing smile. That was cool. I also have the setlist and Scott McCaughey's pick, which I am looking at right now in my office.

I also saw them a month or so before that at the St Paul VFC show with Springsteen. The highlight of that night, for me, was hearing Neil Young play on Country Feedback. Michael just kind of nonchalantly introduced him and they went into the song. I just stood up, closed my eyes and soaked it all in. Amazing.

I really got hooked with the song "what's the frequency kenneth?" great band.

I'm_One wrote:

Love R.E.M.!!! I saw um the last two times they came to atlanta and they were fucking great. The 03 show was insane, i believe it was one of the longest shows they had ever played and i was dancing like a goddamn fool w/ some completely toasted 30something yr old woman and having a blast (I was only 1/2 intoxicated!!).

Ahh yes, that 2003 show was one of my favorite concerts ever by any band... It was just amazing. We had seen them the night before in Raleigh and I was wondering if the Atlanta show would be able to top it... To this day I can't decide which was my favorite, but they were both amazing nights.