Crib Notes

Title: Murmur
Released on: April 11, 1983
Favorite tracks: “Pilgrimage,” “Radio Free Europe,” “Sitting Still,” “West of the Fields”

My thoughts about REM’s first full-length album Murmur, a beloved landmark album in rock music, center on this question: can you sing early REM songs in the shower?

By “early,” let’s say pre-Lifes Rich Pageant. By “shower,” I mean, as opposed to singing along to an R.E.M. recording in the car or on the iPod or whatnot. I can chime in with practically any R.E.M. song after a fashion, no matter how obscure the lyrics, but I can’t carry the early tunes on my own. What strikes me about Murmur is how it’s a great album that goes so much against the grain of conventional rock songs.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Title: Chronic Town (EP)
Released on: Aug. 24, 1982 (I.R.S. Records)
Favorite tracks: “Wolves, Lower,” “1,000,000”

Recently I heard Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills on “Fresh Air” talking about R.E.M.’s career and it reminded me of how much I like the group. That almost seems to go without saying, especially since I went to college in the 1980s. I never thought of R.E.M. as my #1 favorite 1980s band (which is more of a four-way tie with R.E.M., U2, Talking Heads and Elvis Costello), but R.E.M. was in a lot of ways the definitive band back then, both in the prevalence of their music and their influence on indie/college radio rock, especially at a Southern university.

So I’ve been inspired by blogger/screenwriter Todd Alcott’s cinematic example to do a chronological, album-by-album retrospective of R.E.M., up to their new one, Accelerate, which I’ve barely heard as of this writing. (Yes, I probably should have done this back before Accelerate’s release date.) Now, I’m not a rock critic and I don’t claim to have the ear or vocabulary of a musicologist. To the best of my ability, I’ll write about their sound, their songs, why they “click” and how they’ve evolved. I’ll share any tidbits I come across, and I’ll talk about how the music sounds to me now, as opposed to how the albums sounded when they came out. And I’m giving my self plenty of leeway to share memories and associations the music inspires. Feel free to join in.

Skipping over the band’s 1981 single “Radio Free Europe” (which I’ll mention with Murmur), I begin with the 1982 EP Chronic Town.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

AT SXSW: Michael Stipe of R.E.M. (All photos by Perry Julien.)

Music conference vs. music festival.

Badges vs. wristbands vs. free shows.

Official showcases vs. un-official showcases.

Regardless of your opinions, there is something about 1,700 bands getting together for 24 hours of music.

I was able to see and photograph 49 bands over five days. Fucking rock excess.

Below are photos from: REM, Dark Meat, Ocha La Rocha, Elf Power, Dead Confederate, The Whigs, Von Bondies, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Raveonettes, Vampire Weekend, and X.

R.E.M.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

R.E.M. just announced the first round of dates f0r its tour promoting Accelerate, which drops April 1. Unlike the Drive-By Truckers, who ungraciously left us out of their touring plans, R.E.M.’s itinerary winds up at Lakewood Amphitheatre (formerly known as Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater) on June 21. Supporting acts include celebrated bar band the National, and Modest Mouse, which made the most disappointing album of 2007 in We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, aka Just Because I Hired Johnny Marr Doesn’t Mean My Album Doesn’t Stink. But hey, I’m a big Modest Mouse fan, so it will be nice to hear the rest of the group’s catalog.

Bookmark to:

A few days ago, R.E.M. announced its new album, Accelerate. It’s the band’s first disc of original material in more than three years and is scheduled to hit shelves April 1.

For a while, the big news surrounding its release was that founding drummer Bill Berry would return for R.E.M.’s tour. Paste magazine reported that rumor; but then it subsequently retracted it. However, fans can look forward to music that is considerably more lively than the sonorous sound of past efforts. Here’s what Michael Stipe told British culture magazine Uncut — which was excerpted on a Billboard.com news item:

“I feel like there’s a confidence in the material, and a communication between the three of us that hasn’t been there for some time,” frontman Michael Stipe told Uncut. “We didn’t talk to each other for a couple of records — as friends or as bandmates. And we reached a point before this LP where we just sat down at a table and hashed it out.”

Bookmark to: