Oh hell yes. This <\/i>is how you do a live record for the fans.<\/p>\n
To prepare for the recording of its excellent 2008 album Accelerate, <\/i>R.E.M. convened in Dublin at the Olympia theater for a five-night residency. Over the five shows, the band played new material that would end up on Accelerate, <\/i>as well as a wide selection of previous songs.<\/p>\n
Note that I did not say \u201chits.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pretty much the entire double-disc set \u2013 39 songs in all \u2013 are deep cuts from the band\u2019s vast discography, with a heavy emphasis on the first five classic I.R.S. records as well as the Chronic Town <\/i>EP, of which four songs make the list. There is nothing here from Green <\/i>or Out Of Time<\/i>, only one song from Automatic For The People <\/i>(\u201cDrive\u201d), two unreleased tracks, and \u201cRomance,\u201d which only ever appeared on the early hits comp Eponymous<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The transition between the band\u2019s eras is seamless, linking a raucous rocker like \u201cLiving Well Is The Best Revenge\u201d to the melancholy Reckoning <\/i>track \u201cHarborcoat\u201d without fail. They hit fan favorite after fan favorite along the way without stooping to the pressure of nostalgic beer-drinking casual fans hoping for \u201cLosing My Religion\u201d or something. Won\u2019t happen, but you do get \u201cLittle America,\u201d \u201cWelcome To The Occupation,\u201d \u201cMaps And Legends,\u201d and \u201cCircus Envy,\u201d a forgotten cut from 1994\u2019s Monster<\/i>.<\/p>\n
For the trio comprising R.E.M. at this time, the move back to being a rock band revitalized them. This showed in the material written for Accelerate <\/i>but also in the performances here. In writing the new songs, the guys went back to what had made them great in the first place, to what they loved, and it wasn\u2019t \u201cShiny Happy People.\u201d It was jamming to \u201cLetter Never Sent\u201d and \u201c1,000,000\u201d in that abandoned church in Athens, Georgia. It was reconnecting with their roots without being nostalgic and connecting with appreciative fans who liked hearing \u201cThe One I Love\u201d on the radio (which is not here) but secretly felt \u201cDriver 8\u201d and \u201cSo. Central Rain\u201d were better songs (which are both here).<\/p>\n
That electric energy is present in pretty much every song here, imbued with 25 years of performances and musical growth. Michael Stipe, in particular, is no longer mumbling the vocals of his youth; instead, he sings with confidence and a clarion voice of authority. Peter Buck\u2019s guitars are as deft and jangly as ever \u2013 and in the Accelerate <\/i>tracks, louder \u2013 and Mike Mills remains solid in his bass role. Stipe also banters a bit on stage, mostly poking fun at the lyrics of those older songs, but I\u2019m sure many people regret some of the things they said or did when they were 22. Not to worry, sir.<\/p>\n
Some critics said the album was a little too polished and professional, nowhere near the level of R.E.M. Live<\/i> but not befitting the sometimes-ragged source material. This is pretty stupid. Of course <\/i>it\u2019s going to sound better than it did in 1983, you twit; these guys have been playing music for nearly three decades, and they\u2019ve learned some stuff about performances and proper miking. Moreover, who at 50 has the energy or innocence they had at 24? That\u2019s not the point. It\u2019s playing the songs <\/i>that matter, and to a swath of longtime fans, the bulk of the set is an absolute treat. Plus, in the case of \u201cSo. Central Rain,\u201d the experience of a life has crept into Stipe\u2019s vocals, so when he wails \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d it clearly comes from a place of genuine emotion, instead of the kinda-whiny woe-is-me approach on Reckoning.<\/i><\/p>\n
In total, 10 songs from Accelerate <\/i>make the setlist, nine from the disc and a fantastic unreleased song called \u201cOn The Fly\u201d that fans need <\/i>to hear; why it didn\u2019t make the album, but \u201cI\u2019m Gonna DJ\u201d did, is beyond me. Five songs from Reckoning<\/i>, two from Murmur, <\/i>and two from Lifes Rich Pageant <\/i>make the list, including the energetic, urgent \u201cThese Days,\u201d one of the best album cuts from the band\u2019s entire career. Elsewhere, five from Fables Of The Reconstruction <\/i>are present, including \u201cKohoutek\u201d and \u201cMaps And Legends\u201d from that 1985 disc, as well as the psychedelic track \u201cFeeling Gravity\u2019s Pull.\u201d Fables <\/i>is sometimes a hard album to get through compared to the others, but in this setting, the songs all shine better than they ever have. You forget how compelling these guys really were until you hear \u201cMaps And Legends,\u201d for example. <\/p>\n
\u201cDisturbance At The Heron House\u201d and \u201cWelcome To The Occupation\u201d make the list from Document<\/i>, the band\u2019s best album. Meanwhile, the post-Bill Berry era is pretty spotty, with only the dull \u201cElectrolite,\u201d the even worse \u201cThe Worst Joke Ever,\u201d and the alright \u201cI\u2019ve Been High\u201d from Reveal <\/i>making an appearance. Fans will skip these so they can hear \u201cGardening At Night\u201d and \u201cWolves, Lower\u201d from Chronic Town<\/i>, as they should.<\/p>\n
To be sure, Accelerate <\/i>was the band\u2019s best album since at least 1994, so the confidence to mix the old with the new paid off, not least because the newer songs fit so well with the band\u2019s original approach. Hearing \u201cThese Days\u201d and \u201cLiving Well\u201d back to back, which bookend the first disc, is proof of this. It\u2019s almost as if Automatic For The People <\/i>never happened.<\/p>\n
Sure, there are a couple of dud tracks, and 39 songs is very generous, but few bands deserve it like these guys do. The best R.E.M. live album bar none and a great overview of their album tracks \u2013 instead of the hits \u2013 that prove the depth and brilliance of the Georgia band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5748],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44673","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-r-e-m","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44673"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}