Wasting Time Sitting Still
You'd think that after my "Top 40 Songs of 2007" project that I'd have learned by lesson... but no! After yesterday's post about the new R.E.M. song "Supernatural Superserious" and forthcoming album, Accelerate, I've decided to get a little ambitious and write an album by album retrospective spanning their twenty plus year career. Why not? Right?
Though I was familiar with some of their radio hits, I didn't fall in love with R.E.M. until Out of Time. 1991 was the year that I really became a music junkie and R.E.M. happened to be one of the bands that I quickly became enamored with. Shortly after purchasing Out of Time, I picked up Eponymous, and as a best of, it was the perfect introduction to the band. From there, I quickly devoured their back catalogue and I've been a fan ever since. Unfortunately, this is a band that I've never had the pleasure of seeing live (other than concert films).
So, without further ado:
Radio Free Europe/Sitting Still (Hib-Tone Single) - 1981
I don't plan on addressing all the singles individually, but this is where it all began. Both songs are gloriously low-fi and raw. In my opinion, these versions of "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still" are heads and shoulders above the ones that would later appear on Murmur. Fast, dirty and in keeping what I would think that the boys from Athens, GA would have sounded like playing in a bar in the early '80s. The early R.E.M. sound staples are here: Michael Stipe's mumbled, incomprehensible verses, Peter Buck's jangly Rickenbacker guitar, Mike Mill's fluid, but not showy, bass lines, and Bill Berry's staightforward, "just right" drumming.
One thing that doesn't appear, but will become a vital part of the R.E.M. formula, is Mill's backing vocals. Even if Mills does sing on these tracks, it's not evident; Stipe's voice dominates both tracks in the lead vocals and in the backing ones. As far as the guitars are concerned, both songs are propelled by a fast down-strummed, ka-chuck-a rhythm which provides a lot energy behind the shimmery, single chord splashes. It's a guitar sound that is solid mixture of punk power melded with Beatle-sque pop. Both songs are two of the band's best during their early years and are great indicators of what would come after.
9 out of 10
Though I was familiar with some of their radio hits, I didn't fall in love with R.E.M. until Out of Time. 1991 was the year that I really became a music junkie and R.E.M. happened to be one of the bands that I quickly became enamored with. Shortly after purchasing Out of Time, I picked up Eponymous, and as a best of, it was the perfect introduction to the band. From there, I quickly devoured their back catalogue and I've been a fan ever since. Unfortunately, this is a band that I've never had the pleasure of seeing live (other than concert films).
So, without further ado:
Radio Free Europe/Sitting Still (Hib-Tone Single) - 1981I don't plan on addressing all the singles individually, but this is where it all began. Both songs are gloriously low-fi and raw. In my opinion, these versions of "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still" are heads and shoulders above the ones that would later appear on Murmur. Fast, dirty and in keeping what I would think that the boys from Athens, GA would have sounded like playing in a bar in the early '80s. The early R.E.M. sound staples are here: Michael Stipe's mumbled, incomprehensible verses, Peter Buck's jangly Rickenbacker guitar, Mike Mill's fluid, but not showy, bass lines, and Bill Berry's staightforward, "just right" drumming.
One thing that doesn't appear, but will become a vital part of the R.E.M. formula, is Mill's backing vocals. Even if Mills does sing on these tracks, it's not evident; Stipe's voice dominates both tracks in the lead vocals and in the backing ones. As far as the guitars are concerned, both songs are propelled by a fast down-strummed, ka-chuck-a rhythm which provides a lot energy behind the shimmery, single chord splashes. It's a guitar sound that is solid mixture of punk power melded with Beatle-sque pop. Both songs are two of the band's best during their early years and are great indicators of what would come after.
9 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment