Classic R.E.M.

[harborcoat26]

And the news is... July 13 the reissue of Fables is released: Great news

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

[Folkie]

That's great news that the deluxe edition of "Fables" is due out in July! Despite all the band's disclaimers, I think "Fables" was their finest moment. It should be interesting to see what live material they include in the package. Anyone have any word on that?

[electrofaro]

It should be interesting to see what live material they include in the package. Anyone have any word on that?

None... there will be 14 demos on the 2nd disc. Amazon has a picture of the box set - shows the poster, seems the booklet's quite thick from the looks of it!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images ... 266&sr=1-1

[Folkie]

Thanks, Werner. I'll have to post my responses after I receive it.

[electrofaro]

I'm mainly interested in the demos - I already love the album so if the quality goes up just the little extra bit like with the other two re-releases!

[scott_s]

Not sure if this is of interest to anyone else, but now that I've installed a bass-cut cap in my guitar (like Peter Buck's would have had), it's much closer to "that sound", even with flats! So I'm less skeptical now.

- Scott

[Folkie]

As I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the deluxe edition of "Fables of the Reconstruction," the album I consider to be R.E.M.'s greatest achievement, I must say how appalled and mystified I am at how the members of the band have slighted or apologized for "Fables" over the years. I remember that Bill Berry said succinctly in a "Rolling Stone" interview that "Fables sucked!" and even on their live set "Live at the Olympia in Dublin" (which was recorded before their 2007 "Accelerate" tour) Peter and Michael feel the need to "apologize" before playing "Kohoutek," which is prehaps the most lovely song of the whole set. Why it should feel so "terrifying" for them to play one of the real gems of their catalog is beyond me. I applaud the fact that, after years of adamantly refusing to play anything from before 1986, the band is finally reaching back into the early part of their catalog (including several songs from their first EP). I just wish they would bring some of the forgotten gems from "Fables" (like "Green Grow the Rushes," "Good Advices" and "Wendell Gee") back to life. I'm sure the new edition of "Fables" will be worth the wait. That album is one of the purest and most beautiful folk-rock recordings of the last forty-five years.

[Sweden]

[...]even on their live set "Live at the Olympia in Dublin" (which was recorded before their 2007 "Accelerate" tour) Peter and Michael feel the need to "apologize" before playing "Kohoutek," which is prehaps the most lovely song of the whole set. Why it should feel so "terrifying" for them to play one of the real gems of their catalog is beyond me.

Well, that was probably due to the fact that they hadn't played the song in 21 years, and like with most oldies played at Olympia, they had only an absolute minimum of rehearshal of this song before the shows. Bill and Scott of course had never, ever played the song live before.

Peter's words to Michael before the song were "you better apologise before we play this one, it's gonna be a mess...", so it seems likely it had very little to do with their appreciation of the song and a lot more to do with the risk of the underrehearsed version completely falling apart.

I agree that the should play more from the album though. Gravity has made a few appearances though, and Driver 8 and Maps and Legends have each appeared a few times per tour since 2003 or perhaps even 1999. Same thing for Life and how to live it.

/D

[Folkie]

I guess I was jumping to conclusions about Peter's disclaimer before "Kohoutek." Bill and Peter had said so many negative things about "Fables" over the years that I naturally assumed he was apologizing for playing the song. I do know that "Driver 8" has been a staple of their shows for many years, even though Peter slighted the song in a "Rolling Stone" interview by saying something like "I guess I jangled for a while. Sometimes you have to write songs like [Driver 8] just to get them out of your system." And, of course, they also did "Maps and Legends," "Feeling Gravity's Pull," and "Auctioneer" at the Olympia show. I'd like to see more attention to "Fables" in their subsequent shows: "Green Grow the Rushes," "Good Advices" and "Wendell Gee" are among the finest songs they've ever done.

[scott_s]

I think they've mellowed toward "Fables" in recent years. Michael and Peter are proud of the songwriting and "soul" of the album these days. I think for a long time they couldn't separate the album from the miserable time they had making it.

- Scott

[bbmusic]

I'm clearly late to this party. I was looking for something else and stumbled upon this thread.

I saw R.E.M. three times in Indiana in the 80's, supporting "Fables," "Pageant," and "Document." They were, along with U2 and The Smiths, one of my "Big Three." The "Fables" show was my first concert experience ever. Fantastic.

And then they went to Warner Brothers and I went to grad school -- and other things happened -- and I kind of lost interest. Then next time I saw them was at the Hollywood Bowl on the "Accelerate" tour, and they had become, needless to say, a much different band. Global rock stars. Not quite as interesting to me. But they opened with "Pretty Persuasion," which seemed like a kind of mission statement, and it sounded amazing.

I've often wondered how much of the change in R.E.M. is in the writing and how much of it is in performance style and sonic choices, and have long fantasized about launching a band whose sole purpose is to play Warner Bros. R.E.M. songs in the style of I.R.S. R.E.M. Mumbled lyrics mixed low, chimey arpeggios instead of big overdriven chords, more acoustic guitar. What would "Nightswimming" have sounded like if it had been recorded for "Reckoning?" What if "Everybody Hurts" sounded more like "Femme Fatale?"

[electrofaro]

What if "Everybody Hurts" sounded more like "Femme Fatale?"

I doubt Lou Reed would want it that way

I think what R.E.M. did was evolve... I'm glad they did not make every record the same. There is no I.R.S. R.E.M. sound - just compare Murmur, Fables and Document - all three different.

[bbmusic]

Yeah, I'm all for a band evolving -- it's their right, or even their artistic need. But when a band evolves into something I don't like, I lose interest.

You're right about there being no I.R.S. sound. When Don Gehman came along with that big drum sound, it seemed to shift everything 90 degrees.

Maybe my experiment would be best if we take one particularly, consistently egregious album-length example of "what went wrong," IMHO, and apply a beloved production and performance technique to it -- say, "Monster" in the vernacular of "Murmur."

[electrofaro]

say, "Monster" in the vernacular of "Murmur."

Mmm... would be interesting... not that J.M.S. makes a lot of sense when one does understand him though

[scott_s]

You're right about there being no I.R.S. sound. When Don Gehman came along with that big drum sound, it seemed to shift everything 90 degrees.

The band certainly mellowed about "mainstream"-sounding production techniques and songwriting over the years.

Maybe my experiment would be best if we take one particularly, consistently egregious album-length example of "what went wrong," IMHO, and apply a beloved production and performance technique to it -- say, "Monster" in the vernacular of "Murmur."

I dunno, I think "Strange Currencies" isn't light-years away from "We Walk"... perhaps more of a soul influence and less deliberately quirky.

The nice thing about recorded music is that you can always listen to what you like best, and put everything else out of your mind.

- Scott