Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Work on R.E.M. steeple restoration at temporary standstill
By JIM THOMPSON

The local nonprofit organization that acquired “the R.E.M. steeple” two years ago has stabilized the structure, done extensive interior repair and renovation and added a new roof, and is now suspending work both to plan the next phase of the project and to raise money to pay for the work.

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Richard Hamm/Staff

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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Nightswimming, remembering that night. September's coming soon. I'm pining for the moon.
And what if there were two side by side in orbit around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum could not describe nightswimming.


LYRIC OF THE WEEK: R.E.M., “Nightswimming”

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Photo via remhq.com

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Shakespeare
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Shakespeare »

AFTP is my favorite rem album (though fables is challenging it lately) but ive never liked nightswimming at all

its nice enough but it seems to be often put on a pedestal as one of the best rem songs and i dont get it

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by StormandStatic »

So much going on in such a simple song. Great video too.

Lately I've been trying New Adventures in Hi-Fi again. People seem to laud it as a lost great REM album but it mostly seems to be their only true 'rock star' album, a bunch of flat rock songs with a few interesting ones ("Ebow", "Electrolite," "Leave"), all of them hampered by the 'recorded live' format.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

I love "Nightswimming", something about it just captures this time of year perfectly. The warm temps are far from over in my neck of the woods (NC) but there is the slightest hint of fall in the air.

Fables is my favorite but lately, Reckoning has been competing for that spot. It has long been my go-to R.E.M. album. It only recently dawned on me that there may be a reason for that. I just think there's an understated beauty to Fables that deserves championing.

Stipe has said Hi-Fi was the album Monster was meant to be. Meaning, the original plan was to record a straight up rock album straight to two track following Out of Time but when they got in the studio, the sessions took on a different tone, leading to Automatic. I know others that feel the same way about Hi-Fi in that it just doesn't do it for them. I'm not one of those people. After forays deep into folk, more somber themes and then rocking out with Monster, it seemed to strike the perfect balance between all of the elements that made those records so outstanding. It also goes a long way towards defining R.E.M. at that era of their career. Of all the albums they recorded with Bill Berry on WB, it's my favorite.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

This footage was made available in a limited capacity via Google a few months ago. It was uploaded to YouTube in its entirety as of yesterday.

Yokohama University
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kanagawa, Japan
November 10, 1984


Gardening at Night
9-9
Sitting Still
(Don't Go Back to) Rockville
Catapult
Driver 8
Pretty Persuasion
Chicken Train
Hyena
Old Man Kensey
Windout
Auctioneer (Another Engine)
So. Central Rain
Harborcoat
Talk About the Passion
Little America

Encore
Riders in the Sky
Second Guessing
Radio Free Europe
Last edited by Kudzu Guillotine on Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

As noted in the caption below (from R.E.M.'s Facebook page), this is the first time this photo by Laura Levine has ever been posted.
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I recall the exact moment when I realized that my favorite band, an underground sensation, had the potential to get very popular. It was August 20, 1983, and I was fortunate enough to be standing on the side of the stage at John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, as a guest of R.E.M.. They were the first of 4 bands on the bill with headliner The Police, plus Joan Jett and Madness.

Truth be told, R.E.M. had no business playing a stadium show at the time. Heck it was a stretch for The Police to be playing a stadium show. Stadium shows weren’t all that common then except for maybe the Rolling Stones and The Who. This was even before Springsteen’s stadium concerts. But R.E.M. in a stadium? Murmur had recently been released to critical acclaim, but the band had not appeared on TV yet (the David Letterman debut was a couple months later) and was playing small clubs including a date at Ripley’s Music Hall in Philadelphia (capacity 500) that had not sold out just a month earlier.

But hey, someone has to play at 5:00 pm in the blazing sunshine at these extravaganzas, and R.E.M. and The Police shared the same booking agent, so up there they went. While The Police and their entourage rolled into the backstage area in multiple limousines, R.E.M. huddled nervously in a tiny trailer on the back lot. I recall Joan Jett walking in shortly before they took the stage to introduce herself and exhorting them to “kick ass.”

And they did exactly that, ripping through a 30 minute set featuring:

Wolves, Lower
Catapult
Pilgrimage
Harborcoat
1,000,000
Radio Free Europe
Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)

Michael focused his attention on a couple guys who got up to the very front of the stage wearing R.E.M.’s only tee shirt at the time, the famed “stripe down the back” model that I so wish I still had. Peter was the visual center of the band at that time, in constant movement with frequent big leg kicks and jumps. Bill and Mike were an inventive and melodic rhythm section who for my money were far more compelling and soulful than the vaunted rhythm section of the day’s headline act.

Few people in the funky old 1920’s stadium, which wasn’t yet full that early, had any idea who R.E.M. were, but they certainly caught everyone’s attention. People got it. The applause was bigger after each successive song. The band’s unique and signature sound translated to that big of a space. And I still recall standing on the side of the stage, something I certainly had never done, marveling at the spectacle, and thinking wow, maybe, just maybe, these dear friends of mine could one day be headlining a show like this. It seemed far less preposterous at 6:00 p.m. on August 20, 1983 than it would have been just a few days earlier.

And I met Bertis Downs that day. He had just come on board. We immediately hit it off and headed off to dinner to some old school Philly place I can’t recall the name of, long before the Police were done, in an exciting ride in his VW bug the details of which vary too much in our memories for me to report here. But I survived and so has our friendship now 32 years strong. And R.E.M. did okay from that day forward as well. (I regret not attending one of the many stadium shows that R.E.M. later headlined in the UK and elsewhere).

Playing in stadiums was probably never in their collective goals as a young band, but when presented with the challenge, they knew what do. It was a special day and one I will certainly never forget.

(Jim Desmond, Portland OR. Favorite R.E.M. album: Document; favorite R.E.M. song: “Fall on Me”; favorite R.E.M. tour: Green).

Note: this is the first time this photo has been ever posted (we think!). Another great shot from pal Laura Levine; check out her amazing pics & follow Laura on Instagram & Twitter: @lauralevinepix

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Michael Stipe Opens for Patti Smith With Covers Set
Songs by Neil Young, the Doors, Boy George, John Lennon, and David Bowie

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Meanwhile, in Norway...


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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by RolanK »

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Meanwhile, in Norway...

I'm going to a show billed as Steve Wynn w/ friends: The Minus 5 + The Baseball Projects + Coastal Town, this coming friday in Oslo. Not sure what to expect really in terms of artist/guests. The clip above looks kind of promising.
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

This is from last night, also shot by Chris from The R.E.M. Timeline. This is a link to his YouTube channel.


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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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This footage of R.E.M. opening for Joe 'King' Carrasco And The Crowns at Atlanta's 688 Club on February 20, 1981 was uploaded to YouTube back in 2012 but for some reason, was removed shortly thereafter. Thanks to uploader Matt King, it's now available on Vimeo. This is some of the earliest known footage of R.E.M. Dan Wall of Wuxtry (who originally made this footage available) also has footage of R.E.M. doing an in-store at Wuxtry in 1980. It was my understanding that he was also going to eventually make that footage available online. Hopefully, someday we'll be able to see it. It was screened along with portions of the 688 Club footage during R.E.M. in Perspective: An Athens History at Seney-Stovall Chapel in Athens back in 2007. For anyone that cares to read more about that, you can do so here. To access the 688 Club footage, click on the image above.

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R.E.M. performing at Wuxtry Records in Athens on June 6, 1980

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

This tune was rarely performed live, just once in 1998 and eleven times on the tour in support of Up in 1999. This particular performance comes from Nulle Part Ailleurs, recorded at Studio 3, Canal+ Studios, Paris, France on March 9, 1999.


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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

On this day in 1985 R.E.M. played a high school gym in Winston-Salem, NC. The Minutemen opened. D. Boon died in a van accident on December 22nd of that year.
Image
Feeling Gravitys Pull
Harborcoat
Crazy (Pylon)
Maps and Legends
Hyena
Shaking Through
Driver 8
Good Advices
Sitting Still
So. Central Rain
Swan Swan H
Can't Get There From Here
7 Chinese Bros.
Auctioneer (Another Engine)
Old Man Kensey
Pretty Persuasion
Life and How to Live

Encore
Gardening at Night
9-9
Windout
The Counting Song
Second Guessing
(Don't Go Back to) Rockville

2nd Encore
Tired of Singing Trouble
Little America
See No Evil (Television cover with Mike Watt)

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Though the Billboard article itself doesn't mention it, the post at REMHQ.com (see below) says the reissues will go all the way up to 2011, covering the last full length studio album, Collapse Into Now.
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R.E.M. Taps Concord Bicycle to Handle Group’s Warner Bros. Catalog: Exclusive

The band has entered into a multi-year, worldwide licensing agreement with Concord Bicycle Music for their catalog recorded from 1988 to 2011.

“The band and all at REMHQ are very happy to be joining with Concord Bicycle Music for this next phase of curating and extending R.E.M.’s recorded legacy,” said longtime R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs in a statement. “The albums covered by this agreement are some of the band’s most successful, both artistically and commercially, and we know the people at Concord share our enthusiasm about this partnership. We leave the Warner Bros. family, a great label where we are certainly grateful for some of our career highlights. But moving forward, we knew this was the right time to change it up and Concord is the right home for this key part of R.E.M.’s catalog.”

Billboard.com broke the news earlier today on the agreement.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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In this new interview, Bertis discusses the possibility of a box set and a live series. I'd love to see both of those things happen.

R.E.M.’S RECORDED LEGACY: THE BAND’S MANAGER BERTIS DOWNS SPEAKS - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

R.E.M. disbanded in 2011. If the band were offered millions, for the charity of its choice, to do a reunion tour and perform at major festivals, would Buck be amenable?

“I had dinner last week with (former R.E.M. members) Mike (Mills) and Michael (Stipe), and I think the feeling is that we did exactly what we set out to do — more probably,” he replied. “And we reached a point where, if we kept going, what would it mean to us?

“ I think our last record (the 2011 album ‘Collapse Into Now’) is pretty good. But was it our best record? Will we ever make our best record again? Probably not. I can’t see us saying: ‘Let’s get together for four months again and go on the road again.’ I can’t see it.
Peter Buck, post-R.E.M., heads Todos Santos music fest
Labor of love event, which celebrates fifth anniversary in January, raises funds for Mexican kids and their families in Baja California fishing town

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Conor Oberst performs at the Todos Santos Music Festival 2015.
Vivian Johnson

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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Reverb Interview: Peter Buck of R.E.M.

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Banner Photo by Andrew Hurley.

"Put songs before showmanship,” Johnny Marr said in his “10 Ways To Avoid Becoming a Guitar Hero,” originally published in a 1990 interview with Guitar Player. “Be subtle in your innovations."

Peter Buck personifies those ideas. His career with R.E.M. has influenced guitar anti-heroes from the ‘80s to the present day. Buck sat down with Reverb recently to discuss his history, present day projects and his guitar collection.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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R.E.M.’s leap of faith: 25 years later, every curveball on “Out of Time” makes perfect sense
Even the much-maligned "Shiny Happy People" works when you look at the band's trajectory and the early 1990s

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Michael Stipe in the video for R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion"

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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Peter Buck on Life After R.E.M.: 'I Hate the Business'
Guitarist talks major-label burnout, low-pressure solo career, why R.E.M. never really broke up

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R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck discusses the band's extensive archive, his friendships with his fellow members
and why he's happy to be done with major labels.

Jordi Vidal/Getty

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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Michael Stipe covers David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” on Fallon — watch
R.E.M. frontman returns to the stage for a striking tribute to The Thin White Duke

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

From the Moth Radio Hour, a behind the scenes perspective on Peter Buck's "air rage" incident from 2001.

My place in Rock and Roll History
by Gordon Edelstein

Gordon Edelstein befriends a member of the band R.E.M. and unwittingly gets him into serious legal trouble.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Dean »

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:On this day in 1985 R.E.M. played a high school gym in Winston-Salem, NC. The Minutemen opened. D. Boon died in a van accident on December 22nd of that year.
Image
Feeling Gravitys Pull
Harborcoat
Crazy (Pylon)
Maps and Legends
Hyena
Shaking Through
Driver 8
Good Advices
Sitting Still
So. Central Rain
Swan Swan H
Can't Get There From Here
7 Chinese Bros.
Auctioneer (Another Engine)
Old Man Kensey
Pretty Persuasion
Life and How to Live

Encore
Gardening at Night
9-9
Windout
The Counting Song
Second Guessing
(Don't Go Back to) Rockville

2nd Encore
Tired of Singing Trouble
Little America
See No Evil (Television cover with Mike Watt)

stealing this for facebook Kudzu

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

This will be more than just a repository for R.E.M. videos that are currently on YouTube, Vimeo, and other online outlets, some of the folks involved with contributing are with The R.E.M. Timeline who have footage that no one has ever been seen before. No official videos are included as they are readily available online and in other formats. At present, the site only includes footage from 1983-1995, that will eventually expand to include the entire history of the band.

Click on the image below to access the archive.
WEBSITE ANNOUNCEMENT - The R.E.M. Video Archive
Over the last month or so we have been working hard on a new R.E.M. site to showcase all available footage in one central place - complete with accurate descriptions with regards to content & recording/broadcast info. It's early days, & we still have 100's of hours of footage to review & digitise, but for now here's where you can find what we have uploaded so far:

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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R.E.M. have contributed a previously unreleased live version of "World Leader Pretend" to the ongoing 30 Days, 30 Songs project which is comprised of "songs Donald Trump will hate" according to The Washington Post. The project began nine days ago and will end on election day. Click on the image below to listen. According to The R.E.M. Timeline, this was recorded at St. Jakobshalle Basel in Basel, Switzerland, on January 13, 2005.

Image

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Though not mentioned on the poster art, Mike Mills and Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) were among the special guests for this performance of Out of Time that also included some of R.E.M. greatest hits. The video below includes the performances that Mike Mills took part in.

THE LONG PLAYERS WITH MIKE MILLS PERFORM R.E.M.’S OUT OF TIME @ CITY WINERY / NASHVILLE, TN / OCTOBER 7, 2016

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Will »

Mike's playing his new concerto the same night Amanda Shires is playing here next week. If I weren't already bald, the stress of choosing would be making my hair fall out.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Will wrote:Mike's playing his new concerto the same night Amanda Shires is playing here next week. If I weren't already bald, the stress of choosing would be making my hair fall out.
His show at UNC's Memorial Hall at the end of the month was just canceled. No reason was stated but I'm wondering if it had anything to do with slow advance ticket sales.

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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Hear R.E.M., Sleater-Kinney Supergroup's Anti-Donald Trump Song, 'Despierta'
Filthy Friends – featuring Peter Buck, Corin Tucker – debut track for "30 Days, 30 Songs" campaign

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R.E.M./Sleater-Kinney supergroup Filthy Friends debuted surging track "Despierta" as part of the anti-Trump
campaign "30 Songs, 30 Days"

Timothy Hiatt/Getty, Suzi Pratt/WireImage/Getty

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Re: Artist of the Week 5/3/2011- R.E.M. 1982-1985

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The latest issue of Mojo, which usually takes around a month to appear on newsstands in the U.S. In this brief teaser, R.E.M. talks about being hungover for the "Furry Happy Monsters" shoot on Sesame Street as well as the possible release of a Michael Stipe solo album. Per Mojo, this is the first time the group have come together to talk since they disbanded in 2011.

ImageImage

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