Hey Rob, do you remember the Merlyn's bootleg from the same time?
I had it around the time of the Monster tour.
It had this rad-ass 10 minute long sorta jam thing called like "Skank" where Michael repeated these awesome nonsense lyrics about "marble table that's made of glass, edge of the table is a photograph"

Great fucking song.

so which is it? good or bad? does it really sound that much different? all those Replacements and Dinosaur Jr re-masters were such a hustle, no difference really at all.

Not familiar with it at all.

I honestly hear little difference.

If you havent already Simakos, get it on vinyl.
I know how audiophile-douchey this sounds to say it but its true: Murmur on vinyl (which I heard for the first time in that format only months ago) stomps every other time Ive heard it over the last almost 20 years.

It does sound better than the CD version. And that's even with the fact that it is 320 mp3s.

HA! Thank you intaaarnetz

Skank was pretty common in the early years. I just searched for it on the REM Timeline site, and it was played as early as the first few Tyrone's gigs. The closed a fair amount of the shows from their '84 tour with it, too. I thought I had a recording of it somewhere to up, but can't find it.

Oh man, if you wanna hear how Human League producer Steven Hague almost destroyed the band's sound with shitty synths during the first tries at Murmur, peep this...

love the fraternity sweatshirt

The final encore from the final show of the tour.
36 minutes and pretty cool presentation

watched that a few days ago. it was pretty cool.


also, i revisited Accelerate today for the first time in a few weeks/months. it's still holding up quite well to my ears. top 20 material, at least, for my end of the year rankings.

Rock on brother. Me too!

Accelerate fucking rocks. "Nevermind the 90's, here's the REMs"

One of the best albums of the year.

my copy is from the "audio master plus series." sounds never bothered me really, but i'm contemplating getting this deluxe for that remastering, liner notes and (most of all) bonus disk. are most folks able to notice the differences of the deluxe murmur?

i just got my r.e.m. fan club christmas package in the mail today. nice three-song dvd (with an amazing version of Let Me In) along with the small desk calendar and a sticker. i liked it.

New Reckoning re-issue

Disc 1/2
--------
1. Harborcoat 3:57
2. 7 Chinese Bros. 4:14
3. Southern Central Rain (I'm Sorry) 3:16
4. Pretty Persuasion 3:53
5. Time After Time (Annelise) 3:33
6. Second Guessing 2:49
7. Letter Never Sent 3:02
8. Camera 5:51
9. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville 4:33
10. Little America 3:42

Disc 2/2
--------
1. Femme Fatale (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:19
2. Radio Free Europe (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:54
3. Gardening All Night (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:38
4. 9-9 (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 2:47
5. Windout (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 2:13
6. Letter Never Sent (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:03
7. Sitting Still (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:12
8. Driver 8 (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:27
9. Southern Central Rain (I'm Sorry) (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:23
10. 7 Chinese Bros. (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 4:27
11. Harborcoat (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 4:34
12. Hyena (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:26
13. Pretty Persuasion (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:48
14. Little America (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:23
15. Second Guessing (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 3:07
16. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Live At The Aragon Ballroom) 4:29


http://rapidshare.com/files/247899420/R.E....CD-2009-MTD.rar

These R.E.M reissues are disappointing in that I was hoping that the studio discs were going to be comprehensive in compiling b-sides and outtakes. Yeah there are other sources for that, but it's nice to have it all pulled together in one place with some chronology.

However, I ordered this one for a couple of reasons:
1. Reckoning is my favorite old-school/IRS R.E.M. album, and
2. I was at that Aragon show, which is one of my top 5 shows of all time. It's long been a staple of WXRT's Sunday night concert series, and it's great to finally have it digitally. This will be the second time to my knowledge that my clapping and shouting will be part of a commercially released recording. The first time was on The Dream Syndicate's This Is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album - Live!, which was recorded during TDS's opening stint for...umm...R.E.M. at the Aragon.

I remember Kot saying the Reckoning tour is R.E.M. at its best live, so I'll definitely be buying this package. The live show on the Murmur Deluxe remaster was pretty kick ass, so I'm expecting an outstanding second disc.

I saw that tour at an old movie theater in Cleveland. Hung outside on Lorain Ave. drinking wine from a sack for a few hours so we could be at the front of the line for the GA show.
Stipe seemed to walk up out of nowhere, sat down against the building and read paperback. A short while later a car pulled up, honked and he jumped in and was off. We said hi.
Inside, by show's end it was as if I'd jumped in a pool. I was soaked to the bone in sweat. Fucking fantastic show.

upon first listen, i'm not sure if REM has their mojo back. however, it does sound a lot better in places than they have in years and "Until The Day Is Done" might be my favorite post-Bill Berry song that they've recorded.

with that said, what do all of you think their best 10-15 songs would be post-Bill Berry? i've only given "Reveal" and "Around The Sun" a cursory listen and was not knocked out by them at all. i'm guessing my favorites would be "Up"-heavy at the moment.

Met Peter Buck recently when he was in town with Robyn Hitchcock. Great guy.

I have really high hopes for the Dublin shows which are coming out later this year. If done right it could be a really great live album. They definitely had their mojo back during those shows.

Favorite post-Berry:

Hope
Daysleeper
Sad Professor
Falls To Climb
Why Not Smile
Suspicion
I've Been High
Chorus and the Ring
Leaving New York
High Speed Train
The Ascent of Man
Living Well is the Best Revenge
Until The Day Is Done
Houston
Mr. Richards

Favourite post-Berry R.E.M. tracks... hmm...

Bad Day
Daysleeper
Supernatural Superserious
The Great Beyond
Bang a Drum
Airportman
Houston
Man-Sized Wreath
Imitation of Life
Lotus
Living Well is the Best Revenge
Chorus and the Ring
Sad Professor
All the Right Friends
The Ascent of Man

Doesn't touch the early material obviously, but that's still a damn fine set of songs to my mind.

Ugh, should be Beat a Drum. I wish this board let me edit my posts for an indefinite period of time.

REM releasing live album.

I wish there were more tracks.

This seems like ridiculously long for a live album. I don't know whether to smh or look forward to this. Will probably be really boring.

Wasn't a big fan of R.E.M. Live years ago (it's OK and that's about it), but this has a lot of their earliest and best songs on it. I mean, four out of the five tracks from Chronic Town! Plus, lots of other great songs from the 80s. I listened to a bunch of the songs when the "rehearsals" were happening in '07 and it sounded pretty fucking great. I love the new song "Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance" and hope they find room for it on their next studio CD. I'll be buying this when it comes out in late October.

My thoughts exactly, though I may opt for the DVD instead.

This should be anything but boring, the bootlegs of these shows were fantastic, easily their best live shows since the monster tour. It's a whole crapload of classic R.E.M. mixed with cuts from accelerate which work really well live. I think it's pretty awesome that they are including every song from the 5 night stand it's more of a document of the whole thing rather then a 1 concert live album. This is my most anticipated R.E.M. release since NAIHF. I think this will easily trump everything else they've put out this decade (not all that hard to do sadly).

This is a great idea, because basically REM is one of those bands that's like, 10-50 times better live, than in the studio. Of course, please understand that I am an 80's lover, and a 90's hater, and "Accelerate" IMO, is the only decent album they've made in a decade or so. Saw them live about 2 years ago, and couldnt' believe how much better their 90's crap songs sounded.

I agree with just about eveybody that this is a very good idea. The stuff I heard a few years ago when they did the five Dublin shows was excellent, and the emphasis on the 80s stuff should make this a great live album. I also like Accelerate and think it's their best recording since the 90s. Looking at the track listing and seeing all the songs from Reckoning, Fables, and Pageant is just amazing. Gotta have this.

If the DVD version is anything like that live DVD they put out a few years ago...well, that was nearly unwatchable. I think they might have stuck on a shot for 2 seconds at most. Cinema verite nausea.

As for the dizzying set list. Looks good. (Chest stuck out boastfully) I've been a follower since Chronic Town, catching many, many live shows.

Exhuming the corpse of Michael Stipe once more, I see.

Well said. The track listing is pretty eye-popping. It's great to see R.E.M. is finally releasing a lot of the best songs of their catalog live. Every IRS recording, from Chronic Town to Document (except Dead Letter Office), is represented with at least a couple songs, and to see 80% of the Chronic Town songs on here is fantastic!

Enemy sighted, enemy met
I'm addressing the reeeeealpolitik...

When I was a wee lad, they were my favorite band in the world.
I vowed that I would, when I was old enough, see them play every chance I could.

And so I did.

Seen em like 15 times now.

At this point unless the next record is a mind-blower or they do one of those "play an album in full" kind of things, I think I'm topped off for now.

I'll probably download this though. The shows were great and all. If they made a documentary dvd about it I would pay money for THAT, but not as a 20 minute thing tacked on to a premium set. Fuck that noise.

I absolutely loved what I heard of the 5-night stand they did a couple years ago! Like somebody said, it'll be great to finally hear their many of their greatest tracks live on disc. Not as interested in any documentary about the shows (nor would I have any interest in a full-length documentary DVD--wtf?). For me, it's about hearing these great songs live. It's awesome that they included so many tracks from the IRS years (the other live R.E.M. album I've heard has, like, three songs from their small-label years), the very best years for the band. I'm really excited about this!!

Right, but you could do that right now if you wanted.
There are a ton of 80's REM shows recorded and floating around online.

What would be cool about the documentary is that they were in a very interesting place as a band when they decided to do these rehearsal shows. They had almost broken up and were on the verge of changing up everything to keep going.
Yeah sorry, but that IS interesting fodder for a doc.

Not need to apologize, but I don't have much interest in the drama of the band. I remember them going on and on about how they almost broke up during Up and while it was interesting for a few minutes, I wouldn't want to see that and other drama for an hour and a half. If you would, cool for you.

As for the recorded shows, there probably are a bunch floating around online. But I don't have them. I'll admit if I did have a lot of old '80s bootlegs, this set wouldn't be as appealing. But I don't, so there you go.

major lolz in this thread.

i'm guessing 80% of the people who backed accelerate have reconsidered their stance.

still the 5th best album of 08, hickman?

convinced of the hex

I checked Hickman's website at or near the end of the year and it was his 10th favorite of '08. I still like it.

Haven't changed my stance in the least, there's some great tracks on Accelerate. Horse To Water, Living Wells the Best Revenge and Houston still get a lot of play by me. It's not really the type of album that takes a year to absorb, I doubt highly anyone has significantly changed their opinion on it one way or the other.

First Listen: R.E.M. Live At The Olympia
Hear 39 Of The Band's Least-Known Favorites, Performed Live
by Guy Raz

October 21, 2009 - This is not a live album of greatest hits. It doesn't really feel like a live album, either. It feels more like R.E.M.'s gift to its most diehard fans.

For five nights, between June 30 and July 5, 2007, the band performed at the Olympia Theater in Dublin. The purpose was to test out material that would eventually appear on the album Accelerate, released in early 2008.

But what R.E.M. also did was to work harder; to play tighter and more urgently than ever. Rockers who are all around the age of 50 had to go back — way back — to their younger selves to recapture the sound that made the group "the biggest little band in the world," according to Rolling Stone.

Among these 39 live tracks, you'll find neither "Losing My Religion" nor "Everybody Hurts." You won't hear "It's the End of the World as We Know It." Same goes for "Stand" or "Man on the Moon" or "Nightswimming." In fact, to a casual or occasional R.E.M. listener, only a handful of tracks will sound familiar: "So. Central Rain," "Driver 8," "Electrolite," "Drive."

What you get here are the songs R.E.M. and its diehard fans love. "Wolves, Lower," for example, or "Carnival of Sorts" — tracks that were recorded shortly after art student Michael Stipe dropped out of the University of Georgia.

This is the sound of four twentysomethings figuring out who they were and their places in the world. It's the sound of a band making music for The 40 Watt Club in downtown Athens, Ga. It's the sound of subtle political music at the dawn of the Reagan era.

For each record represented, the songs the band chose to perform live are among the least obvious picks. From 1986's Document, R.E.M. plays "Disturbance at the Heron House" and "Welcome to the Occupation," not "Finest Worksong" or "The One I Love." From 1992's Automatic for the People, they perform "Drive." From 1994's Monster, the track is "Circus Envy" — one of the most energetic and bold pieces the group has ever recorded.

This is the history of R.E.M. told through 39 songs, spanning 1981-2007. But no longer are Stipe's lyrics unintelligible, and the band sounds better than ever. Its members are better musicians who they seem to genuinely love what they've been able to create over the course of nearly three decades.


I got this from murmurs.com. I've been listening to Live at the Olympia for an hour and it's sounds fantastic! The two-plus hour show is now streaming on murmurs right now. Lovers of the IRS years will truly appreciate this recording!!

Also, the concert documentary of Live at the Olympia will be shown for free (but get there early because it's first come, first serve) at Lincoln Hall on November 1.

Edit: Oh crap, I didn't see the other thread had been bumped. Oh well.

Also, the concert documentary of Live at the Olympia will be shown for free (but get there early because it's first come, first serve) at Lincoln Hall on November 1.


[/quote]

Thanks choco, I didn't hear about this!

I just purchased the 2-CD set Live at the Olympia from amazon. This is an amazing album, way better than the R.E.M. Live a few years ago. The sound is crisp, nearly all the songs are either very good or great, and the performances are excellent, too.

Here's a cool review I found of Live at the Olympia.


Live at the Olympia
By Justin Gerber on November 3rd, 2009



After two-plus years of YouTube videos and a teaser EP, R.E.M. has released Live at the Olympia. Singer Michael Stipe called it an “experiment in terror,” but after hearing the songs performed over the 5-night “working rehearsals” at Dublin, Ireland’s Olympia Theatre, the terror was for nothing. Live albums can be generic, but there isn’t anything generic about this release. Live at the Olympia is one of the best non-studio records released this year

The year was 2007. R.E.M. wasn’t happy with the recording sessions for 2004’s Around the Sun. For their new album, guitarist Peter Buck wanted to work in the studio at a faster pace, and Stipe and bassist Mike Mills agreed to do so. They convened in Ireland (with drummer Bill Rieflin and guitarist Scott McCaughey) and started working on what would become Accelerate, the best album from the band in years.

The band decided to road-test songs they were working on in an easier fashion: by not hitting the road. Instead, they played to audiences at the Olympia for a few nights in late June/early July. Many songs were so fresh, a laptop was placed at waist-level to assist Stipe in the performances. The laptop also helped Stipe recall songs written many years before, and these are the real reasons to own Live at the Olympia.

R.E.M. Live, the band’s first live album, had many of the band’s greatest hits as well as songs from Around the Sun. Most bands have at least one live record that compiles such material, with a deep cut tucked away at the tail end of the album. However, Live at the Olympia mostly consists of deep-cut material, and only 3 of the 39 tracks here appeared on R.E.M. Live.


As the show begins, Mills announces through a loud-speaker, “This is not show!” The band reminds the audience of this throughout. Stipe goes as far as apologizing in advance for what would be a performance of “Kohoutek” (which sounds just fine, by the way). Jacknife Lee produced Live at the Olympia (he also produced Accelerate) and isn’t afraid to leave in mistakes. There is a false start to “Disturbance at the Heron House” and Stipe completely forgetting the lyrics to “Drive”. This contrasts most live albums that tighten production and omit such flaws, but such flaws add to this production.

In addition to performing nine songs from what would be Accelerate (including a version of “Supernatural Superserious” called “Disguised”), the band introduces two songs that didn’t make the album. “Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance” is great and could easily be mistaken for a song from New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Stipe seems proud of the other song, “On the Fly”, but sadly it could be mistaken for one of the misbegotten songs on Around the Sun. The audience response to “Man-Sized Wreath” prompted the band to include it on Accelerate despite telling the crowd it wouldn’t be appearing.


Other surprises include R.E.M.’s best song, Murmur’s “Sitting Still”, four of the five tracks from Chronic Town, an acoustic reworking of Reveal’s “I’ve Been High”, and an ultra-rare performance of Monster’s “Circus Envy”. There are many more songs to dive into, and only a few dampen the impact. “I’m Gonna DJ” kinda works on Accelerate, but here it lacks punch. The decision to include the worst R.E.M. song, “The Worst Joke Ever”, was the worst decision ever. Fortunately, when you have 39 songs to listen to, these songs are easy to skip.


Live at the Olympia is targeted at long-time fans of the band, but should also be used as an opportunity to introduce newbies to the band’s history. The band begins recording a new album this month, hopefully for release late next year. If the energy of Live at the Olympia is any indication, the band has a few more albums in them.

Has anyone bought the Fables Deluxe box set? It has got some great reviews (89 on Metacritic), and I hear it's got some demos on the second disc instead of the live shows like in the Murmur and Reckoning Deluxe packages. If anyone has purchased it, how is it?

http://hotfile.com/dl/54737855/9cfef08/R.E....part1.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/54737896/4679f95/R.E....part2.rar.html

Not my uploads, but here you go.

EDIT:

Here's the whole thing in one download: http://www.filesonic.com/file/12812555/R.E...onstruction.rar

terrific.

much better than the other two.

Thanks!

And to the dude: I hope you're right! (I loved the Aragon show that was the second disc of Reckoning Deluxe.)