Visions of R.E.M.
Published June 24, 2003
I keep waiting for R.E.M. to come back with something really great and return to their former seat atop the modern rock pantheon, but it may never happen and the band may just go on forever being pretty good. There are worse things I guess.
Anyway, they just set off on a world tour which launched in Utrecht, Holland on June 21 - the North American segment begins August 29 in Vancouver. Keeping with the trend of throwing all kinds of random stuff up on the Internet and seeing if anyone gives a damn, you can check out free video footage of the band rehearsing four songs for the tour on their website. The four songs are "She Just Wants To Be," "Walk Unafraid," "Get Up," and "Maps And Legends," an oldie dating to the Fables of the Reconstruction album. Pretty cool.
- Visions of R.E.M.
- Published: June 24, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Music: News
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Automatic for the People is new stuff? Didn't that come out 11 years ago? I do think REM peaked with Out of Time/AftP, but what the hell happened after Monster? These guys just plain fell apart as a band.
Not really, EJ. New Adventures in Hi-Fi (from 1996) was a great record. Most of it was recorded on the road and the band sounded incredibly tight.
There's definitely been a change since Bill Berry left, but R.E.M. has done a good job of at least keeping things interesting here and there ever since.
Come up with something great? The only think they haven't done is put out the same album over and over which I consider to be a good thing..
even Reveal is good.
even if Reveal is "good," that's still not great, but I hold out hope
I pretty much dig all their work. Things have changed musically but I still think they do maintain their roots & integrity better than most bands(if not all). Stipes actually has never sung better then in the 'reveal' album...
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i was lucky enough to see REM on the Murmur tour (at the University of Maine)....back when Stipe seemed so introverted he could hardly look out at the audience.
still a great show.
i'm not really sure what i consider their peak to be. maybe that's a pointless distinction.
for new stuff it would be Automatic For The People...for old stuff, definitely Murmur