Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. While you were sleeping, two of the best gifts of the Christmas 2009 season arrived in stores and I've already pulled both. To everyone who has me on their Christmas list, feel free to send cash instead because you will be hard pressed to find anything I want more than what I added to my music collection this week.
R.E.M.
Live at The Olympia
This set follows almost none of my "rules" for what a live album should be and yet it's one of the best live albums ever, and this is coming from a guy who loves and buys live albums. Yes, it's that good. Yes, you need it.
Live at The Olympia is taken from the band's five-night stand in Dublin, road-testing new material for the album that would become Accelerate. In addition to road-testing the new, they played some rarities that haven't been played in a decade or more. More than once, lead singer Michael Stipe reminds the audience "This is not a show." He's right. It's not. This is not a conventional tour souvenir live record. This is a care package to longtime fans of the band. If you discovered R.E.M. in the '80s and got off somewhere in the '90s, I have two words for you: "Wolves, Lower." This is your invitation to return to the fold. Run, don't walk. Buy this one now!
U2
The Unforgettable Fire (Super Deluxe Edition)
Oh, glory! Be once again bathed in the majesty of U2's first grand experiment, the first record they would make with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. The Unforgettable Fire is being re-released in four packages: a single CD including only the remastered album, 2 CD, including the remastered album and a disc of remastered rarities, B-sides, and remixes, a Super Deluxe box set 2 CD/1DVD package that includes both CDs and a DVD of documentaries and live footage from the UnFire era, and a vinyl LP re-issue. I went with the Super Deluxe. I've listened carefully to both CDs and will be sitting down with the DVD this weekend.
The Edge again supervised the remastering and once again, this is a rare example of good remastering in the modern digital age.
A few words on some of the other releases out this week. The bad news: Creed has reunited for a tour and have now unleashed a new album. The good news? I don't think Scott Stapp has had any more kids, so maybe we won't have a sequel to "With Arms Wide Open." See? Ever the optimist. You people only think you know me. In addition to the reunited Creed, we have new music from a reunited Train.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
REM Olympia is incredible, no doubt about it. Miles ahead of REM Live from a couple years back.
And Unforgettable Fire's pretty awesome, too. I can't settle on this for certain yet, and I'm a bit sad to even say it, but I may have to put my MFSL disc in retirement with this remaster. It's a murky album and the remastering brought out some highlights that no version has had before. The b-sides/outtakes disc is filled with some great, great stuff. Although Lanois' "A Sort Of Homecoming" remix is a little odd - Bono sounds like he's trying out for the Chipmunks.
2 - Josh Hathaway
Never heard the MoFi version but I really love what The Edge and Co. have done with this. It sounds very, very good to me. I like the Lanois remix as a fun little curiosity, but they superior version is the album version. The second disc has some good stuff but the best of it was already available. I'm still glad to have the set and the sonic upgrade is immense.