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Some old songs in a new (for me) venue! If you've been paying any attention at all, you'll know that R.E.M. are probably my favouritest ever group and I've only ever seen them live once on the Monster tour, none of which was anyone's finest hour - but they (and Michael Stipe in particular) seemed to have an adverse reaction to the Milton Keynes Bowl which meant that everyone who was there remembers Blur's support set much more fondly. Also, having called it a day a mere 15 years ago, the chances of them reforming for the money seem to be extremely remote - they still all do some sporadic music-based stuff these days but they really couldn't be bothered going back on tour (and it's not clear they actually like each other enough to do so). So what's an R.E.M. fan supposed to do these days if they need a live hit?!? Obviously many tribute bands are available (who are probably playing in your local pub as I write this), but one of the more curiously success...

Finishing up my trip across the output of Athens' finest... This final (I promise) post covers the live albums R.E.M. Live (2007) This is their first live album?  TWENTY SEVEN years after they formed?!?  Well, that's what Wikipedia tells me and who am I to argue?  It's a not a bad album - h ighlights for me are "Bad Day", "Orange Crush", "The I Love", "Walk Unafraid" and "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" .  It does, however, suffer from the album they were promoting at the time because there are six tracks from Around The Sun but only four from the first seven albums, with nothing from either Murmur or Out Of Time - all of which is just wrong.   It does, however, have a very cool album cover - Michael was on stage in South Africa and it was over fifty degrees, so he was hot, hot, hot! Live At The Olympia (2009) This is much more like it, although it suffers from a similar problem to the previous one because it has NINE...

Continuing my trip across the output of Athens' finest... This post is all about (some of) the best-ofs Eponymous (1988) Their first such album would probably never have been released except for the fact that the band had left IRS at this point and the label obviously felt this was the best way of wringing a last bit of cash out of the group.  There's nothing wrong with the selection of tracks (two thirds of them appear on my playlist) - I would have picked more than one track from Lifes Rich Pageant , but it's probably an album that's most improved in reputation since this time.  The only track we've not met before is "Romance" which is a perfectly fine Document / Green -era track which I'd not heard before - it's perfectly fine , but no more that that.  Apparently it's from the Made In Heaven soundtrack which is a film I've not met before (and it sounds bonkers).  All in all, the album was a fine introduction at the time if you weren'...

Continuing my trip across the output of Athens' finest... Dead Letter Office (1987) And so we come to the various odds and ends that the band released throughout their career - and I'm starting with this album because I own it.  I can't say it gets dusted off very often but there are some interesting tracks on it. Side 1 - Post Side 1. Crazy I quite like this because it's nicely jaunty - I know it's a cover version, but can never remember who originally did it (Wikipedia tells me it was Pylon, another Athens band). 2. There She Goes Again I'm not so keen on this, but it's at least better than the original version from The Velvet Underground (because every Velvet Underground cover by anyone is better than the original). 3. Burning Down A typical early R.E.M. track - no complaints from me on this. 4. Voice Of Harold I love the quirk here - it's basically "7 Chinese Bros" with "alternative" lyrics, which are the liner notes to The Revela...

Continuing my trip across the output of Athens' finest... Collapse Into Now (2011) And here we come to the end of the studio albums - there will undoubtedly be a few more posts on some interesting other bits they've done over the years, but in a lot of ways this can be considered to be The End.  I think I listened to it once and found it to be not all that different from Accelerate, but I could have made that up - the good news is that the sides have gone back to having names Side 1 - "X-Axis" 1.  Discoverer I didn't mind this one - it feels like it could quite easily have been on Green . 2. All The Best This is more Monster -ish - it's fine but I can live without it. 3. Überlin I liked this one - nicely slower with some decent guitarwork on it. 4. Oh My Heart Whereas this harks back to Out Of Time - are we getting a potted history here? 5. It Happened Today Yeah, I didn't mind this one either - there's been a good amount of variety so far. 6. Every D...

Continuing my trip across the output of Athens' finest... Accelerate (2008) This is the first one I don't own - I was still sulking with them after Around The Sun , so didn't even listen to it for a couple of years.  However, when I finally got round to it, I seem to recall I didn't mind it and considered it a return to earlier form, but that didn't make me ever listen to it again - until now. 1.  Living Well Is The Best Revenge Yeah - I quite like this one.  It harks back to NAIHF or even Document , with a catchy chorus. 2. Man Sized Wreath And this is pretty similar - they're not hanging around with this album. 3. Supernatural Superserious Pretty similar again - some nice harmonies on this one though. 4. Hollow Man A welcome change of pace here - which felt required and it hits the spot nicely. 5. Houston Some nice hints of Out Of Time mandolin on this, but otherwise I can't say I remember much about it. 6. Accelerate Fine, but I'm kinda getting a bi...

Continuing my trip across the output of Athens' finest... Around The Sun (2004) And so we get to the point that I gave up on them - I remember this as being a very not good album, but maybe it will undergo a critical re-evaluation (the critical comments I've read recently suggest there's little danger of that though).  It's also the first R.E.M. album not to have "sides" - boooo. 1.  Leaving New York Not a terrible track - it starts a bit slow, but picks up well enough as we get to the chorus.  It's not quite sure what to do after that - but I can forgive them, particularly in the light of what is to come. 2. Electron Blue This isn’t too bad either actually. 3. The Outsiders But this is boring with a rubbish rap bit to boot. 4. Make It All Okay This too is boring. 5. Final Straw I actually quite liked this - it's picked up the pace a bit but it's still quite broody. 6. I Wanted To Be Wrong I actually didn't mind this one either, but it's ju...