R.E.M.

Certain Songs #1712: R.E.M. – “Good Advices”

December 23, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables
Year: 1985

. . .

Because it wasn’t played at the soundcheck we recorded like “Old Man Kensey” and “Driver 8,” were you’d have to go looking for it to discover that the earliest-known version of “Good Advices” was played at the Star Palace show in Fresno in June, 1984. And while the crowd-sourced setlists for the 1985 Warnors appearance are woefully incomplete, history does record that they played it the next night, at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, a show which — humblebrag alert! — Kassia & I drove up for. Because you could just drive a 500 mile round trip to see a show back then.

I don’t recall the “Good Advices” from that show, but I do recall that they did their take of Television’s “See No Evil” with Michael Stipe shouting “once upon a time there was the greatest band in the world” as Peter Buck started the still-awesome riff.

Certain Songs #1711: R.E.M. – “Kohoutek”

December 20, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables
Year: 1985

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File Under Gone

The comet is coming!!!

It was 1973, and I was still crazy for all things having to do with OUTER SPACE, and a comet called Kohoutek was supposed to totally light up the skies for my eleventh Christmas. And I was totally into it, especially since I knew I had to wait all the way until 1986 to see Halley’s Comet. 1986! That might as well be 2020!!

Except, of course, it was a total and complete bust. Fuck you, Kohoutek!!!

Certain Songs #1710: R.E.M. – “Cant Get There From Here”

December 19, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables
Year: 1985

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The making of Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables was notoriously difficult. Away from their comfort zone for the first time, and somewhat unprepared for the damp London winter, they kind of took a dim view of it at first, only coming to realize its strengths when they were able to disassociate the songs themselves from the experience of making them.

That said, it’s kinda ironic that from those sessions was born one of the long-running tropes of their career, the silly/funny song, arriving full-bore in the album’s first single, “Cant Get There From Here.”

Certain Songs #1708: R.E.M. – Feeling Gravitys Pull

December 17, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction of The Fables
Year: 1985

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File Under Gravity

It was just different, you know? For one thing, after two albums with one-word titles, here comes this one which almost sounded like it could be a concept album, like maybe a southern rock opera about the post civil war period. Which you would had to take on faith, because you still wouldn’t be able to understand the words.

Certain Songs #1707: R.E.M. – “Driver 8”

December 16, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables
Year: 1985

. . .

File Under Destination

“Driver 8” just might be my favorite R.E.M. song.

The summer of 1984 was the summer of R.E.M. Not only was there the concert at the Star Palace in mid-June, but they also became a go-to band on MTV. Obviously, not so much the videos for “so. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” or “Radio Free Europe“, but rather appearances on some of the long-form TV shows MTV was trying to develop as antidotes to their ongoing onslaught of music videos.

Certain Songs #1706: R.E.M. – “Voice of Harold”

December 15, 2019 by Jim Connelly

B-side, 1984

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File Under Revelaires

What came first, “7 chineSe bros.” or “Voice of Harold?” On the face of it, it’s an absurd question, of course: “Voice of Harold” was basically Michael Stipe singing the liner notes of a gospel album over already-recorded backing track of “7 chineSe bros.,” so there you go.

Certain Songs #1705: R.E.M. – “little america”

December 14, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Reckoning
Year: 1984

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File Under Lost

Hey, remember that time R.E.M. played The Star Palace? In Fresno? And the fucking Dream Syndicate opened?

That was cool.

Certain Songs #1704: R.E.M. – “(don’t Go back TO) ROCKVILLE”

December 13, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Reckoning
Year: 1984

. . .

As the follow up the slow burn of “camerA” deep on the R side of Reckoning, you might have expected “(don’t Go back TO) ROCKVILLE” to go back to the more uptempo rockers that had dominated the record. But instead, R.E.M. gave us a left turn, with the most anomalous song on the whole record.

Certain Songs #1703: R.E.M. – “camerA”

December 12, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Reckoning
Year: 1984

. . .

File Under Remember

Out of all of the songs of Reckoning, “camerA” was initially the most difficult for me to grok at first. After all, not only was it a slow one, it was well over five minutes, and kinda sad-sounding to boot, a bit jarring when compared to the mostly up-tempo rockers that dominated Reckoning.

Certain Songs #1702: R.E.M. – “letter Never seNt”

December 11, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Reckoning
Year: 1984

. . .

File Under Heaven

Let’s talk about Bill Berry for a minute.

In a lot of ways, he was R.E.M.’s secret weapon, not just as a songwriter — though he wrote songs as great as “Perfect Circle,” “Driver 8” and “Man on The Moon” — but as a smart, powerful drummer. From the very beginning, his sick beats were utterly integral to R.E.M.’s music, and while in one of the books I read, dB’s drummer Will Rigby dissed him for having super simple kick drum parts, I would argue that was part of the appeal: he was always driving even the folkiest songs forward.