Download Podcast #4
1) The Lifting – Now It’s Overhead Mix, 2002 r.e.m.IX
I have always been a big fan of remixes, or at least the concept of them. Sure there will be bad ones from time to time but over the years it was something that R.E.M. genuinely embraced from 808 State Remix of King of Comedy, ‘It Happened Today’ remix project which allowed for fans to download individual tracks from the song and of course the r.e.m.IX project for Reveal which the band gave to several individuals to see what they could accomplish. This just happened to be one of my favorite tracks from that project.
2) These Days – 9/30/2003, Air Canada Center, Toronto
There is something very timeless about this track althought I have to admit to believing very early on that Stipe was singing “I’m not eating off off you” instead of “I’m not feeding off you”.
3) Wolves, Lower – October 1981, Chronic Town Demo, Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC
4) Shaking Through – Murmur Demos
I remember getting this awhile ago and getting some correspondence from Mark Bettis who had gone through the tracks and writing from fairly detailed differences between the tracks on the Murmur Demos collection and what appeared on Murmur. You have to admit, however, that the band took a fairly straightforward track, one that they had been performing since, at least 1981.
5) Untitled Instrumental #2 – Green
Sometimes you can listen to an instrumental and think nothing of it. Other times, you realize how easy it was for a band like R.E.M. to write a fairly catchy pop song and for it to end up in the garbage. Can you imagine just how many other ditties like this are out there?
6) Jesus/New Test Leper - 8/31/1999 – Chastain Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA
7) Low Desert – 8/11/1999 Irvine, CA
I have been trying to embrace New Adventures in Hi Fi, and don’t get me wrong, I do like this album but when I compare it to their body of work, it does not make it to the top half of the list. This is probably opposite to many I talk with, in fact I would prefer both Monster and Up, the predecessor and successor albums much higher.
8) World Leader Pretend 6/9/1989 – Saga Rockteater, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sometimes the audience bootlegs from these shows are better than the soundboards because you can hear the fans singing along during parts. This might not be the best example, but an example nonetheless.
9) Try Not To Breathe – 7/30/1995 – Milton Keynes, UK
Looking back at some of the treatments of Automatic songs, one has to question how successful they were performed in a “Monster”-like fashion.
10) Walk Unafraid – 9/5/1999 Blockbuster-Sony Music Center, Camden, NJ
I have to say that I always liked the intro to this.
11) Summertime/Born to Run – Saga Rockteater, Copenhagen, Denmark
I wonder if Stipe just changed the script halfway through and went off on his own. No matter, it’s still a great moment.
12) Strange – 11/6/98 Orpheum, Vienna, Austria
The band took this classic Wire song and made it their own and in the process pushed a couple of fans to in Wire’s direction.
13) Does Your Mother Know – 7/15/1984, Salty Dog Saloon, Buffalo, NY
14) Tusk – 7/15/1984, Salty Dog Saloon, Buffalo, NY
Listening to some fans comment about the lack of copies of the recent R.E.M. Unplugged reaching their destination, Chuck Eaton had complained that only 2 copies made it to Buffalo and after listening to these two tracks, you have to wonder if the distributors meant for the two copies to go to the fans that made it up onto the stage on this particular night.
15) I’m Gonna DJ - 6/3/2005, Rock AM Ring, Germany
This is one of those tracks that benefited from plenty of live performances during the Around the Sun tour.