R.E.M. Part Lies Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011

R.E.M. Part Lies Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011

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 R.E.M. close out their Warner contract -- not to mention their entire career -- with the double-disc Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage, their first compilation to combine early recordings from their time at IRS with their major-label hits for Warner. It's misleading to look at these as merely two separate eras, as it more accurately breaks down into a three-act structure: the IRS years when R.E.M. were the kings of college rock; the stretch between 1988-1995 when they were international superstars; and then the slow decline of 1998-2011, the years after Bill Berry, the years when Peter Buck, Michael Stipe, and Mike Mills tried to redefine the group as a trio before finally realizing they'd said all they could say. Part Lies gives equal time to each act -- there are 13 songs from IRS, 14 from the golden years at Warner, 13 from the trio years (including a revival of the mid-'80s outtake "Bad Day," which feels like a slight stretch) -- an eminently fair move that tells the story while slightly obscuring the import of the tale. Inevitably, the jangle pop and murk of the '80s are downplayed -- "Can't Get There from Here," "Pretty Persuasion," "Feeling Gravity's Pull" are missing -- in favor of a heavy dose of new millennial material, including three songs from 2011's respectable Collapse into Now and three perfectly fine new songs, which means the last ten or so cuts are songs that fairweather fans of either the '80s or '90s just won't care much about or possibly even know. Nevertheless, this last act is shown in a good light -- the benefit of a comp is that it's totally possible, even welcome, to downplay dull lapses like Around the Sun -- and, when combined with well-chosen highlights from the band's powerful first two acts, adds up to a thorough narrative of R.E.M.'s entire career.

R.E.M. Green

R.E.M. Green

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By 1988, R.E.M. were unlikely megastars in the making. The band who had pretty much invented college rock with their strange, inscrutable lyricism and folky guitar jangle were moving from cult status into inevitable mainstream success. The year before, they’d released Document, a dark and monolithic set of deeply-serious songs that had spawned their first top ten single in the form of the anti-love song The One I Love and with sales on an upwards curve, Warners (who had already harvested The Replacements, The B52s and Hüsker Dü) came calling with designs on U2-like crossover for the Georgian four piece. R.E.M. almost reluctantly and with a huge amount of mischief (the title of Green is as much a comment on the mega dollar deal they signed as the environmental themes that dominate the album) delivered a bright and bold commercial album that still stands as a master class in how a band can remain resolute to their own vision while rising above big business demands. Act local; think global indeed. Full of what R.E.M. themselves called big dumb bubblegum pop songs including the Doors-referencing Pop Song 89 and the eco-anthem Stand (another top ten hit), Green was Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry loosening up, having fun and enjoying the sunlit uplands after foraging on the forest floor for so long. Following Stipe’s instruction to his band mates “not to write any more R.E.M. type songs", accordions, mandolins, a thing as verboten as a wha-wha guitar solo, and much instrument swapping took place in Ardent Studios in Memphis and Bearsville in Woodstock. So Green’s first side signals a determination to escape their reputation as serious and politicised young men – Pop Song 89 knowingly throws shapes with hackneyed rock `n’ roll riffs and subverts pop songs clichés; Get Up! is a joyful call to arms complete with the sound of multiple musical boxes being sprung open at the same time; You Are The Everything sings beatifically with Buck’s chirpy mandolin and on World Leader Pretend, Stipe even drops his mask and determines to embrace life only, of course, with Mike Mills keening the word “dreamer” in the background. But it was all a prelude to the dark heart of the album. For all that sunshine and sixties-style optimism, R.E.M. were still a turbulent bunch and Green takes on a darker hue starting with The Wrong Child, an off-key ballad inspired by Dublin writer Christopher Nolan’s book Under The Eye of The Clock. I Remember California really does blot out the sun as R.E.M. recalls the West Coast Shangri La as a ruined world with Trident submarines patrolling the oceans and the San Andreas Fault yawning open to swallow the whole place up. R.E.M.’s very own Led Zep moment, Turn You Inside, is similarly apocalyptic, a power chording epic that is actually about, well, having meaningless and vengeful sex. Orange Crush, a leftover from Document, which concerns itself with on-going US militarism provided another unlikely hit single. They did close with Green’s most upbeat and optimistic song – Untitled, a lovely childlike moment in which the band members once again swap instruments as an act of solidarity in the face of what was to come next. This is a welcome 25th anniversary re-mastered reissue and Warners continue their nostalgia drive with the inclusion of a very good 21-track live album recorded in Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina in 1989 including many of the terrific songs here and older classics such as Finest Worksong, It’s The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) and Perfect Circle. Maybe R.E.M. had peaked creatively with Document and Life’s Rich Pageant but Green was the start of phase two. It still sounds marvellous - dream-like one minute - strident and clear-eyed the next and it is another reminder that R.E.M.’s sudden split two years ago leaves an almost eerie vacuum. Were they ever here? Will a major rock band be this consistently good again? It is almost a shock to be reminded of how great Green really was

R.E.M. ‎New Adventures In Hi-Fi

R.E.M. ‎New Adventures In Hi-Fi

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Recorded during and immediately following R.E.M.'s disaster-prone Monster tour, New Adventures in Hi-Fi feels like it was recorded on the road. Not only are all of Michael Stipe's lyrics on the album about moving or travel, the sound is ragged and varied, pieced together from tapes recorded at shows, soundtracks, and studios, giving it a loose, careening charm. New Adventures has the same spirit of much of R.E.M.'s IRS records, but don't take the title of New Adventures in Hi-Fi lightly -- R.E.M. tries different textures and new studio tricks. "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" opens the album with a rolling, vaguely hip-hop drum beat and slowly adds on jazzily dissonant piano. "E-Bow the Letter" starts out as an updated version of "Country Feedback," then it turns in on itself with layers of moaning guitar effects and Patti Smith's haunting backing vocals. Clocking in at seven minutes, "Leave" is the longest track R.E.M. has yet recorded and it's one of their strangest and best -- an affecting minor-key dirge with a howling, siren-like feedback loop that runs throughout the entire song. Elsewhere, R.E.M. tread standard territory: "Electrolite" is a lovely piano-based ballad, "Departure" rocks like a Document outtake, the chiming opening riff of "Bittersweet Me" sounds like it was written in 1985, "New Test Leper" is gently winding folk-rock, and "The Wake-Up Bomb" and "Undertow" rock like the Monster outtakes they are. New Adventures in Hi-Fi may run a little too long -- it clocks in at 62 minutes, by far the longest album R.E.M. has ever released -- yet in its multifaceted sprawl, they wound up with one of their best records of the '90s.

R.E.M. Automatic For The People

R.E.M. Automatic For The People

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Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death, and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments, and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status. It is a reflective album, with frank discussions on mortality, but it is not a despairing record -- "Nightswimming," "Everybody Hurts," and "Sweetness Follows" have a comforting melancholy, while "Find the River" provides a positive sense of closure. R.E.M. have never been as emotionally direct as they are on Automatic for the People, nor have they ever created music quite as rich and timeless

R.E.M. Out Of Time

R.E.M. ‎Out Of Time

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Tracklist

1	Radio Song	4:12
2	Losing My Religion	4:26
3	Low	4:55
4	Near Wild Heaven	3:17
5	Endgame	3:48
6	Shiny Happy People	3:44
7	Belong	4:03
8	Half A World Away	3:26
9	Texarkana	3:36
10	Country Feedback	4:07
11	Me In Honey	4:06

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Following the success of R.E.M.‘s 1988 album Green and the extensive supporting tour which followed, the band took nearly a year to recuperate before reconvening to produce their next album. That album would come in 1991 and be titled Out of Time, and would serve to further expose this once niche alternative band to mainstream commercial audiences. The seventh studio album by the band, Out Of Time was by far the most richly produced to date, with more relatable compositions, an expansion of the instrumentation used, cameos from contemporary artists, and much more attention paid to sonic detail of the finished product. The album combines the elements which were carried over from Green – pop and folk – with the addition of country, funk, and classical elements. The band’s chief lyricist, singer Michael Stipe, moved away from the overtly political themes they had used frequently in the 1980s, towards more personally-relatable and accessible songs, a direction they would continue through the 1990s. Fueled by the blockbuster hit “Losing My Religion”, which became the band’s biggest, Out of Time would top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, despite the fact that R.E.M. did not tour to support the album. The single and album won a combined three Grammy Awards in 1992 and to date has sold over 18 million copies worldwide. The album commences with “Radio Song”, a lighthearted funk that was completely unique to anything the band had done to that point. The song features vocals by KRS-One, leader of Boogie Down Productions, and also shows off the talents of the band’s drummer Bill Berry. Another popular song from the album to include a guest vocalist was “Shiny Happy People”, featuring Kate Pierson of the B-52s. The song is introduced with a unique string arrangement before breaking into a typical, upbeat R.E.M. riff. It became the band’s fourth career Top 10 hit. The song’s title is based on a Southern phrase meaning “being at the end of one’s rope, however Stipe has also stated the lyrics are influenced by unrequited love.Near Wild Heaven” was another single released from the album, co-written and sung by bassist Mike Mills. It was the first such song to be written and sung by Mills. Mills also provided vocals for “Texarkana”. While this was not released as an official “single”, did well on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. “Country Feedback” was written as a stream-of-conscious by Stipe who claims he sang it in one take as an experiment and it was not re-recorded. The recording features pedal steel guitar by John Keane. With the success of Out of Time, R.E.M.’s status grew to a top-level, major act from their humble beginnings as a “cult band” on colleg radio. They would continue the momentum into the next year with 1992’s Automatic For the People.