R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant 25th Anniversary Reissue Announced

It’s not just my aching shoulder today reminding me of advanced years... Rather this very special announcement that Athens, GA rockers R.E.M. will continue their generous reissue series this July with a 25th anniversary edition of Lifes Rich Pageant. I remember well hearing the original release for the first time and the effect was staggering. This maked a bold step for prolific foursome and my college boy ears welcomed it.  Lifes Rich Pageant made a brilliant addition that year to my collection that featured life changing discs from the Replacements to Husker Du. In 1986 College Radio was king and it was stuff like this that made it that way.  This release will feature a newly remastered version of the pivotal 1986 album as well as a bonus CD that includes nineteen unreleased demos — one of which is a song that’s never officially seen the light of day.

The band announced today the expanded reissue is due out July 12th as a double set on Capitol/I.R.S. and on 180-gram audiophile vinyl via Mobile Fidelity. The set will feature new liner notes by music journalist and author Parke Puterbaugh in a special CD package “presented in a lift-top box with a poster and four postcards.”

The bonus disc, dubbed “The Athens Demos,” features nineteen tracks recorded in March 1986 at John Keane’s studio in Athens, GA. Among the tracks are early recordings of all 12 Lifes Rich Pageant tracks, plus several songs later recorded for subsequent releases: “Bad Day,” “Rotary Ten,” “Two Steps Onward,” “Mystery To Me,” “All The Right Friends” and “March Song (King Of Birds),” an early instrumental of “King Of Birds” from Document.

The real treasure, for longtime fans though is the inclusion of the demo for “Wait,” a track never before officially released by the band.

Track list: R.E.M., Lifes Rich Pageant (25th Anniversary Edition)

Disc 1: Original Album
01. “Begin The Begin”
02. “These Days”
03. “Fall on Me”
04. “Cuyahoga”
05. “Hyena”
06. “Underneath The Bunker”
07. “The Flowers of Guatemala”
08. “I Believe”
09. “What If We Give It Away?”
10. “Just a Touch”
11. “Swan Swan H”
12. “Superman”

Disc 2: The Athens Demos (All Previously Unreleased)
(Recorded March 1986 at John Keane’s Studio, Athens GA)
01. “Fall On Me”
02. “Hyena”
03. “March Song (King Of Birds)”
04. “These Days”
05. “Bad Day”
06. “Salsa (Underneath The Bunker)”
07. “Swan Swan H”
08. “Flowers Of Guatemala”
09. “Begin The Begin”
10. “Cuyahoga”
11. “I Believe”
12. “Out Of Tune”
13. “Rotary Ten”
14. “Two Steps Onward”
15. “Just A Touch”
16. “Mystery To Me”
17. “Wait”
18. “All The Right Friends”
19. “Get On Their Way (What If We Give It Away)”

There Is a Time of Reckoning in All Our Lives

Today, Universal Music will release the Deluxe Edition of R.E.M.’s seminal album Reckoning. The now two-CD set, features the original album remastered, plus a bonus disc of a previously unreleased concert recorded during the band’s "Little America" tour at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on July 7, 1984 (broadcast on WXRT). In addition, Reckoning and R.E.M’s 1983 debut album Murmur will be simultaneously reissued on audiophile quality 180 gram vinyl in their complete original packaging.

It was just that original packaging that drew me to this band over twenty five years ago. The Howard Finster/ Michael Stipe artwork was almost hypnotic to me and I spent countless hours trying to extract meaning from its outsider art themes. The record itself was produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, and was recorded at Reflection Sound Studio in Charlotte, North Carolina over 16 days in December 1983 and January 1984. The results were groundbreaking and it remains one of my favourites of R.E.M.’s extensive canon.

According to the press release for the reissue, "Inclusion of the live concert is particularly appropriate for the Reckoning - Deluxe Edition. Whereas Murmur had been complex and painstakingly deliberate, the band’s Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, along with producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, saw Reckoning as a "chance to turn up the volume, tear up the rule book, and capture instead R.E.M.’s on-stage mojo." Their use of binaural mics in the recording process went a long way in establishing that aesthetic.

On the Deluxe Edition’s bonus disc, the band performs eight of Reckoning’s ten songs at the Aragon as well as “Gardening At Night” from 1982’s Chronic Town EP and “Radio Free Europe,” “9-9” and “Sitting Still” from Murmur. The band also plays two new songs that had yet to make it onto tape: “Driver 8” which would later appear on Fables of the Reconstruction and “Hyena," later on 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant.

Reckoning peaked on the charts at #27, nine spots higher than Murmur (Rolling Stone’s 1983 "Album of the Year") and was certified gold in 1991.

R.E.M. – Reckoning Deluxe Edition: DISC ONE

1. Harborcoat
2. 7 Chinese Bros.
3. So. Central Rain
4. Pretty Persuasion
5. Time After Time (Annelise)
6. Second Guessing
7. Letter Never Sent
8. Camera
9. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
10. Little America

DISC TWO – Live at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL, July 7, 1984 / WXRT broadcast: Previously Unreleased
11. Femme Fatale
12. Radio Free Europe
13. Gardening at Night
14. 9-9
15. Windout
16. Letter Never Sent
17. Sitting Still
18. Driver 8
19. So. Central Rain
20. 7 Chinese Bros.
21. Harborcoat
22. Cushy Tush
23. Hyena
24. Pretty Persuasion
25. Little America
26. Second Guessing
27. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville

Free Download for the People

With the Murmur reissue still holding fort in my cd player and the Reckoning reissue just around the corner the appearance of this most excellent tribute made my morning a whole lot brighter. Such a pivotal recording in my canon of important releases, R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People is not your typical troubled teenager. It remains a wonder to me and this tribute a more than worthy musical companion. From the great folks at Stereogum I highly recommend the full download here.

The following is an excerpt from an essay written for Stereogum by Matthew Perpetua, founder of Fluxblog and more recently Pop Songs 07, for which the goal is to "write about every R.E.M. song, eventually." Matthew was invited to put R.E.M.'s seminal '92 LP in perspective as the Drive XV tribute was finalized.

Sweetness Followed: 15 Years After Automatic

By Matthew Perpetua, September 2007

Even though we know that Automatic For The People came out fifteen years ago, and we can clearly recall purchasing the neon yellow cassette back in the fall of 1992, it's increasingly difficult to hear the album without imagining that its songs have somehow always existed in the world. Unlike most other celebrated, canonized records from the early '90s, R.E.M.'s eighth album stands separate from the prevailing cultural trends of the era. Whereas most other rock bands at the time either embraced the aggressive, self-destructive angst of grunge or the brainy, aloof irony of indie rock, the Athens quartet presented something far more singular and timeless in the form of a tightly composed, occasionally baroque song cycle obsessed with mortality and the passage of time.

This is not to say that Automatic For The People is a relentless downer. Despite its morbid themes, Automatic isn’t so much a record about death as it is a work of art that acknowledges the fleeting nature of life, and so many of its songs, most notably the hits "Man on the Moon" and "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite," revel in the simple joy of being alive. On the opposite extreme, "Drive," "Monty Got A Raw Deal," and "Sweetness Follows" are stark and somber pieces that express the hollowness of grief and the subtle drag of existential dread with stunning accuracy and clarity. The rest of the songs fall someplace in between -- the sentimental reminiscence of "Nightswimming"; the grim depiction of a bitter break-up in "Star Me Kitten"; the romantic wanderlust of "Find The River" -- and taken as a whole, the record comes across like a panoramic view of life.Needless to say, Automatic For The People has had a profound impact on its audience, particularly those who first heard the record at a young and impressionable age.

Read the whole thing here.

you should see the stereogum.com drive xv player here if you have flash

Begin the Begin (Again)

R.E.M. Releasing Dublin Rehearsals and Deluxe Reckoning

I honestly didn’t think I would still be talking about a band I fell in love with over twenty seven years ago let alone getting excited about the prospect of more additions to my music library. But a certain Athens band does have a certain effect on me. After what could be best be described as a “stellar” 2008, R.E.M. have a couple of releases planned for the current year. Although no new music is planned they'll release a live album culled from their 2007 Dublin, Ireland working rehearsals and a deluxe version of 1984's pivotal album Reckoning.

According to a recent posting on R.E.M.’s website REMHQ- “…the Dublin package will be something very special including more than 'just the music,' although 'just the music' those five nights at the Olympia was pretty incredible itself".

R.E.M. played a string of shows in Dublin in July 2007 to warm up for their tour and test new material that ended up on last year's Accelerate.

Also planned this year is a deluxe version of the band’s seminal 1984 album Reckoning. Let’s hope it maintains the same artistic integrity and creative vision their deluxe version of Murmur had late last year. No word yet on what bonus material will be included. Personally I’m hoping for nicely remastered cover versions the "Velvet’s Pale Blue Eyes" and "Femme Fatale".

Lastly, in a recent REMHQ interview Peter Buck has said R.E.M. plan to regroup in the next few months to begin work on "exploratory demos" for a new album for likely release in 2010.

R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, drummer Bill Rieflin and multi-instrumentalist Scott McCaughey are touring Australia as part of Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 in support of last month's release of the band's second album, Goodnight Oslo. The band will play 13 U.S. shows and an April 16 gig at Toronto's Mod Club next month and will also perform at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee on June 13th.

R.E.M’s Murmur Deluxe Edition Out November 25th

A friend recently remarked that I am beginning to sound like a ‘broken record’ when it comes to writing about my favourite records. Let the record show (no pun intended) I am merely performing a valuable public service by informing interested readers about the wealth of good music available to us. Furthermore if I can prevent the purchase of one more Angels and Airwaves cd I can die a happy audiophile.

That in mind, some terrific news today that R.E.M. will give their classic debut album, 1983's Murmur, a deluxe reissue on November 25th. The deluxe package, which comes courtesy of I.R.S./UMe, features two discs and liner notes with comprehensive essays from producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, as well as a handful of former I.R.S. executives.

Now for the good stuff… The first disc of the reissue is a remastered version of the original album, and the second contains a previously unreleased concert the band played at Larry's Hideaway in Toronto just a few months after the album came out. In addition to Murmur songs, that set includes tunes from the Chronic Town EP, a Velvet Underground cover, and early versions of songs from 1984's Reckoning and 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant.

R.E.M. fans will recognize this oft bootlegged show from Larry’s Hideaway; I for one look forward to an improved recording of said legendary performance. I saw the Fall at Larry’s that year and it changed my musical outlook forever. (I like to think for the better). My apologies though if that outlook sounds a bit like a broken record.

R.E.M. continue their world tour in South America to promote Accelerate through November.

Murmur (Deluxe Edition) Tracklisting:
Disc 1

01 Radio Free Europe
02 Pilgrimage
03 Laughing
04 Talk About the Passion
05 Moral Kiosk
06 Perfect Circle
07 Catapult
08 Sitting Still
09 9-9
10 Shaking Through
11 We Walk
12 West of the Fields

Disc 2 (Live at Larry's Hideaway):

01 Laughing
02 Pilgrimage
03 There She Goes Again
04 7 Chinese Brothers
05 Talk About the Passion
06 Sitting Still
07 Harborcoat
08 Catapult
09 Gardening at Night
10 9-9
11 Just a Touch
12 West of the Fields
13 Radio Free Europe
14 We Walk
15 1,000,000
16 Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)

Peter Buck’s Rickenbacker Stolen

It happened to Sonic Youth… I even blogged about it when the Stooges lost theirs, but this time it’s personal. From REMHQ -

As we reported late last night Peter's guitar went missing from the Finnair Stadium in Helsinki, Finland. Though the guitar has not yet been located, there is an active investigation and we are all hopeful that the guitar will eventually be returned. We still would like to hear from anyone with information which could assist us, which may be shared anonymously if desired:

Email information to fanclub@remtour.com or phone (001) 706 353-6689...

Finally, we are hopeful that the guitar will eventually be found. After all, one of band's most beloved bootlegs was from Boston in July of 1983 at The Paradise, called "Return of the Rickenbacker" (a few songs from which were included on the 2006 retrospective, "The Best of the IRS Years,")

Some of the most important music of my life was recorded using this instrument. I’ve even been lucky enough to hear it played live over eight times. (The last time pictured above.) Peter Buck must be absolutely devastated by this. So much of the group’s trademark sound is tied up in this prized Rickenbacker and for someone to foolishly make off with it is a real pisser.

Definitely not a fan.