New R.E.M. Album Revealed!
Relax Fluxblog, it's another Best Of.
The title says it all. And I Feel Fine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years, 1982-1987. If you listened to college radio at any point in the last twenty five years, you already own these songs. But the collector's edition has an interesting second disc! It's chock full of rarities that should tide superfans over until the next incredible R.E.M. album comes out never.
Tracklist after the jump.
DISC 1
1. "Begin the Begin"
2. "Radio Free Europe"
3. "Pretty Persuasion"
4. "Talk About the Passion"
5. "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"
6. "Sitting Still"
7. "Gardening at Night"
8. "7 Chinese Bros."
9. "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)"
10. "Driver 8"
11. "Can't Get There From Here"
12. "Finest Worksong"
13. "Feeling Gravity's Pull"
14. "I Believe"
15. "Life and How to Live It"
16. "Cuyahoga"
17. "The One I Love"
18. "Welcome to the Occupation"
19. "Fall On Me"
20. "Perfect Circle"
21. "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
DISC 2
1. "Pilgrimage" (Mike's pick)
2. "These Days" (Bill's pick)
3. "Gardening at Night" (slower electric demo; previously unreleased)
4. "Radio Free Europe" (Hib-tone version)
5. "Sitting Still" (Hib-tone version)
6. "Life and How to Live It" (Live at the Muzik Centrum, Utrecht, Holland 9/14/87; previously unreleased)
7. "Ages of You" (Live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
8. "We Walk" (Live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
9. "1,000,000" (Live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
10. "Finest Worksong" (other mix)
11. "Hyena" (demo) (previously unreleased)
12. "Theme from Two Steps Onward" (previously unreleased)
13. "Superman"
14. "All the Right Friends" (previously unreleased; later version released on Vanilla Sky soundtrack)
15. "Mystery to Me" (demo; previously unreleased)
16. "Just a Touch" (live in-studio version; previously unreleased)
17. "Bad Day" (session outtake; previously unreleased)
18. "King of Birds" (last song cut from The Best of...)
19. "Swan Swan H" (live, acoustic from "Athens, GA -- Inside Out")
20. "Disturbance at the Heron House" (Peter's pick)
21. "Time After Time (annElise)" (Michael's pick)
Posted at 9:52 PM
Tags: R.E.M.
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If you've never heard it and love the early stuff, track down "Carnival of Sorts" live at Merlins in Madison, WI. I believe it was recorded between the release of Chronic Town and Murmur. The Murmur toons are far more raw and immediate, the energy is amazing and there are some great unreleased songs such as "That Beat" and "Skank."
"This is a marble table made of glass..."
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Damn, can I buy JUST the second CD seperately since I have all the IRS albums?
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As an added bonus, if you have Eponymous, almost all of it is repeated here again!
But you'll probably be able to buy just the second disc off of the iTunes store.
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Wow. Really cool how Stipe always managed to never rape the fans and always stay true to the art.
harumph.
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Haha, Scott, when you tell Matthew to relax, are you foggily remembering the time he snapped at Slatch for daring to suggest that REM's Warner Bros. years blew compared to their IRS years?
http://www.slatch.com/archive/week_2003_10_26.php#002772
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No, I just meant that Matt loves R.E.M.!
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Hmm... I'm trying to decide if I should get this, or just get Document and Life's Rich Pagent on CD (already have them on vinyl). Are these tracks on the 2nd disc of interest to anyone but the ultra-hardcore fans?
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the second disc's stuff isn't very rare -- that boston bootleg is easy to find; hib-tone 'radio free europe' is on eponymous. that slower gardening of night, however, is easy to find on a boot and is GREAT.
i'll buy it, even though i own everything else they have. when is this coming out?
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also, i resent the comment that REM will never make a great record. first, 'up' is an AMAZING record, and 'reveal' also has its moments. plus, i'm discussing hte greatness of 'new adventures in hi-fi' right now weirdly enough with someone.
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the real question on everyone's minds is when is the new decemberists going to leak? promo copies are being sent out, so i can't imagine it being too much longer.
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1. New Adventures in Hi-Fi is fucking rad. Definitely their finest record.
2. Way to leave off "Harborcoat," R.E.M.
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new adventures is their best by several country miles.
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i always thought it was kinda funny how most bands suddenly appearing on mtv2 and on the cover of the nme sound pretty much like REM did when they released chronic town, in 1983!
i used to love REM, and i mean LOVE REM. i still like them, but not as much. i always thought the IRS stuff was awesome though. and whoever said 'up' was amazing- you are too right! fucking brilliant album.
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1995's REM's monster tour was my first concert I ever went to as a kid.
I will always have a place in my heart for REM...
except the first disk almost sounds like Eponymous v 2.
At least Stipe was the ice cream man on Pete and Pete...
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"Some bands I like to name check,
And one of them is REM,
Classic songs with a long history
Southern boys just like you and me.
R - E - M
Flashback to 1983,
Chronic Town was their first EP
Later on came Reckoning
Finster's art, and titles to match:
South Central Rain, Don't Go Back To Rockville,
Harbourcoat, Pretty Persuasion,
You were born to be a camera,
Time After Time was my least favourite song,
Time After Time was my least favourite song.
The singer, he had long hair
And the drummer he knew restrait.
And the bass man he had all the right moves
And the guitar player was no saint."
you almost get the feeling stipe picked time after time just as a f you to malkmus. harborcoat would have been a better choice.
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not too bad, nice that they cram in 20 songs while eponymous only had about 12, i think.
these are all great songs. early REM is fantastic. honestly, they could have left off the document tracks since everyone already knows that. but this is a good intro to post-IRS REM fans, i think.
but, no carnival of sorts? that is one of their best songs. wait a minute, nothing off of chronic town besides gardening at night???
bad idea. all of those 5 songs are great.
anyway, I am looking forward to hearing these re-mastered versions of songs at least...
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now that i think about it, wolves lower is a great tune also.
incidently, there's two songs of chronic town. the other is 1,000,000 on the second disc.
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REM today without Bill Berry is worse than those two Doors albums without Jim Morrison.
And, I'm sorry, but New Adventures In Hi Fi sucked eggs, no matter what coked-up critics say. That, especially after the shitty Monster, was the reason fans departed by the millions.
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true, missed 1,000,000.
wolves, lower is great.
stumble is silly but fun.
and seriously, carnival of sorts is brilliant.
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Looking forward to this, actually. Maybe this is why REM's been on my mind so much lately.
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It's a pretty mediocre bonus disc, if you ask me: a whole bunch of live tracks, regular album tracks and demos/b-sides that in many cases were available on the European import versions of the I.R.S. records (so a couple of those "previously unreleased" are false).
But hey, if someone is only a casual R.E.M. fan, that first disc is pretty friggin great and far more comprehensive than Eponymous. So I can't complain too much.
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According to Murmurs.com, they're also releasing a IRS-years DVD on Sept. 12th, as well:
"The DVD, When the Light Is Mine The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 Video Collection, includes the music videos from Chronic Town through Document, as well as live television performances and James Herbert’s short film, Left of Reckoning. DVD extras feature early interviews and rare acoustic performances."
To me, that almost sounds more exciting than the bonus CD.
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I miss the days of Document; before popstardom...
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Theme From Two Steps Onward is great.
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I remember sitting in front of the alternative (or "college rock" or whatever it was before it was "indie") record store near my old school with five or six other REM fans, all of us waiting until they opened so I could get a copy of Document. I thought, "This band will always be cool -- they're just like us."
A few years later, Michael took to dressing like a spaceman...
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Finally, the hib-tone "Sitting still" on CD!!!
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Bill Berry was Michael Stipes muse, after he left there were a couple good songs, but the album's were shite.
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Thanks for the heads-up. I've only had an import REM greatest hits release by IRS on cassette. It's also dying on me at this point. This shall be a better replacement.
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The track list for 'When the Light Is Mine' is:
'Wolves, Lower'
'Radio Free Europe'
'Talk About the Passion'
'Radio Free Europe' (Live, 'The Tube,' 11/18/83)
'Talk About the Passion' (Live, 'The Tube,' 11/18/83)
'So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)'
James Herbert's 'Left of Reckoning'
'Pretty Persuasion' (Live, 'The Old Grey Whistle Test,' 11/20/84)
'Can't Get There From Here'
'Driver 8'
'Life and How To Live It'
'Feeling Gravity's Pull'
'Can't Get There From Here' (Live, 'The Tube,' 10/25/85)
'Fall On Me'
'Swan Swan H' ('Inside/Out')
'The One I Love'
'It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'
'Finest Worksong'
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Enjoy these videos from YouTube....from Late Night with David Letterman circa 1983:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search=REM%2C+Letterman&search_type=search_videos&search=Search
Man I'm old :-(
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Kohoutek is utterly wonderful, and missing...like the brains of those who hear later r.e.m. and dis the i.r.s. days. everything after 'out of time' is way more scattered and r.e.m. as a quartet is r.e.m. for real, bitches.
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What was the last song REM sang at their Hall of Fame induction? Can someone please answer this if you remember.......thanks!!
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