Monday, May 22, 2006

straight off the boat



Those of you who stalk this blog on a regular basis will know that I used to really like R.E.M. but seriously fell out with them somewhere between 'Green' and 'Automatic for the People'.

My pile of old videos has thrown up more evidence to support my arguement. It's their first European TV appearance on ' The Tube' back in 1983. It's excellent. If they produced tunes like this these days I'd be all over them like that humming noise on the Camille CD.

So go on .. tell me how wrong I am ...

rem - radio free europe (live on the tube)

4 comments:

coxon le woof said...

I'm not really up on old REM so I can't really talk with any great knowledge on the subject. BUT you have to have heard Monster and New Adventures In HiFi?

Best REM albums by miles (though I refer the honourable gentleman back to my first sentence)

JOE GILLIS said...

I can understand giving up on R.E.M. after New Adventures, but before Automatic?! Hmmm... makes me distrust you as a human being. BUT... you posted that particular YouTube before I got around to it, so you can't be all bad.

Tim Young said...

Oh Coxon .. I'm afraid to say that I did listen to Monster quite a lot when it came out but I haven't been inclined to pull it out of the draw for at least five years. Perhaps I should. I wasn't keen on NAIH on first listen and I've never gone back to it.

You should try and get a copy of their first MiniLP 'Chronic Town'. On it Stipe is wonderfully mumbly. Buck is clearly jumping around while he plays. Berry is as solid as ever and Mills does what he is meant to do without thinking that he should be doing Stipe's job. I play it quite often and I'm yet to get bored of it. For my sins 'Green' is probably my favourite REM album (and along with the CD single of 'interesting drug' was the first CD I ever bought). I'm not going to say how much I dislike AFTP. That would just be cruel. It was the album that put the nails in REM's coffin for me.

One of these days I'll shut up about REM .. but 'til then ....

Tim Young said...

Ah. Us old chaps do share something there then! ... and yes, more videoness to come :)