R.E.M In the Attic
I'll have to be straightforward here. I really like R.E.M. It's been
taking me a little longer to pick up their releases lately since
I don't get near a music store as often as I used to, but I still
have about 3 of their CDs at work, and about 5-6 more at home.
So, I made it to the local CD store, and saw R.E.M. In the Attic.
The subtitle is Alternative Recordings, 1985 - 1989. I flipped
it over, and skimmed the tracklist. Live recordings, different mixes,
B-sides, what the heck. I'd been in the mood for some
"classic" R.E.M. lately, anyway.
Odd bit number one. EMI-Capitol is releasing this as a "Limited
Edition", which means they charge a bit more for it, it gets a special
oddball case design, and they won't repress the album until they think
up another excuse. The only plastic in the package is the platter
that holds the CD. The rest is basically posterboard with a shiny
ink printing. The booklet-thing that holds the platter slides in to
the slipcase, right? But it's posterboard. And so is the slipcase.
Which means the booklet gets most of the way in the slipcase, and then
catches on the folded in part of the slipcase on the "closed" side.
I've abused the set enough that it mostly works, but I used to have to
slide the booklet in to the slipcase, open the far end of the case,
push the booklet the rest of the way in, and then re-fold the slipcase.
No doubt I've violated some sacred warranty by doing this, but the
set looked stupid with about a centimeter of the booklet sticking out
of the end. And it wouldn't fit in the drawer I keep my CDs in at work
if I couldn't get it to fit.
Anyway, so I got home, threw it in the CD player, and started
it up.
The problem I had with the CD when it started out was that the first
3 tracks (Finest Worksong, Driver 8, and Gardening
at Night are all also on Eponymous, R.E.M.'s "Greatest
Hits" album covering a similar time period as In the Attic.
The Finest Worksong track sounded exactly like I remembered
the Eponymous song sounding. Driver 8 was a live
recording, which I enjoyed quite a bit, but Gardening at
Night was listed as a "Different Vocal Mix", which
didn't make too much of a difference in the overall sound of the
song, at least for me.
Then Swan Swan H started, and I was glad I hadn't just plucked
the CD out of the player, dismissed it as Eponymous: Redux, and
returned it. It's a very stark playing of the song, and the first of
three tracks that are fairly quiet, but still very expressive. Bill
Berry plays a very quiet snare drum through the song, and the rest
of the instruments follow that cue. Both guitar and bass are subdued,
and Michael Stipe's unusual voice carries the song very well indeed.
Disturbance at the Heron House follows, and is another live
recording, not quite as quiet as Swan Swan H, but still fairly
low. Nice. Maps and Legends is the last of the three
"quiet live" tracks. Acoustic guitar in the background
(sounds like), and not much else.
Then Tired of Singing Trouble bursts out of the speakers and
wakes me up. Damn! After 4-5 tracks of Stipe doing his hushed singing,
I forgot he can belt a lyric out when he wants to. Seriously. Maybe
it's just the comparison to the 3 tracks that precede it, but it sounds
about twice as loud as the rest of the album. The rest of the
band joins in, with bass guitar and mostly bass drum after a few
seconds, and it's a really nice, bluesy song. A
Buck/Berry/Mills/Stipe original, not a cover as I would have thunk
on first hearing it. However, it lasts under a minute.
shrug. I woulda liked more, but if that's all they got...
Just a Touch is a two-and-a-half minute song that continues the
uptempo theme that Tired of Singing Trouble started. Nothing
exceptionally memorable, but it doesn't detract fromt he album in any
way. It's quickly followed up by R.E.M.'s cover of Aerosmith's Toys
in the Attic. Same version that's on the Dead Letter Office
album, as far as I can tell. Fun, but I've heard this one before.
Dream (All I Have To Do ) is another cover from a decidely
un-R.E.M. style band. And R.E.M. does the song in that band's
style. And it's kinda neat for the rarity value, I guess. Still,
I had kinda been hoping for, you know, R.E.M. stuff.
The One I Love. Live. This track characterizes very well
part of what I really like about live recordings of songs I've
heard "studio" versions of. To take the song and turn
it from the original tone and show off a different set of
thoughts and emotions that can be hooked in to the song takes some
skill (just playing a song faster or slower doesn't count). This
works very well. Although it does cast another vote that this
album really should have been subtitled An Alternative
Eponymous.
Crazy is a B-Side that was also on Dead Letter Office.
I'm mostly over my irritation with repeated tracks from widely available
albums. Mostly.
Can't Get There From Hereis labeled as a "radio edit".
What this means, as far as I can tell, is that it's exactly the
same as the album version, but shorter. sigh.
Last Date was an Instrumental that I don't remember
hearing before. Piano and guitar, with a the drums slowly coming
in as it progresses. It's by Floyd Cramer, who I absolutely don't
know. Still, pleasant song.
The last song on the CD is called Time After Time Etc.. It's a
"medley" of Time After Time, Red Rain (yes,
the Peter Gabriel song), and So. Central Rain. This does the
opposite of what Tired of Singing Trouble did. It goes very
quiet. Very quiet. Grab the volume knob and give it a good
healthy turn so you can hear what's going on. I have to be in the
right kind of mood to listen to this song and enjoy it. It's a
very laid back, repititious song, that's nice if you just want to
relax and drift away mentally. Right now, though, I'm wired on
caffeine and it's a little too placid for me. Next is Red Rain.
It really sounds like this is something Stipe sort of wanders into, as
the band fades away as he starts singing, as if they're unsure of what
to play. He doesn't sing too much of it though, a few of the catchier
lines, and then he stops. Actually, it's quite possible he stops
because the audience starts to get obnoxious around this part. One
particularly piercing whistler comes to mind instantly. Not to fear,
however, as the guitar then starts playing the opening bars to So.
Central Rain and the crowd, hearing something they recognize,
starts cheering happily. The crowd's energy feeds the band, and they
have a good time with the song. It ends the disk on a high note.
SUM UP
Overall, it's a pretty good album. In part, my listening of it was
hampered by my expectations. I had wanted to hear an album that was
all stuff I hadn't heard before. I should have expected what I got.
I mean, R.E.M.'s been gone from EMI for years now. If EMI had some
truly outstanding tracks that hadn't been released on an regular
album, they would have put together a "special" album a
while ago to cash in. I mean, they're a record company.
Companies exist to make money.
It's a good record, but if you've already got Eponymous, you've
got a fair amount of this album. Still, the new tracks (which I
understand aren't exactly "new", but have been released on
European singles for some time now, which is the same thing as new to
me) are enjoyable, and are great examples of the R.E.M. of a bygone
era. Bill Berry lives! Final rating, 3 out of 4 lightbulbs.
