R.E.M. At The BBC Review

I received this 9 disc package at the end of 2018, but due to its voluminous content I needed sufficient time to digest it properly to avoid critical indigestion!

In addition to being stacked with content, this box set is a fascinating document, (pardon the pun), of the evolution of one of the greatest bands in rock music. Focusing on the live recordings as opposed to the BBC sessions, things start with in 1984 with the then still very much underground R.E.M. and an urgent performance at Rock City in Nottingham. The jangle and mumble of the early band is very much present. A band who know how to play and what they want to project but without the big hits that would take them skyward in later years. A certain hesitancy and sense of testing the water is evident here.

I have to confess to not being in the 'cool' crowd and preferring the Warner to IRS years. As a result the jump forward 9 years to a huge open air gig at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 1995 is much more to my taste. Whilst able to fill stadiums after the huge hits of "Out Of Time", "Automatic For The People" and "Monster" and with an audience starved of the opportunity to see them live, the band doesn't seem quite at ease with this new platform. Michael Stipe in particular still seems to be finding his feet on such a big stage.

However the set is top-notch with both my two favourite R.E.M. songs, "Country Feedback" and "Let Me In" along with their best early period song "Fall On Me".

Fast forward 5 years to 1999 with a headline set at Glastonbury and the difference is pronounced. Here the band sound relaxed and confident and absolutely kill it. This is the sound of a band, which although they had passed their commercial peak, were in complete control and at home on the biggest of stages. Mixing old and new with abandon and concluding with a raucous "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)".

Another 5 years on and we have a much more intimate performance at St. James Church, serving as a showcase for then new album, "Around The Sun". I gather that this is not a popular album, particularly amongst fans of the I.R.S. years or with the band themselves. I would contend it is far stronger than most give it credit for, and that it is the style and sound which some find problematic. Perhaps too polished and 'soft', The songs are of as high quality as ever. Give it a jolt of the energy shown on "Accelerate" and I think its standing would be much higher.

There is so much good content here it can be nothing but recommended to fans of the band. When you add in the hour long documentary, the Jools Holland appearances along with the reflections included in the accompanying booklet and it becomes essential. The BBC sessions are almost a bonus as for me it is the chronicle of the band's development on the live stage that I enjoyed the most. If you decide to follow their journey I'm sure you will enjoy it too.

"Help me when I fall, to walk unafraid"

Comments

Eraserland by Strand Of Oaks - Album Review

A new album from Tim Showalter which, barring a final misstep, hits all the Americana, (and more), marks. This album is heartfelt, sleazy, uplifting, classic and referential all at the same time whilst still pointing forwards.

The beginning is inauspicious. "Weird Ways" starts out like a standard Ryan Adams ballad, but takes off halfway through in a way that reveals the pedigree of the other musicians on the album. After hearing this track I thought it sounded like the aforementioned Mr Adams playing with My Morning Jacket(MMJ). The reverb drenched sound kept rearing its head and a little research revealed that, minus main man Jim James, they were the backing musicians on the album . No wonder I kept hearing them! As a band who has produced much that I like this was a good thing.

After "Weird Ways" heads for the stars we stay there with "Hyperspace Blues" which is one for fans of Jason Pierce's Spiritualized, and sounds just as a song with that title s…

On The Line by Jenny Lewis - Album Review

Arriving with positive notices and an all-star supporting cast that includes a former Beatle in Ringo Starr, a former Heartbreaker in Benmont Tench along with renowned players like Jim Keltner, Don Was and produced by Ryan Adams it would be easy to dismiss such a description as too good to be true.
However, sometimes it is okay to believe the hype..
The 4th solo album from Jenny Lewis is an example of the old adage that misery makes for great art, and is another entry into the canon of great break-up albums.
It is crammed with catchy melodies, expert playing and excellent, if sometimes just a little too cool for school, songwriting. Right from the very start with "Heads Gonna Roll" the sweetness of the melodies is leavened with a perfectly judged dose of underlying menace and bitterness.
Mention has to be given to the Hammond solo from Benmont Tench on this track. The tone is deliciously fat and filthy in the best possible way.
"Wasted Youth" continues with a ridiculous…

Tuscaloosa by Neil Young & The Stray Gators - Album Review

Shakey's live archive releases continue apace, coming after the excellent "Songs For Judy", (full review here) and the even better "Roxy: Tonight's The Night Live", (full review here).

This time Neil treats us to excerpts from an Alabama show, (hence the title), from the 1973 tour previously documented on "Time Fades Away". Whilst a commercial success, the tour was fraught due to Young's grief over the drug-induced death of Danny Whitten that led to his masterpieces "Tonight's The Night" and "On The Beach", and his discomfort in translating his sound to the big arenas his success now found him playing. Neil has previously stated that "Time Fades Away" is his worst album. Those of us who have endured "Everybody's Rockin'" or "Landing On Water" might beg to differ....

Anyway another snapshot of that tour emerges here, and an altogether more lighter mood prevails. The autobiographical &…

Songs To Die To - Part 3

Continuing a series about songs death and dying. These are not necessarily songs that talk about the process of dying, rather as the title suggests, songs that I could imagine listening to on my death bed, or taking as consolation during or after a funeral.

Morbid? I think not, as death is part of life. If we all talked about it a little more, maybe we'd cope with it better.

No 1: featuring "Land Of Hope & Dreams" by Bruce Springsteen here

No 2: featuring "Look On Down From The Bridge" by Mazzy Star here

With that said here's my next choice.

No 3: Gonna Be A Darkness - The Jayhawks

From their superb collection of songs that main man Gary Louris wrote with other artists, (full review here), comes this gem co-written with Jakob Dylan.

I love the extended musical introduction, starting with the mandolin, building with the bass and piano.It sets a lovely relaxed groove that hints at the sadness to come.
Louris and drummer Tim O'Reagan blend their voices beauti…

Songs To Die To - Part 4

Continuing a series about songs death and dying. These are not necessarily songs that talk about the process of dying, rather as the title suggests, songs that I could imagine listening to on my death bed, or taking as consolation during or after a funeral.

Morbid? I think not, as death is part of life. If we all talked about it a little more, maybe we'd cope with it better.

No 1: featuring "Land Of Hope & Dreams" by Bruce Springsteen here

No 2: featuring "Look On Down From The Bridge" by Mazzy Star here

No3: featuring "Gonna Be A Darkness" by The Jayhawks here

With that said here's my next choice.

No 4: Everything Flows - Teenage Fanclub

This song is here less for it's explicit subject matter rather than the way it makes me feel.
Certainly the lyrics, "I'll never know which way to flow, set a course that I don't know" talk about journeying, searching and convey an ambiguity that could apply to a passage beyond this life.

This so…

Teenage Fanclub - at Kelvingrove Summer Nights Live Review

For my fifteenth time seeings Bellshill's finest live, a different venue. The restored Victorian bandstand in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow. Given that any outdoor event in the West of Scotland is at risk of rain, it was unsurprising that the heavens opened as the support act, (one Nile Marr, son of Johnny, who was pretty good) and it was proper rods bouncing off the floor. Fortunately it dried up for when the Fannies took to the stage. Starting off with "I Can't Find My Home" from "Howdy!" before a welcome deep cut in early single "God Knows It's True", it was quite sedate for the first seven songs, the crowd all being pretty wet no doubt contributing to that. However once they launched into "Alcoholiday" the crowd surged forward and from then until the end it was business as usual for Teenage Fanclub in Glasgow; that being bouncing. We got a few new songs including the pretty decent new single "Everything Is Falling Apart", but…

Best Of A Bad Bunch - "Under The God"

It is pretty rare for an artist to have a sustained career without at least one barren period with a lack of commercial success, critical or fan acclaim. Some may only have one golden moment, and then struggle to hit the heights ever again. That doesn't mean that all they produce in those "lost" years is without merit.

Go here for part one featuring Neil Young.

I'm going to look at some of my favourite songs from these lesser known or ill regarded periods, continuing with a man who has had more than one period of both acclaimed and berated music, David Bowie.

Bowie had one of the greatest, in my opinion, runs of combined commercial and critical success from "Hunky Dory" in 1971 to "Let's Dance" in 1983. I'd accept the argument that you could include "The Man Who Sold The World" at the start of the list, but for me it is with Hunky Dory that Bowie's golden run started. In that run, only stop gap covers collection, "Pin Ups&…

PowderfingerSpeaks

Search This Blog