The new live CD/DVD from R.E.M. comes out next week, but that’s not the big news coming out of Athens. The band lent a song from its planned 2008 release to a CNN special on global warming.

I have no quibble with the band’s politics. In fact, one of the reasons I like them, but have a hard time embracing U2 is how Michael Stipe and  company have used their position to really champion worthy causes instead of looking like they are grandstanding like Bono. I’m sure he does so much good, but this week’s South Park pretty much encapsulated how I view him – “why Bono can help so many people and still seem like such a piece of shit,” according to Stan Marsh.

Anyway, the band is doing a great thing backing the Anderson Cooper special, but the song they chose to use “Until the Day is Done” sounds nothing like what we heard in the Dublin “live rehearsals” earlier this year. Sure, this might be a case of just highlighting the one slow song because it fits the subject matter, but that doesn’t bode well since the band has not always made the right commercial choice for first single in the past (i.e. Drive, E-Bow).

I know everything shouldn’t be driven by commercialism, but if R.E.M. wants to capture fans who remember how “Monster” shook the walls, they better get something like “Living Well’s the Best Revenge” out there when the album is released.

I don’t mind “Until the Day is Done,” I just think it does nothing to showcase the band’s rocking strength, which has been evident to almost anyone who has seen them live in recent years.