When the earthquake hit the East Cost on Tuesday, I made a joke in reference to the lyrics to “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” Now that a hurricane is bearing down on the East Coast, I’m beginning to think that Michael Stipe’s word play is more […]
I didn’t realize until now that I hadn’t posted at all about the upcoming re-release of “Lifes Rich Pageant.” The new version comes out on July 12 with a bonus disc of demos from March 1986. The “Athens Demos” are previously unreleased, but let’s hope they are also previously unheard, just like the demos from […]
I have thought about posting a review of R.E.M.’s new album “Collapse Into Now” a bunch of times since its release in early March. Lord knows I have listened to the album a bunch of times. The problem is, I have also read and listened to other people’s reviews and didn’t feel the need to […]
In anticipation of the release of “Collapse Into Now” next week, Paste Magazine took a unique look at R.E.M.’s legacy by posting a list of the 20 best cover versions of the band’s work. I loved this piece because I had not heard many of them, and they managed to have audio for about half […]
One of the reasons R.E.M. continues to fascinate me is their commitment to openness. They seem genuine and honest when they sit down and discuss how they do what they do. They don’t put on airs even though Stipe can be pretentious, it’s not in a condescending way. At least not to me. That’s why […]
The trickle of information about R.E.M.’s upcoming album Collapse Into Now continues. The first single is out and another “lyric video” for a new song has popped up. But the real news comes from an interview Mike Mills gave to a radio station in Los Angeles. How did you come to the decision to not […]
Three months ago, I expressed my wish that R.E.M. wouldn’t wait until spring to release their new album. They indicated that they had finished work so I wondered why they would wait until March or April to let us in on the secret. They chose a different tactic, of which I heartily approve. They have […]
Well, a lot has happened since I last focused my geekery on R.E.M.’s upcoming album. The band has announced a release date (March 8), posted the track listing and released the first song from the album, Discoverer. You can get it too by visiting the band’s website and joining their e-mail list. I like the […]
With several months to wait before R.E.M. releases its next album, I have decided to take one simple approach to the release – I can’t change it so why worry? Mike Mills gave some details to Rolling Stone this week. I have seen a couple of blog posts showing angst about some of the comments, […]
We have known for a while that R.E.M. was working on its 15th studio album. The guys had reportedly finished the bulk of the work earlier this year. Now we have some news (second item), courtesy of lawyer/advisor/guru Bertis Downs. Downs also confirmed previous reports that REM’s new album had been completed in the last […]