R.E.M. Live [Digipak]

Performer: R.E.M.
Producer: Emer Patten
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: R.E.M.: Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck. While the title alone is enough to make any longtime fan salivate--given that this is the first official live release in the Athens band's formidable catalog--a serious caveat applies. This is not the live companion piece to their other 2007 offering, the excellent and career-defining AND I FEEL FINE...: THE BEST OF THE I.R.S. YEARS 1982-1987, but a document of a single concert performed in the post-Bill Berry year of 2006 at Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. For longtime fans short on live material from the band's cherry years, this fact is sure to disappoint. The good news, though, is that while the set focuses almost exclusively on the band's major-label years and features many tracks from their three albums as a trio (UP, REVEAL, and AROUND THE SUN), it still smokes. Peter Buck's mesmerizing arpeggios set aflame opener "I Took Your Name" from MONSTER and the fan fave "Orange Crush" from GREEN, while Michael Stipe's undeniable pipes captivate on UP's gospel-tinged "Walk Unafraid" and the protest song "Final Straw" from AROUND THE SUN. Twice the band dips into I.R.S. territory on a tremolo-soaked "Cuyahoga" and a revved-up "Don't Go Back to Rockville," in which bassist Mike Mills gets his star turn on lead vocals. The collection also includes a DVD of the entire show, which reveals that although the band was never groomed for stadiums like their '80s counterparts U2, they could still whip a crowd into a frenzy and devastate live--even with a hired gun on the drums. A document of a single concert performed in the post-Bill Berry year of 2006.

Spin (p.124) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "This Dublin performance tips heavily to earlier hits and Stipe's indignant expat interludes, and it's reliably beautiful..."

This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into the money-making "alternative rock" sound, the group refused to stand still, constantly changing and developing without ever abandoning their underground principles. Somehow they became superstars along the way, but it's never affected their commitment to their music. In 1997, drummer Bill Berry left the band, but Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills soldiered on in his absence.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.5