Live At The Olympia

Performer: R.E.M.
Engineer: Tom McFall; Jacknife Lee
Producer: Jacknife Lee; R.E.M.
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Michael Stipe (vocals); Mike Mills (keyboards, bass guitar, background vocals); Bill Rieflin (drums). Audio Mixers: Jacknife Lee; Sam Bell. Liner Note Author: Andy Gill. R.E.M.'s five-night residency at Dublin's Olympia in the summer of 2007 "This is not a show," murmurs Michael Stipe at the start of LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA and it's not quite misdirection. R.E.M.'s five-night residency at Dublin's Olympia in the summer of 2007 functioned as working rehearsals for their fourteenth album ACCELERATE, with the band testing out each of the songs, exploring arrangements, finding breaking points, and pairing them with older songs that informed their back-to-basics move. As rehearsal, it paid off splendidly -- road-testing the material made it stronger, resulting in their best album in years -- but the audience was in for a real treat, with the band digging deep into their back catalog to play some of their best non-hit songs. Just as importantly, the band sounds completely engaged with the material, enjoying playing the songs again. And that is what R.E.M. is here -- a tighter, cleaner band than the scruffy renegades of the '80s, but still the same band, which is evident here in ways it never was on the perfectly fine R.E.M. LIVE. That was a production. This is rock & roll. "This is not a show," murmurs Michael Stipe at the start of Live at the Olympia and it's not quite misdirection. R.E.M.'s five-night residency at Dublin's Olympia in the summer of 2007 functioned as working rehearsals for their fourteenth album Accelerate, with the band testing out each of the songs, exploring arrangements, finding breaking points, and pairing them with older songs that informed their back-to-basics move. As rehearsal, it paid off splendidly -- road-testing the material made it stronger, resulting in their best album in years -- but the audience was in for a real treat, with the band digging deep into their back catalog to play some of their best non-hit songs. R.E.M. leans heavily on Reckoning (so much so, an accompanying digital download EP contained nothing but material from that record), plays over half of Chronic Town, and a good chunk of Fables of the Reconstruction, pulling two songs a piece from Murmur and Lifes Rich Pageant, creating a set list that any longtime fan will find near ideal. Just as importantly, the band sounds completely engaged with the material, enjoying playing the songs again, with this energy in the process rescuing cuts from Reveal and Around the Sun, suggesting that the problem was with the fussy arrangements, and that the tunes needed to be played as rock & roll. And that is what R.E.M. is here -- a tighter, cleaner band than the scruffy renegades of the '80s, but still the same band, which is evident here in ways it never was on the perfectly fine R.E.M. Live. That was a production. This is rock & roll. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (p.76) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[This] captures intimate, occasionally great performances....The selling point on LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA is R.E.M. spelunking through early catalog gems..." Q (Magazine) (p.118) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "What comes across is not just the genuine sense of a band flying by the seat of its collective pants, but also one that's delighting in rediscovering almost forgotten parts of its own past..."

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.

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