Shiny Happy REM

A maverick four-piece from Athens, Georgia, Michael, Mike, Bill & Peter released many albums over their 30 or so year span, before finally calling it a day. They really hit pay-dirt with their 1991 LP Out of Time, and matched it with 1992's Automatic For The People. Here are a sample of their finest tunes:

Orange Crush

The One I Love

Shiny Happy People (ft Kate Pierson of the B-52's)

Try Not to Breathe (live)

The Great Beyond

R.E.M. - At the BBC / Later with Jools Holland
Back-to-back tributes to the allegedly-now-defunct band from Athens, Georgia. The former patched together performances from a varying selection of shows, whilst the latter was a one-off show with a similar intention. Both were worth watching.

R.E.M. - Perfect Square
An hour from Wiesbaden, Germany, in 2003. The usual routine of the personal and the political, ending on 'It's the End of the World as We Know it'. The 3 band members seemed to be having a good time.

Mandela Freedom Concert
From Trafalgar Square in 2001, repeated in commemoration. Acts were a mix of colour and fame, so Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Hugh Masekela managed billing above The Corrs and Dave Stewart, but below R.E.M. and Labi Siffre. Good show, mind.

R.E.M. By MTV
A lengthy career retrospective culled from interviews and other footage from MTV. From their surprisingly critically loved debut with Murmur, through to their global breakthrough with Out Of Time, and then Bill Berry's illness and exit, and ultimately their own dissolution, it was a fun and heartfelt homage, covering Stipe's political activity, friendship with Kurt Cobain, respect for Andy Kaufman, and so on. I've still got a few of their albums yet to get, and this was a good inspiration.

Discovering: R.E.M.
They managed 15 LPs in their 31 year career, but it was the 7th, Out of Time, that really sent them global. They had style changes, production changes, and line-up changes, but they were able to part as friends, leaving a formidable legacy of influence behind them.

Remarks - The Story of R.E.M., by Tony Fletcher (1993)
One of those books that has been through many versions with updates for new material, this being one of the earlier versions, from soon after the release of Automatic for the People. This means it has great benefit for looking closely at the whole pre-Out of Time spell, which to me has often been unfamiliar (Losing My Religion was the first I'd heard of them).

Hansa Studios - By The Wall 1976-90
One of the world's greatest studios, inconveniently (at the time) situated in Berlin. David Bowie, Tony Visconti and Iggy Pop put it on the map with a run of albums made there, especially "Heroes", with its title track infamously referencing Visconti having a sneaky kiss by the Wall. This led Depeche Mode and Nick Cave to follow, and then Marillion and ultimately U2 also hit big with albums they did there. U2's Achtung Baby was the last big album done after the wall came down and Germany reunified. But the studios reopened for rock in 2007 with Supergrass, and R.E.M. also made use of the place with their last album, Collapse Into Now. A bearded Michael Stipe spoke of how he felt it was an appropriate site to use, in light of its iconic reputation.

Video Killed The Radio Star: R.E.M.
Directors Peter Cade and Jake Scott discussed some of their works on videos like Radio Song, Drive, Man on the Moon and Everybody Hurts (Losing My Religion also included). The "ultimate crowdsurfing" from Drive, or the difficulty with multiple imagery in Man on the Moon, and difficult co-ordinations from Everybody Hurts are reasons why their videos have become and remained so rewatchable.

Road Movie
From November 1995, a pretty straightforward concert when Monster was their most recent record, they doing about half the songs from it here, together with popular choices from Out of Time and Automatic for the People, and the odd others, including ending with It's The End of the World as We Know It. A happy crowd in Atlanta helped make it feel like a good experience all round.

Bill Rieflin, touring drummer with R.E.M., as well as Ministry and King Crimson and others, has died from cancer, at the relatively early age of 59:

https://www.spin.com/2020/03/bill-rieflin-ex-r-e-m-and-ministry-drummer-dies-at-59/?fbclid=IwAR0QxrpR_aS8MEYUs5uErIsnysQW4OY6KLPglYWnmfCJYuW3_sVZQ7NSKDU

Rieflin is known for being one of the defining drummers in industrial music. He was well-respected and the ultimate hired gun. In addition to Ministry, he played on tracks and albums from Nine Inch Nails, Revolting Cocks, KMFDM and Swans among many.

In 2003, Rieflin joined R.E.M. as a touring member. Recently, Rieflin was one of three drummers performing with King Crimson, having joined the prog-rock legends in 2013.

RIP 

The Glastonbury Experience: R.E.M. @ 2003
A brief extract from their appearance that year. I was pleased to hear they did Fall On Me amongst perhaps more familiar material like Man on the Moon and Everybody Hurts.

Isle of Wight Festival 2005: R.E.M.
Again, a reliable slice of their early 90s peak judged fittest for this tribute, though Nightswimming made a change.

HARDtalk: Michael Stipe
He's got a book of his photographs coming out, in a lockdown-derived project. He was in Berlin. He was interested in photography before music. His father fought in Korea and Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. He liked being a pop star, but rejected the idea he was an extrovert. He suffered with bulimia and mental health issues. Ten years since the band ended, and he rejects all suggestions of reformation. He was proud that Losing My Religion has endured. He does still make the odd bit of music.

R.E.M. - Glastonbury Festvial 1999
A pleasant repeat from their headline set. Among many familiar tracks, they were pushing their most recent album, Up. Amusingly, the crowd shouts for It's the End of the World as We Know It from quite early on, and they do finish with it.

R.E.M. Live
From the Point, Dublin, in late February 2005 indeed. The band seemed in good spirit and blasted through a long set that included plenty of less familiar material besides the obvious numbers like Orange Crush and Man On The Moon. The encore was pretty lengthy too.

misery guts wrote:
R.E.M. - Perfect Square
An hour from Wiesbaden, Germany, in 2003. The usual routine of the personal and the political, ending on 'It's the End of the World as We Know it'. The 3 band members seemed to be having a good time.

R.E.M. - Perfect Square
A rather longer edit, well over 2 hours, and including a few tracks which are quite unfamiliar to me. Michael introduces some as having been voted for online, and this was around the time of Bad Day and arguably the crossest they ever got politically. A good show, though.