time to rise has been engaged - R.E.M.

[AFX]

questo concerto lo trasmisero anche su MTV italia

[Tyler Durden]

http://youtu.be/oAkQKCxghlI

Guardatelo! Guardatelo quest'uomo...

Non riesco a mettere l'anteprima

Grande pezzo quello.
Up sarà anche un disco controverso e non totalmente riuscito, ma ha dei picchi pazzeschi. Ogni tanto lo ripesco.

[WCephei]

di quel concerto c'è pure il DVD, su youtube comunque si trova completo

curiosità: a Wiesbaden risiedono decine di migliaia di americani per la base militare. Insomma, pubblico in sintonia.

[rick81]

Come leggiamo su Stereogum, Peter Buck (ex membro dei R.E.M.) ha raccontato a Willamette Week di Portland di come la sua band ha sabotato i Verve, quella volta. Durante l’intervista, il musicista ha parlato della sua vita dopo i R.E.M., delle avventure in autostop, e appunto anche di quella volta in cui coi suoi compagni hanno fatto gli “sboroni” alle spese dei Verve.

Aprivamo il concerto dei Verve, e li abbiamo lasciati con la coda tra le gambe. Non gli abbiamo aperto lo show, ci siamo fatti pagare di più, e siamo andati on stage prima di loro (al festival). Michael Stipes disse “Che schifo”, e io ho detto “Beh, se vuoi fargli fare una brutta figura, suoniamo tutte le nostre hit. Non lo abbiamo mai fatto”. E così abbiamo suonato per un’ora e mezza, e ogni canzone era in una top ten da qualche parte. Ce ne siamo andati dal palco, “Ci vediamo ragazzi! Divertitevi a suonare il vostro album inedito”. Erano pure dei bravi ragazzi.


Che cattivo Peter ahah poveri verve..

[AFX]

beh non puoi mettere i rem ad aprire per i verve

[rick81]

ovvio...però è divertente la trovata di Peter, come dire col repertorio che abbiamo l'avete fatta grossa...adesso risolvetela....si sono ritrovati con l'headliner a fare uno show minore dopo tutto ciò ahah

[rick81]

I R.E.M. hanno chiuso la loro esperienza come band ormai nel 2011, ma non hanno - come promesso - lasciato i fan a bocca asciutta. E, stando a quanto detto dal bassista Mike Mills in una recente intervista rilasciata a Billboard, hanno intenzione di restare una presenza costante ancora per diverso tempo, a livello di uscite discografiche. I loro archivi, infatti, conterrebbero ancora parecchio materiale interessante che vale sicuramente la pena pubblicare.

Le parole di Mills sono state molto promettenti e inequivocabili: "Abbiamo parecchia roba negli archivi, e una buona quantità di materiale che non è mai stato pubblicato in alcun modo. Noi tutti della band desideriamo fare qualcosa con questi brani. Perché sappiamo che lì è rimasta roba buona da utilizzare".
I brani contenuti nel disco "Unplugged" - uscito durante il Record Store Day 2014 - sono solo la punta dell'iceberg di tutto questo ben di Dio; stando a Mills al momento non ci sono ancora progetti precisi sulla prossima uscita, ma i R.E.M. hanno intenzione di renderla particolare, piuttosto che limitarsi a "svuotare la cantina". "Vogliamo pubblicare questi brani in un modo che li renda più speciali possibile", ha spiegato il bassista, "perché per noi sono speciali. E poi, insomma, ce li siamo tenuti stretti per tutto questo tempo... perché fare i taccagni proprio ora?".

Mills ha anche confermato come i componenti della band siano rimasti in ottimi rapporti e mantengano i contatti; ognuno di loro "è impegnato e si sta davvero divertendo", ha detto. "E' un bel sollievo, in un certo senso; per quanto fosse divertente, è bello non dover più correre come criceti nella ruota". Dunque la reunion è quanto di più lontano possa esserci dalle menti dei R.E.M. - almeno al momento.

[rick81]

Altra intervista a Mills

You've mentioned wanting to do better as a band after 2004's Around the Sun, which got some not-very-positive reviews.

And rightly so. When we were making that record, we were thrilled. We had great songs. But it was one time we let outside forces turn us towards doing something we shouldn't have done — which is to do two songs for a greatest hits [In Time: The Best of R.E.M., 1988-2003], put out a greatest hits, tour on a greatest hits, and then go back and then try to finish the record. That was totally unfair to Around the Sun. Had we not done that, had we stuck with it, finished it as we should have, it would have been a really great record. Trouble was, by the time we got back to it, we weren't really sure what it was, we didn't know which way to go with it. We ended up pulling in different directions, there was no focus, there was no cohesion, and the record reflects it. If you listen to the live record from Dublin [2007's R.E.M. Live], that has a lot of those songs, I think they sound great.

Before you recorded your first single, there were quotes attributed to the band about possibly not even pursuing a recording career and just concentrating on being a live act.

That's the reason we formed the band, to play live music. We didn't get together to make records. We made a record only to send it to promoters to club dates. That's the only reason the single was out there. Plus, we loved singles. That existed just to get us shows. As you grow as a band and start writing good songs, you turn to the other phase of being a musician and make a record.

The second time you signed with Warner Bros. [for a reported $80 million in 1996] it received a lot of attention, not all good. Are you still happy with that choice?

Warner Bros. has been a great label for us. They were a label as much as any capitalist corporation could be. They were about artists, especially when Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker were running the label. They had Neil Young and Van Dyke Parks on there, not because they were going to sell records, but because they were great artists to have on your label. It wasn't just about fucking shifting units. It was about art and music and creativity and you can have both. The industry gradually changed and the creativity went by the wayside. If you didn't sell units, you didn't have a job. That's sad. But selling was never a purpose of ours anyway. For the last four records, I don't think I've asked, 'cause I just don't care. It used to reflect the popularity of your record. If people were buying it, it meant they liked it. Now, they may like it, but they might not buy it. They may obtain it by other methods, but odds are they didn't buy it. Sales are clearly no reflection of popularity for bands. Maybe for Rihanna, it is.

There are certainly plenty more ways for bands to get music out there effectively than there were in 1980.

There are a lot more ways for — let's call it "indie music" for the sake of argument — for those bands to be found and heard and seen. It's the long tail. It's a lot easier for bands to have careers, but maybe not mega-careers. The record companies, for better or worse, were sort of star makers. The days of U2 and R.E.M., I don't know if you're going to have a lot of that.

[rick81]

intervista sempre a Mills del 2008 forse la più interessante, spiega il processo di scrittura e da chi vengono alcuni grandi pezzi.

After Berry left in 1997, an uneven, experimental trio of albums followed: "Up" (1998), "Reveal" (2001) and "Around the Sun" (2004), which got a collective bad rap, leading some to wonder whether the drummer's contribution had been more vital than previously realized.

Then came the concise, punchy "Accelerate," which has been hailed as a return to form (usually in those exact words).

In a recent phone conversation, Mills shed some -- but not too much -- light on the creative process that is R.E.M. (The band plays Friday at the United Center.)

Q: How has the band's songwriting and creative process changed over the years?

A: Certainly in the beginning we were together pretty much all of the time, so we were writing songs together. Now, yes, it's definitely changed. Peter writes his stuff musically. I write my stuff musically. Then we give it to Michael. But then of course when we get together to learn each other's songs, you know, I bring my thoughts and ideas into it, and Peter brings his thoughts and ideas into it, and we gradually shape each other's songs into R.E.M. songs.

Q: Is there a difference you can characterize between the songs you bring in and the songs Peter brings in?

A: The main thing I would say is that I can't play as well as he can. I don't have that arpeggiated picking style that he has, so certain of his songs have a complexity, in terms of playing, that mine don't. For example, I could never write "Living Well Is the Best Revenge." I can't play like that. Certainly the things he's capable of that I am not add a depth to his stuff in certain cases that I don't have.

Q: When you read reviews, there's this perception that if the song is more of a guitar song, it's a Peter song, and if it's more of a piano song, it's more of a you song, so this album is more of a Peter album, but the last album ["Around the Sun"] was more of a you album. Is that accurate?

A: No, that's not accurate. If you go back to it, Peter wrote the piano parts for "Lotus." I wrote "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" There's no real way to identify the songwriter simply by what you hear. Obviously for the bulk of the time, if it's on a piano, it's probably me, but not always.

Q: Like "Electrolite."

A: "Electrolite," yeah, that's obviously me. But there's another piano song of Peter's ... it might be "Saturn Return," which I think Peter did on keyboard. So you can't be entirely sure just from the main instrument.

Q: With this album was it a unified decision where the two of you said, "We're going to do these shorter, faster songs?"



A: Yeah, we said we're going to write strictly on electric guitar, no acoustics, no piano. We're going to make them short, and we're going to make them fast for the most part.

Q: Some have said "Accelerate" harks back to "Monster," but "Monster" isn't a fast record.

A: The thing is journalists need an angle. They need a reference. I understand that. I've written things before, and I know that you have to have something to compare things to, but I think it's pretty much lazy just to say, "Oh, return to form." "Oh, they've gone back to the '80s." "Oh, this that and the other." I think that's lazy journalism. This is R.E.M. in 2008. This is not R.E.M. in 1987. I wouldn't know how to do that even if we tried. This is just who and what we are at this particular moment, as is any album. Any recording of a band is simply what they are at that moment.

Q: When you come in with a song, does it have just the musical basis and then Michael puts the melody on top, or do you sometimes come up with the full melody?

A: Once in a while we'll give Michael a melody, but generally he comes up with that himself.

Q: Give me an example of a time you came in with something, and he completely surprised you with what he did with it?

A: [Laughing] Like every song. I mean, we really honestly have no idea what he's going to do with it, and it evolves for him. He works really hard on both melodies and lyrics. Some of it just spews forth for him, but a lot of times it takes a lot of craft to get it right.

Q: Can you think of times, in particular, where you were really happy, like, wow, I thought this was kind of a nothing song and it became a major song?

A: I think "Everybody Hurts" is a good example of that. Musically there's not that much outrageously new to that song, but lyrically and melodically it's beautiful.

Q: I've read that's one that Bill Berry came in with.

A: Yeah, the basic beginnings and all that were Bill's for sure.

Q: Did the songwriting dynamic change a lot when he left the band?

A: He would generally come up with several ideas for each record, and he would also be a really good editor for us. He was always very much about keeping them short, getting to the hook. He didn't want to waste a lot of time and people's attention noodling around.




Q: Finally, what would you say is the breakdown of what you and Peter wrote on the new album?

A: I don't usually do that because I don't want people hearing the songs like that. The idea is that, by the end of the day, they're R.E.M. songs. Whatever they started out as, by the time they get finished, they're R.E.M. songs. I will say that Peter writes more songs than I do; therefore the percentage of songs on the record that started with Peter is probably higher. But really at the end of the day, they're just R.E.M. songs.

Q: There's a reason I saved that question for last.

A: You know, they got John Lennon to do it [10] years after the Beatles broke up. ... There may come a day maybe when it's a better idea than it is now.

[WCephei]

Gardening at Night dovevano farla entrare in Murmur


poi devo ricalibrare il giudizio su due dischi

Fables of reconstruction sembra l'album più sottovalutato, dai critici, dal pubblico, basta vedere sul tubo il numero di visualizzazioni che ricevono i suoi brani e confrontarlo con gli altri, e forse è stato sottovalutato anche dai REM stessi.
Eppure il Side A da solo spazza via discografie intere altrui, il Side B un pò meno ma comunque ci sono almeno 6 brani di alto livello complessivamente



Out of Time invece, il più sopravvalutato
sebbene lo ascolti ancora con piacere in questo periodo.
Ultimamente gli preferisco addirittura Reveal! E' un disco strano, un esperimento "radiofonico". Tra virgolette perchè ci sono troppe canzoni in teoria radiofoniche e allo stesso tempo poco riuscite.
Per dire: Accelerate è un album radiofonico coi controcaxxi non Out of Time

9 capolavori,2 grandi dischi (collapse e accelerate), 4 dischi piacevoli (up,rev,out, around)