Tag: R.E.M.

R.E.M. – Monster (Remastered) (1994/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:05 minutes | 1,07 GB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings

A brilliant distillation of ’90s alt-rock. A crass and noisy attempt to cash in on grunge. A band in need of rock tunes for an upcoming tour after six years off the road. The fact that R.E.M.’s ninth album Monster can after still inspire such polarities is proof enough that it’s worth a fresh listen. New mixes by Scott Litt, a trove of demos and a 1995 live show from Chicago featuring mostly a post-I.R.S. years setlist fills out the portrait of the 25th Anniversary reissue of one of R.E.M.’s most contentious albums.

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R.E.M. – In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (2003/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:16:07 minutes | 957 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 is the second official compilation album released by R.E.M. Issued in 2003, it includes tracks from their Warner Bros. Records era, from 1988’s Green to 2001’s Reveal. The album was a huge success in the UK, the tenth-best selling album of 2003, despite not being released until the last week of October.

How do you condense 15 years of music down to 76 minutes? In the case of this survey of the second phase of R.E.M.’s career, the answer is: Exceptionally well. The dangling carrot for diehards is two new songs; the rapid fire ‘Bad Day’ hurtles along like the kissing cousin of ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It,’ while ‘Animal’ is anchored by a majestic drone reminiscent of the Beatles’ ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.’ In a surprising, but gratifying move, the rest of the program shortchanges the band’s breakthrough, Out of Time (no ‘Shiny Happy People’)

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R.E.M. – Out Of Time (25th Anniversary Edition) (1991/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:58:35 minutes | 2,46 GB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Booklet, Front Cover | © Concord Records

A quarter of a century after ‘Out Of Time’ helped break alternative music into the American mainstream and turned R.E.M. into a worldwide phenomenon, the band have announced a special 25th Anniversary Edition. After putting Athens, GA, on the musical map in the early ’80s, R.E.M. went on to become one of the world’s biggest bands. Fusing folk, garage rock, pop sensibilities, and insightful lyrics delivered with Michael Stipe’s inimitable lead vocals, these alt-rock forefathers built a massive indie following, and in 1988 unleashed their major-label debut, Warner Bros. Green. This roots rock tour de force was followed in ’91 by the Grammy-winning #1 blockbuster Out of Time, which led to an ongoing stream of masterpieces.

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R.E.M. – Automatic For The People {25th Anniversary Edition} (1992/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:47:01 minutes | 2,34 GB | Genre: Rock, Alternative
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  | Booklet, Front Cover | © Universal Music

There’s a ‘before and after’ Out Of Time in the life of R.E.M. This ‘before’ for Michael Stipe’s band is mainly found on university campuses where the group gained a cult following in the ‘80s… How then did R.E.M. manage to sell 12 million copies ofOut Of Time to the world? The answer is that this record was both sublime and austere. An uncompromising album, like the chamber rock such as Nirvana and the Pixies that you’d blast out without caring about pissing off the neighbours in that year of 1992… Always virtuosic, Peter Buck goes from the mandolin to the acoustic guitar with great ease, John Paul Johns from Led Zeppelin sublimely arranges refined chords and Michael Stipe shines with his melancholic and tortured prose with the candor of a man with self-assured belief. Cinemascope ballads prevail, peaking with Everybody Hurts. It must be said, Automatic For The People is not the most easy-flowing album by R.E.M. but it is one of the most beautiful. Released in 2017, this 25th anniversary edition also offers, alongside the remastered album, a live recording from the 40 Watt Club in Athens on the 19th November 1992 with some cover versions like Funtime by Iggy Pop andLove Is All Around by The Troggs.

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R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant (1986/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:22 minutes | 1,56 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

R.E.M.’s fourth studio recording, Lifes Rich Pageant, is a pivotal release that saw the band evolving into bona fide rock legends. It was their first album to achieve Gold status and is included on Slant Magazine’s “100 Best Albums of the Eighties.” Teaming up with producer Don Gehman, the album is a politically-conscious work that addresses social progress and environmental issues. Lifes Rich Pageant includes the hit singles “Fall On Me” and “Superman.” The album is a hard-rock affair that is both inspirational and uplifting.

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R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now (2011/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:05 minutes | 494 MB | Genre: Rock, Alternative
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Artwork: Front cover | © Concord Records

For Collapse Into Now, R.E.M. re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band’s acclaimed previous album Accelerate. Lee is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party. R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie’s Heroes, U2’s Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing was done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

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