New R.E.M. DVD release coming 11/24/14

At the time, the "So. Central Rain" video really stood out on MTV because it was just them playing the song, kind of the complete opposite of the Duran Duran videos and almost everything else on MTV then. "The One I Love" got a big boost from MTV because they made a semi-conventional video for it. On the other hand, the anti-video for "End of the World as We Know It" probably sabotaged any chance that song had of being a hit. MTV was so important back then as a means to bypass stodgy FM radio playlists stuck on "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Stairway to Heaven" for all eternity.

 

I want to get excited about this, but there's already a glut of post-Berry live material available, it's hard for me to get excited about more. Probably will pass on this one, even though I'm a pretty big fan.

How about a redo of Tourfilm and Road Movie presented in a non-artsy, actually watchable way?

 

That's a lot of R.E.M., but a little light on the Berry years for my taste. The only thing that got me really excited was the Livewire stuff and the Unplugged '91 outtakes. This being an MTV-themed compilation rules out some of the juiciest footage in the vaults (Wuxtry "promo" film, Atlanta '81, Raleigh '82, Daytona Beach '83, the two German '85 shows, complete L.E.A.F. Benefit '89), but the 1984 Passaic show was filmed for MTV. Why isn't that included? The documentary sounds pretty awesome, though. And the solo Mills "Rockville" and other bits and pieces too. Not an "automatic" purchase, but an impressive package. If the band promises to follow this with another box set featuring everything I just mentioned plus whatever else they have lying around from 1980-1992, we have a deal.

 

Almost everything you mention is on YouTube, some of it in pretty decent quality. The When The Light Is Mine DVD remains essential for the Berry years, but there is some key stuff with Berry here: the 1993 and 1995 VMA performances are great, as is the three-song sampler of the Monster tour from Dallas.

 

Are there a complete dvd of their MTV music videos out there?

 

I really like that 2008 performance but Accelerate is my favorite R.E.M. record so...

 

Mike did a lot of the talking as well. When they debuted on Letterman <1st network tv appearance> Michael pointedly avoided Dave when he tried to talk to them in between songs.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Light_Is_Mine:_The_Best_of_the_I.R.S._Years_1982–1987

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_View:_The_Best_of_R.E.M._1988–2003

Two different sets but they lack videos post 2003.

 

I'd love to see Showtime's "Rock Of The 80's" come out on dvd. REM's appearance on that show was excellent, I may still have that on a vhs tape. Jason & The Scorchers were on the same show. They also had Simple Minds and Public Image Ltd. on there, among others.

 

I'd like to have discs 1 and 2.

 

In View isn't complete. There are two (out of print?) DVDs, This Film Is On and Pop Screen, with Warner-era videos missing from In View.

 

Thanx, I didn't know.

 

The new McCartney 'New' reissue, the archive album editions of Venus and Mars and Speed Of Sound, the Dylan 'Basement Tapes', the George Harrison box-set and now this. Are they trying to bankrupt me!

 

Sure, I watch my "pretty decent" versions of those shows pretty regularly, as well as When The Light Is Mine and Tourfilm. I'd still like to own them in optimum quality, though. Not to mention the stuff that's nobody's seen... But that probably belongs in another thread. I don't mean to dump on this set, because it looks like a damn fine, very comprehensive collection, save for the omission of the Passaic show (which is available in very decent quality).

 

Replace the Dylan box with the new Elvis 8 disc set and I'm right there with you!

 

There's a new Elvis 8 disc set?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Thats-The-Deluxe-Edition-2DVD/dp/B00KGMTJFE

 

Could there be more here? Sure, but six DVDs is an embarrassment of riches. And stuff like Raleigh '82 has no connection with MTV. For an excavation of the MTV vaults, this is pretty comprehensive, they could have just given us the Unplugged shows and a lot of people would have been happy with that. I have almost all of this material downloaded from YouTube, but this will be a huge quality upgrade for me, and perhaps a revelation for some who are not familiar with all of this material.

 

Don't worry about Venus & Mars/Speed Of Sound. It will be pushed back to avoid any conflict with REM or Dylan.

 

I think they grew to embrace it once they had signed on to Warners and got the bankroll to start really doing all that to appeal to larger audiences.

 

This is a great release filled with treasures. Being broadcast the SD DVD is fine, but my fingers are crossed we'll get PCM audio like most R.E.M. music DVD releases. A Blu-ray version could have easily held more on less discs with lossless audio and HD for the new materials/docu.
My wallet says the $100 is pretty steep though. But my heart/head says: "But it even has Storytellers!!!"

 

Looking forward to this, being a fan of post-Berry R.E.M. as I am!

But my wallet's starting to creak: what an expensive fall/winter this is turning out to be!

No listing for this in the European Amazons yet; I hope it is released on this side of the pond...

 

Also Parallel, which is the best of all because it includes the AFTP and Monster videos plus some of the projections from the tour. No idea if it's in print though.

Tourfilm I'll give you, though I quite admired its weirdness, but I remember Road Movie being fairly straightforward. Haven't seen it since the VHS days, though.

 

Too heavy on the second half of their career for me to want to own it. I'll stick with the full concerts already released.

 

Road Movie is pretty straight-forward:



I guess if you grew up before the MTV era you could complain that the cuts are too quick, but it's certainly not "artsy" in the way that something like Left of Reckoning was.