Night Garden: Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe [R.E.M.]1981-1996 Song-by-song*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, May 23, 2021.

  1. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    The original single version of "Radio Free Europe" stands head and shoulders above most independently-released American music from 1981, but it's only a rough draft of the perfected version they would re-record and release on Murmur. It's a bit too fast and in your face and lacks the cohesion and aura of the later version. Still, it's a brilliant song. 4.2/5

    R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands. From start to finish, they had one of the most perfect career arcs I can think of. Several of my favorite R.E.M. songs (and one of my favorite albums, Reveal) date from the post-Bill Berry period, but I can understand and respect that others don't feel as strongly about that period of the band's work. Still, I think it can probably be agreed by most that they never made a bad album.
     
  2. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Today's song is "Sitting Still"[Hib-tone single version], written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe; produced by Mitch Easter and R.E.M.; engineered by Mitch Easter.


    Lyric.
    The post below will feature the album version.

    Like the last song this was recorded at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on April 23rd, 1981 and overdubbed on May 24th; released as the B-side of Radio Free Europe on July 18th, 1981. Like the last one, the April 23rd, pre-overdubs, was released on the promo The Cassette Set (or Do Not Open)

    However, unlike "Radio Free Europe", this song was not completely remade in the studio for Murmur; it was, however, remixed and overdubbed and it is quite sonically different -- but not really different enough to warrant a separate post (which I"ll be giving "Radio Free Europe.")

    This version of the song was released on the compilations And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The IRS Years and the iTunes compilation Complete Rarities 1981-1987.

    Michael Stipe: vocals
    Peter Buck: guitar
    Mike Mills: bass, vocals
    Bill Berry: drums, vocals

    A live version was released on Live at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, recorded in 2007 and released in 2009.

    The lyrics are largely hard to make out, opaque and impressionistic; some have theorized that the song is addressed to a deaf child -- Stipe's sister is deaf and teaches deaf children.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
  3. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Album version of "Sitting Still"
     
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  4. Two Sheds

    Two Sheds Sha La La La Lee

    I'm too late for Hib-Tone RFE, but I'll add that I give it a 4/5. Not quite the equal of the recording found on Murmur.

    'Sitting Still' - 5/5. Might be my favorite R.E.M. song. An outstanding, urgent, irresistible number.
     
  5. JuanTCB

    JuanTCB Senior Member

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Radio Free Europe - I like the energy of the single but the texture and dynamics of the album cut. But my favorite bit is from the Murmur version, when they go into the final chorus and Bill is cruising on the ride cymbal before going back into I guess the crash or the high hat - that little magical bit is my favorite moment of the song. Anyway, it's hard to rate because it's so iconic in its own right (it's pretty much the big bang of American altermative rock, if you ask me) but objectively speaking, it's great but not perfect. 4/5

    Sitting Still - archetypical early R.E.M. - jangly, catchy, and unintelligible - and a mid-sized classic in its own right. It's got a lot of heart, as well - the overall impressing is very uplifting. 4/5
     
  6. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    "Sitting Still" is quite different from "Radio Free Europe" -- just as inscrutable, for sure and there's a certain similarity, but in a way I find it even catchier, sweeter if you will. It's not a knock-your-socks off mega-punch, but in it's quieter way it's just as cool and it's certainly got an amazing melody.Maybe the more restrained bass-line on this one showcases the vocal melody more.

    Michael's singing is so urgent and gripping, which is quite a feat considering that the words mostly seem to be inscrutable at best; yet there's something that just stops you in your tracks about his voice.

    Of the two versions, I prefer the more polished Murmur version, which is clearner, has better backing vocals and I feel there's just a tad more drama inherent in the mix, the song shines even more.

    Anyway, I'll be gving out a lot of these in these early years so here's another 5/5
     
  7. gjp163

    gjp163 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wamberal Beach
    Sitting Still

    Bit weird not doing it in Murmur although minimal changes were made to this early version. A real standout of the pre Murmur years. I can’t give it any less than a 5. I always think of the 19th June 1984 video for “Rock Of The 80’s” when I hear this song. They had plenty of practice by the time this was recorded and the band rip it up, although Peter so frenetic he makes a mistake @45 seconds in. Mike’s octave bass playing and his backing vocals really make this song.
     
  8. chrism1971

    chrism1971 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glos, UK
    Not so different from the Murmur one as said. Murmur is one of my top 10 albums (well, 20), so that version gets a 5, the Hibtone one 3.75 as I find the backing vocals a bit less well blended and a little off-key at a couple of points.

    On the subject of lyrics, I'm quite happy to accept that some of these internet-transcribed versions are incorrect - we found that with the Robyn Hitchcock songs - and I've always more or less made up my own versions to Stipe's vocal sounds, on the early LPs.
     
  9. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Definitely, they are mostly guess work, it's clear. Not that my guess is any better.
     
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  10. brownie61

    brownie61 Forum Resident

    Sitting Still

    What a great song. Peter Buck’s guitar arpeggios are wonderful and are the main hook of the song for me. I also love the propulsive chords playing under the “Up to par and Katie bar” part - it’s just fantastic. And then the payoff of the chorus and its wonderful chord changes and of course the great harmonies.

    One of the things that most appeals to me about early R,E.M. is how such relatively simple and straightforward guitar parts sound so completely amazing. I mean, I can play this song, One of the ways this music changed my life is that it prompted me to learn to play music by ear. I’d taken some guitar lessons as a kid but had never done much with it. When I heard R.E.M., I could tell exactly what he was playing, It sounded so great to me, and for the first time ever, I thought “I can do that,” and so I did. I did little else to occupy my time at home for a very long time other than work out how to play many of the early songs and play them over and over along with the records. Maybe that sounds nerdy, but it was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done.

    5/5
     
  11. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Ah, but can you do that cool little jump that Peter Buck does?
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
  12. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Here's the original Mitch Easter mix before the overdubs that resulted in the single verison (i.e. the first version above.)
     
  13. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Maybe it's because I partially grew up in the South (having, like Michael Stipe himself, been moved there from St. Louis) but there's something about this early stuff (through Reckoning, really) that just really recalls something so indelible and hard to describe. Like, there's such a feeling of geographical place in it. I get that same feeling from Big Star, by the way, who I know those guys (especially Mike Mills) adore.

    If you drive through the southern Appallachians at night, you totally get that, this is the soundtrack for that world. Not only that.

    It's sweltering barrroms with ceiling fans, guys playing pool in the lazy Saturday afternoon, shootin' the **** on the porch on a balmy Saturday night.

    It's not only place, it's also a vanished time to some extent, though the feeling still lingers between the spaces down there even now, I discovered on my big American road-trip in 2016.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
  14. Remurmur

    Remurmur Music is THE BEST! -FZ

    Location:
    Ohio
    I'm about to start getting ready for work so I can't linger but as I 've just this discovered this thread, I guarantee that I will be back...

    Cheers ! ...:cheers:
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
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  15. Exitmusic

    Exitmusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leicester U.K
    Sitting Still 5/5

    R.E.M. at the their very best. A hugely impressive song which can sound both wistful in the verse and energetic in the chorus. One thing I've always loved about R.EM. is how much of a democratic band they are and this song is a perfect example. Everybody is playing for the song and not to trying solo or overegg the arrangement. One you can always say about this era of the group is that there are no wasted notes,every song is arranged and performed to perfection with the band knowing where to end the track. It's something they are didn't always do so well in the later part of their career.

    So yeah a phenomenal song and my third favourite track from Murmur,I can't wait till we hit Chronic Town!
     
  16. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    R.E.M. song by song? Count me in. I did an album by album thread of theirs a good while back, maybe 6-7 years ago. This is one of my favorite bands of all-time and this should be a fun look through the catalog.
     
  17. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    Radio Free Europe (Hib-Tone)

    What a whirlwind of activity this song is. Title inspired by Patti Smith’s “Radio Ethiopia”. Stipe was a big Patti fan and I think it shows in a lot of ways throughout his career. Stipe’s lyrics don’t often parse well as coherent stories but he really manages to get the point across so that you think you know what he’s trying to say. The great bass work of Mike Mills is what stands out to me on this track. The cassette set mix and the dub version really bring out the bass line and feature it. Everything else is great too, but that bass….. wow.

    I heard this only after Eponymous was released, but once I did hear it this was my favorite version. The Murmur album version fits well with that album, but I don’t listen to it any longer unless I am going to spin the whole album. Besides being slower, the Murmur version has this tick-tick-tick sound going on with the percussion thats always bothered me after I first noticed it wasn’t in this early recording and now I can’t seem to unhear it.

    The “cassette set” early mix of the Hib-Tone recording is very nice as you hear this raw version stripped back just a tiny bit more compared to the one on Eponymous. Interestingly, the “dub version” on the cassette set is somewhat different than the dub version that circulated on one of the popular bootl*g CD collections back in the 90’s. The two dubs are obviously of similar lineage, but yet are not precisely the same.

    By the way, many thanks to the Power Of Independent Trucking blog for first releasing this “cassette set” to the online world. Read about it here:
    The Power of Independent Trucking: R.E.M.: "Cassette Set" (1981 demo tape, RARE!!!)

    They got DCMA’d shortly after being posted in 2011 but I doubt we’d be getting this 40th Anniversary release now if the blogger hadn’t acquired a digital transfer of the original cassette and restored it himself back 10 years ago.
     
  18. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    R.E.M.’s relationship with the South is complicated. Stipe was actually born in Georgia, but grew up in a military family, and lived in, among other places, Texas, Germany, and Collinsville, Illinois as a child. Mills was born in California because his father was stationed there in the military, but moved back to Georgia when he was an infant, and grew up in Atlanta and Macon. Peter Buck spent his childhood in the Bay Area, briefly lived in Indiana, and moved to Roswell, Georgia as a teenager, although he spent a siginificant amount of time in California as a young teen, and may have briefly moved back there for short stints. Bill Berry grew up in the Midwest before moving to Macon as a young teenager.

    Except for Mills, none of them knew a stable “geographical place” as children and teenagers. The “Southern” aspects of their music reflect a tendency of modern, rootless people to latch on to Flannery O’Connor and other aspects of Southern culture that seem exotic to outsiders, I’d argue. None of them had anything to do with “Appalachia,” either. Macon and Atlanta are not part of Appalachia. To whatever extent Stipe is “Southern,” his southernness, and childhood love of country music, primarily stems from his family’s early childhood stay in Texas, not in Appalachia.
     
  19. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Do you ever write a post that just doesn't pedantically correct other people's opinions as if they are provably wrong?

    One doesn't have to have spent childhood in a culture to absorb it, you know, or to gain a potent impression.

    In fact, often outsiderness can lead to greater understanding of a culture, especially when it's tempered with a few years' experience inside said culture. And I said little about their background or childhoods, which anyone who's read a single R.E.M. biography knows, anyway.

    And anyway, I hear what I hear, probably from that same outsider point of view, true, but so what?

    Now maybe I've misunderstood the thrust of your post and you are just excitedly giving those who don't know some background information, and not correcting my thoughts and opinions:,if so, then, I'm sorry for misunderstanding.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
  20. TexasBuck

    TexasBuck Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Sitting Still - The Hib-Tone single is much closer to the "Murmer" version than "Radio Free Europe". Everything I love about early R.E.M. is encapsulated in this song. The jangly guitars, the harmony in the background vocals, the vulnerable/nearly unintelligible lead vocals that flash anger at times. ("Get away from me!!") Fantastic song.

    5/5 ranking.
     
  21. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    That was my point, that any sense of geographical place or “Southernness” in R.E.M.’s music comes from an outsider perspective. As Buck’s friend Robyn Hitchcock once remarked, “Peter is really no more of a Southerner than I am.” If you want to romanticize the “Appalachian” mystique of R.E.M.’s music, have at it, but, again, the Southernness of it all is a sort a faux or romanticized Southernness that tends to appeal to modern, rootless, placeless people, which describes both much of R.E.M.’s audience, and the band themselves, who grew up all over the United States, moved repeatedly as children, and, once they got the band going, didn’t really live in Athens so much as they lived everywhere, as they were constantly away from Athens on tour and, despite the romanticization of Athens as their home base, spent big chunks of their time in L.A. and New York from fairly early on. Buck’s favorite book was Kerouac’s On the Road, and that sort of rootless, restless wandering across America is more what R.E.M. were “about” than some sort of rooted “sense of place.”
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
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  22. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Thanks, I will do. :)
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
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  23. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Because “Radio Free Europe” is so deeply southern, both in the lyrics and the New Wave music.
     
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  24. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    I dont know about anyone else here, but I never really thought of REM as a southern rock band. They just happened to come together in Athens, Ga. Thats about it. And its ok.
     
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  25. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    OK.
     
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