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

This site is pretty good:

The R.E.M. Timeline

 

This version has more of a punk aesthetic to it, whereas the Murmur version is murkier and more in line with the overall atmosphere of that album. Both are good, but the Murmur version is divine, so I give this 3.5/5

 

“Jazz Lips” was recorded during the Chronic Town sessions:

R.E.M. Timeline - 1981 Concert Chronology

2 October 1981 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC
notes: The band arrive and set up their equipment.

3 October 1981 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC
basic tracks recorded: 1,000,000 / Ages Of You / Gardening At Night / Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) / Stumble / Shaking Through / White Tornado / 9-9 (attempted but abandoned)
notes: Recording Session for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. Apart from '9-9' all tracks are available in some format or another. '1,000,000' and 'Stumble' made it onto the Chronic Town EP. 'Ages Of You' and 'Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars)' can be found on the LP bootlegs Chronic Murmurings and Really Exciting Music and the CD bootleg The Essential Demos Vol. 1. 'Gardening At Night' was released on Eponymous. 'Shaking Through' is available on Essential Demos Vol. 1, and 'White Tornado' is on the LP bootleg Really Exciting Music.

4 October 1981 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC
tracks recorded: Jazz Lips (This Is Jazz (Blow Nose))
notes: Recording Session for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. This song was referred to by name in the packaging for the 'Dead Letter Office' compilation, but wasn't included in the final tracklisting.

 

Radio Free Europe (Hib-Tone Single)

This version is more new wave/punk than the version that would later appear on Murmur. I prefer the later version but this one is not without it's charms. I like the energy and rawness.

5/5 - I could not give it less in any form for one of R.E.M.'s signature early songs.

 

Yeah, if the band's first session at Drive-In Studios was 4/15/81, Jazz Lips must have been recorded later...

 

I heard the Eponymous version first, so it’s always been the “real” version to me. I still prefer it to the one on Murmur. The Eponymous version also sounds a lot more like their live shows of the period than Murmur does, at least to my ears. But I’d give every version a 5/5.

 

The Eponymous version, raw as it is, doesn’t sound anything like their live shows of the period, either.

 

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but “Radio Free Europe” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2009.

Here’s the essay written by Cary O’Dell, who works with the Motion Picture, Broadcast and Recorded Sound division for the Library of Congress:

https://www.loc.gov/static/programs...servation-board/documents/RadioFreeEurope.pdf

 

I agree it does sound closer to the live versions I’ve heard though of course they were rawer than this live in 1981. But I think that they deliberately went for a non-live sound for Murmur.

 

Hibtone - Radio Free Friday Night

Album Version - Radio Free Sunday Afternoon

 

Here is an even earlier live version, from 1982.

 

I first heard "RFE" on "Eponymous." I was late to the game and hadn't heard a note til "Document" and "Green" made their way to the airwaves in my neck of the woods. "Out of Time" was my first R.E.M. album. I caught up and then some soon afterwards. "Eponymous" was my first I.R.S. cassette tape and hearing those early songs the first time knocked my socks off.

I prefer the Hibtone/ Eponymous version over the "Murmur" version on most days, but I'd never trade in the "Murmur" version for the other.

 

Still pretty early in the game from Tyrone’s, Buck’s guitar tone is noticeably rawer than the Hib-Tone single, on which his tone sounds almost like Robert Smith of the Cure from this era, a similarity pointed in the one of the earliest Village Voice or New York Rocker reviews of the single. There are other live recordings from 1981/82 where they play “Radio Free Europe” even more like a Ramones song.

While Murmur is the most self-consciously “studio” recording of the bunch, none of their recordings from the Hib-Tone single through Fables come close to capturing their live power (and fairly regular sloppiness). Until they made a conscious decision to become more professional after the Fables tour, they were far closer to the Replacements than is generally acknowledged, in that, as late as 1985, their sets could, and frequently did, devolve into a series of drunken covers, many of which they didn’t really know how to play all the way through.

 

Count me in, I will surely follow and perhaps participate here and there.

 

I echo the above in content and ranking.

Looking forward to this thread. Thanks @Lance LaSalle

 

Absolutely, the bass lines on Murmur are excellent.

 

Radio Free Europe (Hib Tone Single) 4/5

Like many the Murmur recording of RFE will be always be the definitive version for me but the Hib Tone single has it's charm. Slightly Punk/New Wave sounding with tons of energy (perhaps too much in some parts of the track,it does seems like they are playing a little bit too fast) the melody is a knockout with the chorus being extremely catchy even if you can't make it out the lyrics (I might be saying that a lot during the early years ) overall a great start to their career.

 

Greetings Night Gardeners,

My thoughts on R.E.M. will play out over the releases however it was upon putting the needle on Murmur, on it’s release, that this band from Southern US became my favourite band of all time. The years have diminished that view and interest waned through a couple of periods but I can honestly say the each and every record has something that draws me back to that original thought of my favourite band of all time.

The original RFE doesn’t measure up to the Murmur version, for me, only as I knew the LP version for a long time before hearing the versions posted here.

3.0

 

...which is why I love those older show recordings!

 

40 years later, and it still has that magic. It's amazing to hear a band start with such a strong single and identifiable and timeless sound. It's hard to think of many others who have, especially from 1981 forwards. FWIW I like the drive and tempo of this version better than on Murmur. As good as it gets! 5/5

 

I'm more familiar with the later stuff, but this is a pretty cool track.

It sounds a lot less different to the later stuff than I expected, due to things I have read. I don't really hear the punk, but it has a good energy.
To me it sounds like all the pieces were already in place, and the main thing that changed was the production.
Excellent first track from the guys.

 

Agreed. Others hold Murmur in high regard, I don't. Not as much as the rest of the IRS era. It seems to lack energy, its too safe. Chronic town had that edgy amped up energy that makes for excellent early REM.

 

“Radio Free Europe” wasn’t my first R.E.M. song. I was late to the party. Going back to it with Life’s Rich Pageant, Green and Out Of Time already firmly lodged in my brain, it was clear that with “Radio Free Europe” all of the elements that made the group great were on this single. One might sense more potential from “Radio Free Europe” than the first singles by the Beatles or Stones.

I’m probably partial to the Murmur version mostly because it kicks off that album so well. Next would be the Hib Tone. I also like the 1991 live versions, just to hear it as interpreted by the group at that stage of their career.

 

Our votes for "Radio Free Europe [Hibtone Single]"

1-0
2-0
3-1
4-5
5-5
Average: 4.3333 (editedwith @Summer of Malcontent"s late vote)

 

This will be a fun thread. Both versions of 'Radio Free Europe' warrant 5/5 for me. Such a propulsive song, complicated by so many hooks. It's easy to hear traces of a whole lot of bands that influenced R.E.M. during these early years, but hard to think of any band that combined those influences in this particular way. This single really is a blueprint for the career that followed.