White Tornado 3/5 Not much really to say on this track,it's a short but fun instrumental song. I do like the sequence on Dead Letter Office placing it in between Burning Hell and the cover of Toys In The Attic.
@dlemaudit Ok so aptly enough it's apparently from a recording called 'Return of the Rickenbackers'. That's pretty funny. I scanned through it quickly and it sounds to me like there is a 12 string on several songs, notably during the encore which includes White Tornado. See what you think. He's also using a chorus pedal I think so that colors perceptions as well.
White Tornado - a really good break in the sequence of Dead LO, fascinating to hear the early version here. Bill B's drumming critical here as elsewhere - of course they were nowhere near the same after he left. 3/5 To tie this in rather tenuously with Lance's earlier Robyn Hitchcock thread, the persistent drum roll backing does rather remind me of the Soft Boys' 'Ugly Nora' from the 1978 Radar sessions - of course an influence on Buck; but I guess it all derives from that early 60s surf sound.
White Tornado The drums and bass in this song are fantastic and really drive the song along. I find the sort of surf rock guitar less interesting. Although that style can be great, I don’t think the guitar melody here is quite up to snuff. The second, really twangy guitar part is a lot more interesting than the initial and later guitar parts. This is an enjoyable enough track, but one I don’t ever seek out. 3/5
It would have been a 4, but its use as the theme song to R.U. Talkin’ R.E.M. Re: Me? puts it over the top. 5 it is. That’s some good rock n roll, um, music?
White Tornado It makes sense that this song dates back to their first demo cassette. I knew college bands that had no original material at all - except for the obligatory surf instrumental. This might be one of the first tunes they ever wrote. The drumming of Bill Berry definitely carries the tune. Also on the “cassette set” tape: The fragment of “Sitting Still” is really just a few seconds, but the fragment of “White Tornado” is an honest attempt at the song that ends on a bum note and then a bit of studio banter. I like the fact that even on this demo cassette we are seeing song fragments and bits similar to the ones sprinkled throughout the Murmur and Reckoning albums. The seeds are there!
White Tornado is a fun Ventures-esque romp, but it was always just sorta "there" for me. Yes, the melody sticks nicely in the head, but it's pretty cookie cutter surf rock. And there's nothing wrong with that. However, hearing the live version posted above (which I thought was rockin'), I realize (yet again) how much Peter's style has influenced my own guitar playing, especially with those little slides up the neck into a gnarly groove. 3.5/5
White Tornado - I agree with everyone's comments about the 60's surf music comparisons. This is a nice showcase for Bill Berry. He never seemed to get his due until his impact was felt after his departure. Overall, White Tornado is a pleasant listen but I think of it as more of an interlude, than a proper song. For a B-side/non-album track, it's pretty good. 3/5 ranking
The first time I saw R.E.M. live was March 1984, just before the release of Reckoning. They played White Tornado. I assumed it was a cover of a Ventures or Surfaris tune. Didn't release it was an original until three years later when I got Dead Letter Office. Solid 4/5
Since I love R.E.M.'s music so much, it's tempting to rate everything highly. However, for this thread, I'm going to try to be discerning and thoughtful in comparing the different songs. In this case, "White Tornado" is a lot of fun and showcases a band enjoying themselves. It's easy to get lost in the spirit underpinning the song. However, it is not anywhere close to being as good as other songs that I will be rating much more highly as the thread progresses. So I have to rank this 2/5. A great listen, but too much of a toss off to be ranked more highly.
"White Tornado" isn't anything particularly special, but it's enjoyable enough. R.E.M. does a surf rock instrumental. The two versions are very similar but I probably prefer the slightly rawer 1981 recording to the 1986 re-do. This sort of thing isn't what I adore the band for and, to be honest, their b-sides and off cuts are far less interesting than those of most of the other bands and artists whose work I hold in similar esteem. A song like this seems frivolous compared to their main output. 3.3/5 for the 1981 version on Dead Letter Office 3.1/5 for the 1986 "Superman" b-side
If memory serves, it may have been the first song in the encore i.e., the band sans Michael came out and did White Tornado and then he joined for the next song in the encore, which I believe was a cover of T. Rex's 20th Century Boy! The R.E.M. Timeline does not have a full setlist for the show I was at (Daytona Beach, March 15) but other shows in this timeframe have them opening the encore with White Tornado and Ghost Riders in the Sky, as well, on occasion.
In 1981, Michael Stipe was also involved in a side project with William Lee Self called Tansplagen. Stipe sang and played organ. There's an EP's worth of stuff available digitally from this band -- I won't link to YouTube because it says you need a premium account to view it, but you can listen to their four songs on Spotify (or download it from iTunes, etc.). Tanzplagen It's pretty interesting; a lot more post-punk, darker, artier than R.E.M. His sister sings on a couple of songs too. Apparently they did gigs only when there was a full moon (and when R.E.M. were in town, which started becoming increasingly rare as their star rose.) If offers an interesting glimpse into a side of Michael's artistry that may have largely gone untapped in R.E.M., and it's interesting to speculate what might have been had he not met the others in the band.
I love them both, but they really are very different records in terms of sound. For my listening pleasure, I folded the debut single and 'White Tornado' into the Chronic Town EP to build it up to an awesome (but still very short) album, and it reinforces that this was a distinct pre-Murmur phase for the band. I'm hoping that a forthcoming Chronic Town deluxe reissue will give this period the full weight it deserves.
White Tornado is a fun listen. On that scale, it’s better than some of the clunkers that came out much later. 2/5
White Tornado: 2 Too trivial as a song to derserve a better score, but definitely not a bad performance.
I didn't read every post. "Wolves, Lower" is possibly my favorite REM tune, with "Good Advices" close second.