It seems the biggest hurdle is touring. They all hate the idea of going on tour as R.E.M. Mills couldn’t be bothered, Buck and Stipe could do tours but not with R.E.M. But recording music together I think they could do because it seems like they all want to write and perform. As I said earlier, that Stipe track he brought out is an R.E.M song, put some guitars on it and it would sound exactly like a song from Collapse Into Now. I don’t understand why you would do that and at the same time say that you have nothing left to prove. If you have nothing left to prove just do something else, like farm pumpkins or something.
All of Fugazi play together every couple years. What a tease : Fugazi play together behind closed doors
Is anyone else here a fan of the Surprise Your Pig tribute album? It had plenty of cool bands (e.g., Jawbox, Jawbreaker, J Church, Mr. T Experience, Band of Susans) doing darn good REM covers.
I tried to get into it when it came out and not much stuck with me. I should revisit. The Jawbreaker cover is also on their rarities comp and that got me to appreciate it later
Mills admitted to only giving the deluxe demo discs a cursory listen. I think Stipe is in the same boat.
Well I agree REM is much better overall but the blue album by weezer was so amazing for those of us who were tweens when it came out...it was like geeky grunge with ton of melody. It is as strong as any REM album IMO but REM just kept putting out good to great albums so yes they are much better overall.
Well, certainly it will never cease as an opportunity as in the case of Led Zeppelin, but in my view they need some more time to pass before they can reunite (with or without Bill). But I'm sure a reunion will happen. I'd bet around 5 to 10 years from now. Stipe must be still writing and can't imagine the others laid their axes for good.
Yeah, so spot on you could insert any other band in that statement and it still wouldn’t make any sense.
Funny you should mention that. The new Uncut special issue has an interview with Mike Mills about the reissues, in which he says: The remastering [of our albums] is always about the result not the process. I am not a mastering engineer. I can tell what Scott Litt and Greg Calbi do but not how they do it. For the remastering we just listen and with the advances in technology they are able to bring out things that are buried and give it a fuller sound or you can hear things that we played that you might not have been able to hear before ... the remastering is for the audiophiles in the fanbase and the [bonus material] is something everyone can appreciate ... All four of us give approval [to the reissues]. The remastering is generally a given because we know that with the technological advances there are improvements that can be made in the overall sound. Like it or not, Mills clearly doesn’t share the views of SH.tv on the remastering of his band’s music. But I have known several professional musicians who simply aren’t interested in audiophile anything. I recently “fixed” the stereo of a musician friend who asked me to take a look at it because it “sounded bad.” He had the positive and negative speaker wires switched on one speaker and the result was out of phase. I tried to explain to him what was wrong and he didn’t even understand. This is a guy who has played at Red Rocks.
Why does everyone want their favorite old bands to “get back together, man”? You’re never gonna recapture whatever it was that you expect to recapture. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment.* *Dinosaur Jr. being the only exception to this rule.
Yeah, the fans wouldn’t be disappointed. If they’re real fans. Snarky critics, the PR machine, plus those that got off the train at Out of Time or (insert album name here), would be and they couldn’t be anything otherwise.
Because a lot of us weren't old enough (or even born yet) when the good stuff happened. I mean, I wasn't born when Springsteen happened, but that doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed every minute of the E-Street shows I've seen in the last 15 years. Sure, Genesis in 2007 was nothing like the Three Sides Live or Wembley Stadium shows I saw on VHS as a kid, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a massive thrill to hear those songs played by those guys, even if they were older and less spritely. I was just too young to see the Monster tour...I saw them on Up, but it was at one of the world's worst venues, from the last row of seats, I could barely hear or see a damn thing (I can't even imagine the people on the lawn, but I don't think anyone that far back at Pine Knob cares, they're just getting drunk). So yeah, I'd jump at another chance, and given that all four members are alive, well, and still seemingly able to perform at the same level they did 20-25 years ago, I don't think I'd be disappointed. I don't go into shows of older acts expecting it to be exactly like a show from 30 years ago. Of course you'll be underwhelmed if you do that. But real musicians don't ever stop playing, and as long as they're playing well and giving it all they've got, I won't be disappointed.
One of my favorite things about REM is they never became a nostalgia act. They never tried to recreate any past hits. Even their “return to rock” records like Monster and Accelerate didn’t actually sound like their previous louder records. I like that they were always looking forward. I’d be a little bit bummed to see them just look back.
It's been 25 years since the 4 of them did a proper show together. Buck will be 63 in a couple weeks. You want them to START a reunion when he's 73 years old? I was standing near Buck/Mills(they were guesting at a Big Star thing) during a Replacement reunion show at Bumbershoot in Seattle a couple years ago. Neither was wearing ear plugs at a loud show. I always roll my eye when SHers thing those 2 are audiophiles just because Buck does AAA vinyl.
