R.E.M.: Live

R.E.M.: Live In yet another attempt by Warner Brothers to recoup some of the 80 million dollars they paid to R.E.M. in 1997, here comes R.E.M.'s first live CD. Over the past few years R.E.M. has released In Time (the best of the Warner Brothers years), And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987, and the DVD When the Light Is Mine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987. R.E.M. Live is slightly different than those. While R.E.M. released a live DVD of their performances in support of In Time, R.E.M. Live was recorded on tour supporting Around the Sun their last studio album. R.E.M. Live focus' more on the bands later career. The only songs on the album from the IRS years are "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" from Reckoning, "Cuyohoga" from Lifes Rich Pagent, and "The One I Love" from Document. That almost immediately counts out any hipster kids who swear Murmur is their bible from caring about this album, for the rest of us the review goes on. R.E.M.'s Warner Brothers career has been marred by inconsistent outputs. Live features one song from Green. That song is "Orange Crush" which means no "Stand", no "Pop Song 89", and no "Get Up". Next was Out of Time which was their highest selling release. Live contains one tracks from Out of Time the obvious "Losing My Religion". Which is to appease American fans who know R.E.M. as Immortal Technique said "those white boys singing 'Losing My Religion'" After Out of Time was Automatic for the People which those hip to the blog world know that Stereogum released a tribute to recently on their site. Live feature a couple of Automatic tracks including "Drive", "Man on the Moon", and the obvious "Everybody Hurts". As of right now, I've named eight songs. R.E.M. Live contains 22 songs which means there are many tracks left from what a lot of people consider the downside of their career. The CD contains rare performances of "I Took Your Name" from Monster, "Ascent of Man" from their worst selling album to date Around the Sun, and an unreleased track "I'm Gonna DJ". Even with so many songs from their later career, R.E.M. is still one of the best live bands on the planet in my mind. After opening with the big rock numbers "I Took Your Name" and "So Fast, So Numb" from New Adventures, they seamlessly go into a version of "Boy in the Well" from Around the Sun that makes you wonder how you never noticed that song on your one or two listens through Around the Sun. I can honestly say when I first heard "Ascent of Man" on Live I thought it may have been previously unreleased because I always skipped it on Around the Sun but on Live it is captivating. Call me biased maybe, but R.E.M. Live seems much less like a band that's been considered fading away for the past ten years and more like a band that's only interested in reinventing themselves and rocking until they're the Rolling Stones age. Perhaps the nicest part of the R.E.M. Live is the bonus DVD of the entire performance. Blue Leach, who previously directed Depeche Mode's Touring the Angel, does a marvelous job with camera angles to capture the line energy of a live R.E.M. show. He perfectly captures the color and mayhem the Athens boys still dish out as they close in on their 50s. Rating: 9.1/10 MP3: R.E.M "I'm Gonna DJ (Live)"