man-sized wreath single release details

the single is expected to come on 7" clear vinyl and digital download.
B-sides are:

- Living Well Jesus Dog

- Mr. Richards (Vancouver)

hollow man single review

This is quite sad/nostalgic...
Cd singles are going to leave (digital) space to music downloads, so every new release in the above format could be the last.
and that's the case with hollow man. man sized wreath is scheduled to be the third single off accelerate, but i fear this will be in digital download-only form (I secretly hope that's not the case).
by the way, the point is that the hollow man 3 tracks cd single is really good. hollow man bonds perfectly with the live from Vancouver version of horse to water (with vocals a little more buried in the mix than the studio version), wich i find highly enjoyable.
but the big surprise is indian summer, a beat happening cover which could easily be described as 5 minutes of pure r.e.m. greatness. and i can't help thinking about how great on the fly, with a similar production treatment, would have been (maybe it's there, waiting for some sort of release).
the single sounds like an ep, with the perfect (casual?) choice of the tracklist.
no doubt it is worth buying; and the only retailer that is selling it is cdon (at least, for the europeans):
http://www.cdon.com/main.phtml?navroot=906

hollowman.tv

a new site that invites you to share ideas for the visuals on the european leg of the tour.
submit your photographic work, it could pop up directly on screen...
the link is now to be find on the right

setlists

You can find all the american setlist here:
http://remhq.com/blog.php?id=22

Denver 04.06.2008

setlist:

1. Living Well's the Best Revenge
2. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
3. Welcome to the Occupation
4. Ignoreland
5. Man-Sized Wreath
6. World Leader Pretend
7. Accelerate
8. Cuyahoga
9. Hollow Man
10. Walk Unafraid
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. The One I Love
14. Feeling Gravity's Pull
15. Departure
16. Final Straw
17. I've Been High
18. Let Me In
19. Horse to Water
20. Bad Day
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ

23. Supernatural Superserious
24. These Days
25. Losing My Religion
26. Fall On Me
27. Man On The Moon

reviews here:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/04/through-tunes-old-and-new-rem-strings-it-all/

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2008/06/last_nightrem_the_national_and.php

Berkeley 01.06.2008

setlist:

1. These Days
2. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
3. Begin The Begin
4. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
5. Accelerate
6. Ignoreland
7. Drive
8. Man-Sized Wreath
9. So. Central Rain
10. Hollow Man
11. Auctioneer
12. Houston
13. Electrolite
14. Disturbance At The Heron House
15. Final Straw
16. I’ve Been High
17. Let Me In
18. Losing My Religion
19. Bad Day
20. Horse To Water
21. Orange Crush
22. Man on The Moon

23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Fall On Me
25. Carnival Of Sorts
26. The One I Love
27. Until The Day Is Done
28. I'm Gonna DJ

Berkeley 31.05.2008

setlist:

1. Horse To Water
2. Little America
3. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Ignoreland
5. Accelerate
6. Man-Sized Wreath
7. Imitation Of Life
8. West Of The Fields
9. Hollow Man
10. Wolves, Lower
11. Walk Unafraid
12. Houston
13. Electrolite
14. The One I Love
15. Final Straw
16. Find The River
17. Let Me In
18. Losing My Religion
19. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
20. Bad Day
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ

23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Mr. Richards
25. Driver 8
26. Life And How To Live It
27. Man on The Moon

review here:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9446266?nclick_check=1

Los Angeles 29.05.2008

setlist:

1. Pretty Persuasion
2. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
3. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Sitting Still
5. Ignoreland
6. Man-Sized Wreath
7. Circus Envy
8. Drive
9. Accelerate
10. Hollow Man
11. Fall On Me
12. Houston
13. Electrolite
14. Final Straw
15. I’ve Been High
16. Let Me In
17. Losing My Religion
18. Horse To Water
19. Bad Day
20. Walk Unafraid
21. I'm Gonna DJ

22. Supernatural Superserious
23. The One I Love
24. Until The Day Is Done
25. Man on The Moon

reviews here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/05/30/rem-conjure-a-little-bit-of-magic-at-the-hollywood-bowl/

http://www.nme.com/news/rem/37000

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=11209

Washington 24.05.2008

setlist:

1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
3. These Days
4. Drive
5. Accelerate
6. Auctioneer
7. Man-Sized Wreath
8. Ignoreland
9. Hollow Man
10. Life and How To Live It
11. Houston
12. Losing My Religion
13. Harborcoat
14. The One I Love
15. Final Straw
16. Let Me In
17. Horse To Water
18. Bad Day
19. Walk Unafraid
20. I'm Gonna DJ

21. Orange Crush
22. Supernatural Superserious
23. Man on The Moon

review here:
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/papercuts/story/194002.html

Vancouver 23.05.2008

setlist:

1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
3. Ignoreland
4. Second Guessing
5. Gardening At Night
6. Man-Sized Wreath
7. Disturbance At The Heron House
8. Hollow Man
9. Accelerate
10. West of the Fields
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. Losing My Religion
14. Time After Time (annelise)
15. Let Me In
16. The One I Love
17. Country Feedback
18. Bad Day
19. Walk Unafraid

20. Supernatural Superserious
21. Sweetness Follows
22. Get Up
23. I'm Gonna DJ
24. Man on The Moon

reviews here:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=3b93537b-a16e-43fd-99e2-2f72b0e92848

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080524.wremreview0524/BNStory/Entertainment/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080524.wremreview0524

tour site launched

a new site where R.E.M. fans can share opinions, photos, blog entries, tweets, and videos on R.E.M.'s 2008 world tour. the first tweets and some nice photos are already on; check them out here:
http://tour.remhq.com/
also, you will find the link on your right.
in other news, 7 new dates have been added to the european leg of the tour:
Sept 17--OBERHAUSEN, KONIG-PILSENER ARENA (general onsale date is May 31st)
Sept 18--HAMBURG, COLORLINE (general onsale date is May 31st)
Sept 20--LUXEMBOURG, ROCKHAL (general onsale date is May 30th)
Sept 21--GENEVA, ARENA (general onsale date is June 2nd)
Sept 23--MUNICH, OLYMPIAHALLE (general onsale date is May 30th)
Sept 24--ZURICH, HALLENSTADION (general onsale date is June 2nd)
Oct 01--MADRID, BULLRING (general onsale date is May 30th)

side note: Vancouver soundcheck, "let me in" made an appearence. I wonder if we'll get the classic album version (which i love) or the 2001 fanclub single live version (which i love)

kick it out

the (real) tour starts this friday. For a quick roundup before the shows, check out:

-http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=766

-http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20830338/page/23

-http://www.murmurs.com/node/2240

-http://remring.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=808&Itemid=1

10 non-r.e.m. albums you should (possibly) listen to

1)the veils - the runaway found
2)radiohead - in rainbows
3)starsailor - love is here
4)coldplay - parachutes/a rush of blood to the head (sorry, couldn't let one out)
5)snow patrol - final straw
6)keane - hopes and fears
7)athlete - beyond the neighbourhood
8)the killers - sam's town
9)editors - an end has a start
10)the verve - urban hymns

hollow man single details

the new single is released on june the 2nd.
Hollow Man will be available in the following formats...Digital download2 track physical release: ‘Hollow Man’ + ‘Horse To Water’ (Vancouver)Maxi DMD single: ‘Hollow Man’ ‘Horse to Water’ (Vancouver), ‘Indian Summer’.
more info here:
http://www.lastbroadcast.co.uk/music/v/4444-rem-release-new-single-hollow-man.html

also, here's a link to the new video for Hollow man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUsdBl7xBxI

2nd single: Hollow man

as confirmed by Michael Stipe on Virgin radio.
let's hope for some good b-sides

Accelerate reviews

a very nice web page, with all the existing Accelerate reviews to date, here:
http://remring.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=4&id=52&Itemid=26&PHPSESSID=b3ae8d24261d2e04a89e0807a0227f0e

side note: the sticker on the front of the cd says:
"includes Supernatural Superserious, Hollow man and Until the day is done".
maybe we have singles number 2 and 3. but maybe not (the ATS sticker mentioned "Boy in the well", which has never been released as a single)

Accelerate is out now

in Italy.
my personal full review to follow soon

listen to accelerate in full

here:
http://ilike.com/rem
the album is available in streaming for a week

Royal Albert Hall setlist

Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Accelerate
Drive
Man-Sized Wreath
Electrolite
Houston
Hollow Man
Supernatural Superserious
Final Straw
Losing My Religion
The Great Beyond
I'm Gonna DJ
Horse To Water

Imitation Of Life
Until The Day Is Done
Man On The Moon

living well is the best revenge

listen to the album version of the song here:
http://streamos.wbr.com/qtime/wbr/remhq/accelerate/lwitbr.mov

there's also an acoustic "driving around" version here:
http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/browserRedirect?url=itms%253A%252F%252Fax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewVideo%253Fid%253D275502791%2526s%253D143441

mtv live in Milano setlist

Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Man-Sized Wreath
Drive
Second Guessing
Accelerate
Animal
Hollow Man
Electrolite
Houston
Supernatural Superserious
Bad Day
Final Straw
The Great Beyond
Losing My Religion
I'm Gonna DJ
Horse To Water
Imitation Of Life
Until The Day Is Done
Man On The Moon

Austin city limits setlist

Living Well is the best revenge
Man-Sized Wreath
South Central Rain
Drive
Supernatural Superserious
Hollow Man
Fall on Me
Electrolite
Houston
Accelerate
Bad Day
Losing my Religion
Imitation of Life
Final Straw
Horse to Water
Walk Unafraid
Until the Day is Done
Im Gonna DJ
Supernatural Superserious (reprise)
Man on the Moon

ninetynights: nights 73-80

sorry for the lack of updates.
michael talks about getting the adrenaline of the recording process and makes clear that he is the "perfectionist" in the studio, along with Mike.
then snss is played, when it still was "disguised".
Mr. richards live in Dublin sounds great, as Hollow man live in the studio does (the album version gives all the roughness of the live take, and you can hear it clearly from Michael's voice).
we also get to know that an acoustic version of "Sing for the submarine" has been recorded for the Vincent Moon project.
finally, night 80: Michael singing "On the fly" a cappella. I can't help thinking about this song as an r.e.m. classic. If well produced, it could be their best ballad ever (but this is only a personal opinion). I'm not really sure I want to see it pop up as ab-side; I'd rather think of it as a middle part of a new album

man-sized wreath 2nd single ?

source:
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storycode=1033157
this is not official news

SXSW 2008

setlist:

Living Well is the Best Revenge
Man-Sized Wreath
Second Guessing
Drive
Hollow Man
Animal
Auctioneer
Mr. Richards
Fall On Me
Great Beyond
Houston
Electrolite
Accelerate
Until the Day is Done
Final Straw
Bad Day
Horse to Water
Walk Unafraid

Supernatural Superserious
Imitation of Life
I'm Gonna DJ
Man on the Moon

you can listen to the show here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88155007

ninetynights: nights 71 & 72

staring down the barrel of the middle distance & man-sized wreath live in Dublin.
2 songs I'm really looking forward to. msw has improved (you can find a snippet of the song in the murmurs boards), and the chorus soars high thanks to Mike Mills' organ and backing vocals.
something tells me sdtbotmd will be on a future record; certainly, it doesn't sound like b-side material

ninetynights: nights 69 & 70

again 2 Horse to water nights.
you can find a snippet of the song @ www.remaccelerate.com; other available snippets include Until the day is done, Hollow man and Man-sized wreath, which you can find in the murmurs boards (send in mp3's thread).
they're really worth a listen. in particular, I'm really impressed with Man-sized wreath

langerado show blog reactions

and you'll hardly find a bad one:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/streeter/?cxntfid=blogs_leslie_gray_streeter

http://www.grooveshark.com/blog/2008/03/09/langerado-day-3-the-resurrection-of-rem/

http://blogs.trb.com/music/blog/piccoli/reviews/


also, check out some new pics here:
http://www.prefixmag.com/photos/langerado-2008-photos/


and a downloadable version of Hollow man live @ Langerado here:
http://remring.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=670&Itemid=26

r.e.m. to debut new album on ilike

on march 24.
link:
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080310005311&newsLang=en

ninetynights: nights 67 & 68

night 67 is a fun story narrated by Peter Buck, which you can find here:
http://remring.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=661&pop=1&limit=&limitstart=#commentAnchor
night 68 is that 10 seconds of Hollow Man played in Dublin when it still was meant to be called Tomorrow, and to contain the same chorus of the "friends" theme

Langerado 08/03/2008

setlist:

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Living Well is the Best Revenge
Bad Day
Drive
Hollow Man
So. Central Rain
Fall on Me
Imitation of Life
Man-Sized Wreath
Begin the Begin
Orange Crush
Accelerate
Electrolite
Houston
Losing My Religion
Horse to Water
Walk Unafraid
The One I Love

Supernatural Superserious
Auctioneer (Another Engine)
I'm Gonna DJ
Man on the Moon

also, check out this interview with Mike Mills about the show and the new album:
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/story/445831.html

photos of the event can be found here:
http://filmmagic.com/ItemListing.aspx?cgl=307915&evntI=0

r.e.m. month on q4music.com & other magazine news

here's
a
bunch
of stuff
about
Accelerate
and
r.e.m.
recently
found
online.
check
it out:

http://promo.emapnetwork.com/q4music/rem/remhome.shtml

http://www.spin.com/reviews/rem-accelerate-warner-bros

http://onlineathens.com/stories/030608/living_2008030600330.shtml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/08/sm_rem08.xml

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2008/03/rem_accelerate_a_review_of_the.php

ninetynights: nights 65 & 66

combine toghether nights 65 & 66, and you'll have two-minutes of Until the day is done live in Dublin. This song is one of the "old" ones; part of it has been written by Peter Buck during the "Automatic for the people" era. check out the snippet @ www.remaccelerate.com. it seems it will be soon joined by a few other previews

ninetynights: nights 63 & 64

Living well is the best revenge was born during the 2005 tour, at least its chorus (night 63).
It's interesting to note how many songs that ended up to be on Accelerate are taken from the recent past (not only Living well, but also DJ and Until the day is done - which Peter once played during a radio show in 2004 or 2005 - ).
if they decided to give also a chance to On the fly, we would have had half an album of "old" songs (to be more precise, ATS era songs).
so I wonder: why bashing all the ats-related stuff ?
the same people who did so in the past, are now referring to Living well as (one of) the best new songs. Living well was born in the ATS era.
night 64 is another live take of the song, which sounds absolutely great

ninetynights: nights 61 & 62

night 61 is one of the most enjoyable so far: a minute of Living well is the best revenge live in Dublin. reviewers pick the first track of Accelerate as the best on the album. from what was heard in Dublin, certainly you can say this is one of the best in the bunch (standing there with accelerate, horse to water, houston).
night 62 is about having a hit single (a top ten single), and how much this is futile

accelerate tracklenghts

Living Well Is The Best Revenge (3:11)
Man-sized Wreath (2:31)
Supernatural Superserious (3:23)
Hollow Man (2:39)
Houston (2:05)
Accelerate (3:33)
Until The Day Is Done (4:08)
Mr. Richards (3:46)
Sing For The Submarine (4:50)
Horse To Water (2:18)
I'm Gonna Dj (2:07)

leap night

a special gift for hardcore r.e.m. fans:
29 February 1984 - 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA support: Wheel O'Cheese (AKA Love Tractor) set: Up On The Cross / Boom Boom Mancini / Trouble Waiting To Happen / Werewolves of London / Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight (w/ Cook) / Little America (w/ Stipe) / Second Guessing (w/ Stipe) / Gloria / Rebel Rebel / Wild Thing
notes: Hindu Love Gods - Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe, Bryan Cook and Warren Zevon

ninetynights: nights 58 & 59

not much to say about night 58; nice closeup of Mike, though.
night 59, instead, is so good. 30 seconds of "On the fly" live in Dublin. you know how much I love this song. I really hope to give it a full review, if it's released in some form.
feb 29 is the leap night (see one of the above posts). keeping my fingers crossed for it

r.e.m. broadcasts

here's a bunch of links regarding (near) future r.e.m. broadcasts:

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/02/new-information.html

http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=681

http://www.nme.com/news/rem/34695

ninetynights: nights 56 & 57

not much to say about nights 56 & 57.
so I decided to quote Ethan Kaplan:
"Keep in mind:ninetynights is also intended as a source for you all to make your own videos. So some videos are texture while some are content."
the above videos are surely texture.
we have something to look for in the coming days, though:
"night 67 is great, so is 89. 83 is surprising"

ninetynights: nights 54 & 55

Hollow man sounds good. you can judge for yourself taking a look (and a listen) to night 54. some of the fans believe it would make a great second single, but i think we should wait and see, listen to the new album, and then begin this kind of debate. surely, combining the thoughts that comes to mind listening to the various snippets (hollow man, until the day is done, horse to water), expectations are really high.
in night 55 Michael talks about inspiration. i wish that on march 28, i can say this is an inspired album; that's one of the things "Around the sun" lacked

accelerate mini-site

...and other miscellaneous news, here:
http://www.remhq.com/news_story.php?id=682
a link to the new site is now on the right. check it out frequently in the coming days, it seems we're gonna get some audio snippets

ninetynights: nights 52 & 53

aka the "Hollow man" nights. we finally come to know what the nights 10 & 44's riff is (an acoustic version of the song recorded for the itunes version of accelerate, or an actual part of the song we're gonna get on accelerate ?). the snippet brings us in the studio again, with michael singing the last part of the song; he seems happy with the result

ninetynights: nights 50 & 51

night 50 is one of the best in the lot: afull live version of "Houston". the studio version clocks in at exactly 2 minutes (as some of the others new songs).
in night 49 michael talks about touring and writing songs in the 1980's, and how the two things were necessrily related; the new approach, in a way, is an old approach. a new, old, innovative approach

r.e.m. 2/29 webcast plans

aka "the leap night". wondering if we'll get a new (not-to-be released anywhere else) song. this could be wishful thinking, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
linky: http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/02/new-information.html

ninetynights: nights 48 & 49

night 48 is about Michael Stipe; he talks about how the band's members are now more confident as songwriters; he also points out that Peter and Mike have more importance than before in the lyric-writing. his words make this record seem a true group effort, which can only be good.
night 49 gives us a sneak peek at "Houston"'s chorus. the song, which have evocative lyrics, captures the same mood also with the arrangement; it seems really good. I think this is gonna be one of the best songs on the album

ninetynights: nights 46 & 47

in night 46 summerize the Accelerate recording process by saying: "Fucked up is what I like sometimes". he appears really pissed off also in night 47, when Mike Mills takes part in the production of I'm gonna dj; Peter would have recorded this album in two days

ninetynights: nights 44 & 45

ninetynights is now half way through. night 44 is nothing more than night 10 redux (same acoustic guitar riff; this time, though, we see Peter Buck playing). night 45 gives more screen time to Peter, and in one of his bluest moods. I find this particular clip very communicative. thumbs up to mr. Vincent Moon, he's done a really good job. as I said, I can't wait to get my hands on the special edition of Accelerate, and check out his documentary ("6 days")

supernatural superserious mini site

make your own SNSS video:
www.supernaturalsuperserious.com
a new concept, and a fresh idea. on the youtube channel, you can upload your take on the video, and see what fans have come up with:
www.youtube.com/remsuperserious

matthew perpetua's Accelerate review

I suggest to check out this guy's blog, in which he write something about every single r.e.m. song:
http://popsongs.wordpress.com/
he also gives an inside into Accelerate, with a track-by-track review, which you can find here:
http://stereogum.com/archives/premature-evaluation/premature-evaluation-rem-accelerate_008061.html

ninetynights: nights 42 & 43

in nights 42 & 43 we are given a little of what seems to be "Hollow man", despite what I wrote about nights 13 & 14 (at the time, given the lyrics we heard, I thought the song was actually "Sing for the submarine"). btw, nothing really new, as the 2 clips differ from the nights 13 & 14 ones only for the visuals. mixing the clips, we have exactly the same first 30 seconds of the song. which imo sounds very promising (as I said, it has the classic r.e.m./Peter Buck sound).

side note: as the first reviews of "Accelerate" start to appear, we come to know that Hollow man starts as a slow piano ballad, and then builds up becoming a rocker

supernatural superserious video

here it is:
http://www.warnerknask.no/rem/

it's good. not as good as "imitation of life". but good, and funnier, in a way.
btw I wouldn't say it stands there with their best video works.
hoping for "6 days", though

european tour

today remhq announced the dates of the european leg of the tour:
http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=668
I'll be in Milano on july 26, and I'll be reporting about the show

side note: no uk dates yet, with the exception of the Royal Albert Hall gig

ninetynights: nights 40 & 41

A live performance of I'm gonna dj; a piece of interview with the band on the song (maybe part of the Vincent Moon's documentary "6 days"). Peter Buck talks about the first demo of I'm gonna dj: it was 5 minutes long and it featured sinthesizers. I hope to hear this demo, as I'm sure the song turned out to be something very different (not necessarly better).
for the records, I'm gonna dj is an ats era song; and this shouldn't be read as a bad thing

ninetynights: nights 38 & 39

night 38 is once again about horse to water.
night 39 gives us some new info about a bunch of things:
a)"wow!" and "future tense" join "big life" and "radio ventriloquist" in the list of the Accelerate working titles;
b)we have some titles that didn't made the cut on the new album; the 5 songs could reappear as b-sides, fanclub singles, part of a new album; here they are:

1)airliner
2)red head walking
3)kick the traces
4)on the fly
5)staring down the barrel of the middle distance

the 1st of them is a b-side off the new single, and it's also included in the cd/dvd version of accelerate, along with red head walking.
will the other three see the light in the near future ? certainly hope so

accelerate special edition

exciting extra contents on the cd/dvd version, which appears to be in the form of a 64-pages book; also, we'll have a new documentary to watch (6 days, by Vincent Moon) with footage from the Olympia shows, and two new songs: "Airliner" (a b-side off the new single) and "Red head walking". check it out for yourself here:
http://www.amazon.com/Accelerate-CD-...2446277&sr=8-2

supernatural superserious lyrics

Everybody hereComes from somewhere
But they would just as soon forget
and disguise
At the summer camp where you volunteered
No one saw your face, no one saw your fear
If that apparition had just appeared
Took you up and away from this place and sheer
Humiliation
Of your teenage station
Nobody cares no one remembers and nobody cares

Yeah you cried and you cried
You survived, you survived
Ah, you cried and you cried and you cried and you cried

If you call out safe then I’ll stop right away
If the premise buckles and the ropes starts to shake
For the details mark
And the stories the same
You don’t have to explain
You don’t have to explain
Humiliation
Of your teenage station

Yeah you cried and you cried
You survived, you survived
Ah, you cried and you cried and you cried
And you realized your fantasies are
Dressed up in travesties
Enjoy yourself with no regrets

Everybody here comes from somewhere
If they would just as soon forget
And disguise

Yeah you cried and you cried
You survived, you survived
Yeah, you cried and you cried and you cried and you cried
(Oh you cried and you cried oh you cried and you cried)

Now there’s nothing dark and there’s nothing weird
Don’t be afraid I’ll hold you near
From the séance where you first betrayed
An open heart on a darkened stage
Celebration
Of your teenage station

Inexperience sweet delirious
Supernatural superserious
Inexperience sweet delirious
Supernatural superserious
wow

ninetynights: nights 36 & 37

nights 33, 34, 35, 36 & 37, put togheter, should make a nice mini-documentary on "Horse to water". given the attention ninetynights' giving to this song, I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's the second (or third) single off Accelerate

listen to Supernatural Superserious

the full version, here:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/48521-rem-supernatural-superserious-stream

single preview and release dates

amazon.com has a (slightly) different preview of the new single:
http://www.amazon.com/Supernatural-S...1910403&sr=1-1

the release date for thhe digital download of "Supernatural superserious" is february 12;
the rumoured release date for the cd single is march 21

ninetynights: nights 34 & 35

in night 34 mr. Bill Rieflin gets his quantum of well-deserved attention. he's playing with a cow bell, and he seems to enjoy the recording session. anyway, god bless his drums.
night 35 is nothing more than a 2nd part of night 33, with mr. Mills finally getting it right

ninetynights: nights 32 & 33

night 32 shows the mixing stage of "horse to water". step by step, we're beginning to get more of this song. various reviews find it to be one of the best songs on Accelerate.
night 33 is indeed very fun. Mike Mills is trying to sing something about water, and the scene turns out to be (as i said) very fun. nothing more, nothing less.
these clips make me hoping for a full documentary (with the best clips of ninetynights included), released in some way (i.e. as a bonus for the olympia dvd, if there'll be one. that would be a treat)

first accelerate reviews showing up online

and none of them is a bad one. check out the murmurs boards to find out more (link on the right)

accelerate trailer

on remhq frontpage now. I have to be honest: supernatural superserious is awesome.
the song has evolved in a very positive way since Dublin, it has a really great potential. as a single. and as a song
http://remhq.com/index.php

ninetynights: nights 30 &31

In nights 30 & 31 we enter the studio again.
in the first clip you can hear the band talking about "houston", which seems to be a song the guys decided to give a lot of attention (production wise). check out what mr. Eric Zimmermann had to say about the song (+ partial lyrics) here:
http://remring.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=352&Itemid=36
night 31 offers a peek at mr. mike mills playing electric guitar for "Horse to water": you can hear the whole mix on the remhq front page

ninetynights: night 29

Michael stipe is listening to what seems to be a studio version of the song "Accelerate".
now, about today's clip there's one good thing and one bad:
-the good one: the song sounds absolutely faithful to the olympia live version; the only difference you note is that Peter is playing some more notes in the guitar outro
-the bad one: the song is not yet properly released

side note: we've had a hint of (almost) all the new songs, with some exceptions, via ninetynights and remhq

north american tour

tour dates for north america announced:
http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=662
european dates plus additional american dates to follow.

side note: on the main page of remhq, you can hear a snippet of the backing track for "Horse to water", with unconventional lyrics sung by mr. Mike Mills. a very fast track, with 3 guitars in the mix. and none of them is an acoustic one

ninetynights: night 28

this is the Olympia night 4 version of "Accelerate". the song is one of the best (maybe the best) of those played in Dublin in 2007. now it's only a matter of production. btw you have to be a really incompetent producer to ruin the song. which is not Jacknife Lee's case

ninetynights: night 27

Mr. Peter Buck talks about music in general, downloads and physical releases, r.e.m.'s new material. he's quite cool with those glasses on

opening acts

the next r.e.m. tour will see opening acts by "The National" and "Modest Mouse", according to this article:
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s2143945.htm
if it turns out to be true (which at this stage I think is very likely) this is such a good news

ninetynights: night 26

this is a little snippet of what Michael had to say in night 4 of the Dublin rehearsals.
as a fan, I probably listened to those words around a million times, just after track 2 (sdtbotmd) of the cd I burned with all the new song played live in Dublin. the thing is, looking at Michael's face while saying those words to the crowd makes you wondering how long does it take to listen to Accelerate. too much, no doubt

supernatural video shoot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prbkejIRRJ0

supernatural superserious single cover

....ehm... what is that supposed to be ?

ninetynights: night 25

Vincent takes us on stage while r.e.m. are performing "Staring down the barrel of the middle distance". this seems to be a hint at the fact that we'll see the song (not in "Accelerate" but) as a b-side or in a dvd of the Dublin rehearsals (that would be a treat for the fans). Bertis Downs (band's manager), back in 2007, referred to a release of the above mentioned dvd.
I can see it happening as a single release, or as a very special "Accelerate" bonus disc

ninetynights: night 24

ninetynights, I have to say, is becomingmore boring every day. today's clip shows Michael in a sort of interview (I bet the footage will pop up someday in a "cleaner" form), were he explain the process of gathering to discuss the song performed at the Olymoia. he says some of them didn't work; probably he refers to Staring down the barrel of the middle distance. many of the fans, btw, think the song worked. very well. I'm still hoping to see it as a b-side.

side note: on remhq, a sort of "supernatural superserious" artwork appears in the home page. wondering if we'll see something similiar for the single cover

supernatural superserious video shoot

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003700584
r.e.m. are shooting the video for their new single in NYC

ninetynights: night 23

the Olympia, again. night 5. Vincent Moon is running upstairs to give us a enjoyable view of the guys. Michael and Mike remind to the crowd that was not a show, but just an experiment.
it turned out to be a good experiment, undoubtely

longer snippet

judging a song after having listen just about 30 seconds of it:
http://www.murmurs.com/audio/by/title/supernatural_superserious
production sounds good: electric guitar, drums, another guitar...
now I hope the guys wrote a chorus for the song, something we didn't hear in Dublin;
for now this 30 snippet is enough for me. tomorrow I'll certainly ask for more.
If they continue to give us 15 new seconds of the song each day (not likely), by january 30 we'll all have listened to the full, magnificent new r.e.m. single.

side note: r.e.m. rocks

supernatural superserious supersnippet

if you want to spoil the thing, I suggest you this:
http://www.ringtonejukebox.com/search.asp?searchstring=R.e.m.&submit1=Search&countryid=1

supernatural superserious is indeed disguised. and that 15 seconds sound like we're gonna get a great new album...and a proper preview of the song soon.

ninetynights: night 22

this post is just for the sake of it (or, if you want, to fill a blank space I'd frankly be disappointed to leave).
night 22 is nothing really worth looking today (see other posts)

tracklisting, length, first single

1)Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2)Man-sized Wreath
3)Supernatural Superserious (1st single, out mid february)
4)Hollow Man
5)Houston
6)Accelerate
7)Until The Day Is Done
8)Mr Richards
9)Sing For The Submarine
10)Horse To Water
11)I’m Gonna DJ

35 minutes long

http://gaffa.dk/nyheder/view.php/news_id=20752

I can't really understand what happened to disguised. for now, it could either be the first single or a leftover.
and where's "Staring down the barrel of the middle distance" ? (I smell b-side)
and where's "On the fly" ? (I really hope it is at least released as a b-side)

accelerate cover concept

taken from "futurepicenter", JMS' project:
http://www.futurepicenter.com/archive.php?date=2007-11-23&currentimage=4

ninetynights: night 21

nothing really exciting tonight, just a cruel way to force people to write stupid things on their blogs. btw, I wonder if the olympia theme that we see on the posters will pop up somewhere someday

I'm an awful writer

new song (partial) lyrics, made out combining night 16 & 20:

a dusty tours destination
that has seen better days
is where you ran off rail
it lost its sheen in the first early spring
when the dreams of the 1980's failed
a few bad choices some dubious concerns
what you're offering
what you're offering
I don't know
what you're offering
you' re offering
I’m picking up I’m moving on
I’ve got to leave I’ve got to find my way
thank you very much
I’m an awful writer
my address changes too often
to try to keep in touch
I turn away and broken phrase you say
kick the traces, kid
kick up a little dust
kick the traces
kick up a little dust
what you' re offering
you' re offering

accelerate album cover

I'm afraid to sound too much teenagerinlove-ish, but, hell, this is absolutely mind-blowing

i believe in coyotes and in time as an abstract

early august 2004: "Around the sun" to be released on october 4th; leaving new york on september 27 (coming to radios around the world late august).
so if history repeats itself, we can expect a first single (and a definitive album tracklisting) announcement very very soon

ninetynights: night 20

this is the complement of night 16, again with Michael singing "a cappella" a new, never before heard song. new titles that have been floating the net are 3 in total, including "sing for the submarine", "hollow man" & "supernatural superserious".
in previous posts, I mentioned the possibility that "disguised" could have morphed into "supernatural superserious", basically for a lyrics coincidence (see some posts above).
however, it seems I was wrong (or maybe not), because the song that michael is singing in nights 16 & 20 is something totally new. possibilities:
-"disguised" is indeed "supernatural superserious", and what we gwt in night 20 is a new song without a known title;
-"disguised" is still "disguised", and in night 20 we get to hear "supernatural superserious";
-the night 20 clip is part of a song we already know the title, maybe the last part (a la "around the sun"-the song-); the tempo suggests that in this case it would be the last part of one of the slower songs (vote for the poll on the right).
I bet the tracklisting will be made of all the songs played in Dublin minus on the fly (shame) and I'm gonna dj, plus the three new titles

what's the frequency, Ethan ?

this is one of the last posts on Ethan Kaplan (head of technology at Warner Bros. records and administrator of the great murmurs site)'s blog:
http://blackrimglasses.com/archives/2008/01/15/the-great-quiet/

so when, Ethan ?

alternate take on night 19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeFYFccGOR8
just another perspective

ninetynights: night 19

tonight's clip take us on stage in the 4th of the five nights @ the Olympia.
it complements yesterday's video, that showed the backstage arrival of a glorious band.
in night 19, Peter seems to enjoy the situation, and he jerks us around, playing with the camera.
two thoughts come to mind:
-we're not sick of being jerked around;
-will we ever have the chance to get an official release of the dublin rehearsals ? yes, me thinks (accelerate bonus dvd ?http://www.music-wow.com/shop-item_details.php?id=WEA%2090004). At least, I hope so

cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP3iLfPWObI

Italy live dates

r.e.m. are rumoured to play 4 gigs in Italy between the 18th and 24th july;
locations (Verona, Napoli, Lucca & Milano) should be confirmed quite soon:
http://www.mtv.it/blogs/angelo4noexcuse/archive/2008/01/15/rem_2d00_to_2d00_play_2d00_in_2d00_italy.aspx;

http://ilblogdilesto1982.myblog.it/archive/2008/01/15/cookies-musica-concerti-in-italia-per-i-rem-a-luglio.html

the song panel

take a look at night 18, and then at night 6 (in no particular order). apart the music snippets, what you get is this "lyrics wall".
it seems to me a confirmation of the (partial) tracklisting, but who knows.
probably we're gonna get some of those songs as b-sides.
btw, here's the complete list:

-I'm gonna dj
-staring down the barrel of the middle distance
-living well is the best revenge
-horse to water
-mr. richards
-sing for the submarine
-accelerate
-man sized wreath

ninetynights: night 18

Jacknife lee is standing in front of the panel with lyrics for 8 new songs.
on the background, probably the intro for "Houston". it seems a really great piece of music, and also a remarkable work by mr. lee.
Also, take a look at night 6, where the bassline is more subtle, but still there

ninetynights: night 17

this is from night 5 of the Dublin rehearsals, and it helps creating the right atmosphear for anticipation.
Mike & Michael going down the stairs and then entering on stage for the july 5th show. applauses.
I wonder if someone at warner bros. is planning to give us more details about the upcoming release via ninetynights or not. it could turn out to be interesting

roundup

a good roundup of all the "Accelerate" news so far here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerate_%28R.E.M._album%29

ninetynights: night 16

"a dusty tourist destination that has seen better days is where you ran off rail
it lost a chain in the first early spring when the dreams of the 1980s failed
a few bad choices and dubious concerns what you're offering
I don't know what you're offering"

fair enough

new songs

we have three new titles:

-Sing for the submarine
-Hollow man
-Supernatural superserious

however, the latter seems to be "disguised" morphed into something else (Michael described the song as being about a seance gone wrong); the song has an indirect confirmation of being in the record, to be found in the remhq homepage (link on the right).
all in all, the tracklist is shaping up nicely, with the exception on "on the fly", a beautiful song everyone seems to have forgotten. I wonder why. Sometimes the struggle against every Around the sun-linked thing can be really silly.

side note: assuming we have 2 new songs in total, and having listened to all the others that are gonna be on the album, I'm afraid "Hollow man" and "Sing for the submarine" could suffer a little. Apart for the little snippets of "Mr. Richards" and "Houston" though, the ninetynights project is giving more attention to the 2 new songs. which imo is a good thing

friends theme

"friends theme" played in Dublin (only one of the five nights) became "Hollow man" (see post above):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RSpM7GDuWw

ninetynights: night 15

some bad encode problems on nights 14 & 15.
btw this seems to be "Hollow man", which gets an indirect confirmation for the new record.
what you get is only about 3 seconds of the song, so any judgement's postponed.
seems to me a way of building up a tracklist for the record, so this joins the list of the confirmed songs (see post above), tentatively at least.

side note: I hope "Hollow man" is as good as "Sing for the submarine" seems to be

UK live dates

UK live dates to be confirmed shortly, according to NME :
http://www.nme.com/news/rem/33630

ninetynights: night 14

as I said, brilliant.
this is classic r.e.m. sound that should really please most of the fans.
you can clearly feel the vibe of the first albums in today's clip; I also hear something reminescent of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugOkKZQbZBk
mix up night 14 and 13 in this order and you'll get the first 40 seconds of what promises to be a great new r.e.m. track: "Sing for the submarine", possibly.

side note: The Veils' "The runaway found" is a great album

I've been lost in a sea like this

aka: ninetynights 14 + 13.
Brilliant

ninetynights: night 13

some guitar noodling by mr. Peter Buck.
reminds me of this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stbFYVhTQ5k
Maybe the ninetynights idea was already flowing 7 months ago...

side note: it doesn't seem to be a snippet of a new song; btw it gives a perfect idea of peter buck's guitar playing style

b-side

one of the b-sides from the forthcoming r.e.m. singles (likely for the first of them off the new album) will be a remix by singer/producer dub gabriel.
source: http://blog.myspace.com/dubgabriel

side note: even if I'm not-so-fond of remixes used as b-sides, I must admit I'm really looking forward to this one. Michael must like very much remixes (the 2002 project "r.e.m.ix", after the release of reveal, turned out to be very good in some points-jamie candiloro's take on "she just want to be" was great, but four different remixes of "I've been high" seemed too much-)

11 songs in 30-something minutes ?

http://news.q4music.com/2008/01/the_story_of_the_new_issue_4.html

I usually don't like long albums (with some exceptions).
putting 13+ songs on an album is a choice I wouldn't make;
as a fan I want to hear them all, but I'm also sure that would destroy the band's work.
11 or 12 songs is a perfect lenght; one of the many "Around the sun"'s problems was its 13 songs lenght. I'm pretty sure it could have been much better with a 2-songs cut.
btw I do hope 30-something minutes means 38-39 minutes, at least.

side note: my fear is that "on the fly" won't make the album (no mention of it in any advance listen of the album by the music industry guys). If it's the case, I'd be rather disappointed. It's probably the best new song (hence the blog's title)

confirmed songs

some of the songs recorded during the "accelerate" session will make the album (they have 17 songs recorded in total), some other won't (maybe they will be released as b-sides).
waiting for an official tracklist, though, some of them have been (directly or not) confirmed to appear on accelerate:
-accelerate;
-until the day is done (confirmed by remhq);
-houston (ninetynights n. 6);
-mr. richards (ninetynights n. 11)
-sing for the submarine.

more to come

Dublin shows

To get an idea of what the new album will sound like:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=r.e.m.+dublin

ninetynights: night 12

Nothing really exciting today: again the Olympia theatre and the slogan of the Dublin rehearsals:
"this is not a show".
Listening to the bootlegs of the 5 nights at the Olympia, btw, you get a totally different impression. "Real shows" are being planned for 2008 (take a look at the "confirmed tour dates" post, where you also find some rumoured gigs)

cd wow

provisional tracklist (in alphabetical order) and provisional cover for accelerate at:
http://www13.cd-wow.com/detail_resul...t_code=2540676

side note: without a doubt, cover and tracklist will be different; however, this is the first retailer
to give this kind of attention to the album. Details will surely come soon

accelerate working title(s)

not-so-interesting piece of trivia.
"big life" and "radio ventriloquist" are the 2 "accelerate" working titles rumoured around the web.
source: stereogum

side note: I do prefer accelerate

confirmed tour dates

for now:

-March 8: Langerado Music Festival in Big Cypress, South Florida.

-March 12: SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.

r.e.m. are also rumored to be playing:
austrian's biggest rock festival "Novarock";
Neapolis festival (Italy);
a show in the "Arena di Verona"(Italy).

myspace (2)

http://www.myspace.com/rem
It seems that some buzz is going to happen.
R.e.m.'s last album (Around the sun) was previewed on myspace.
This could be also the case for "Accelerate". The site is probably undergoing changes in the style of the new record artwork; hopefully we will also get something from the album (first single, maybe ?)
btw an announcement (tracklist, single release, cover, etc.) is expected very soon

myspace (1)

check out this one:
http://www.myspace.com/dubgabriel
Dub Gabriel teams up with michael stipe for a cover of "Cheree", by the New York based band "Suicide".
production wise, the song is pretty good

ninetynights: night 11

this seems to be the best of the teasers so far.
some "Mr. Richards" arrangement and mr. Michael Stipe's head @ the Olympia.
a few sinthesizer touches and a quite heavy electric guitar. Intro to the song ?

Side note: visit ninetynights (link on the right) and check out also night 6 in the "archive" section of the site: that's "Houston" bassline.
jacknife lee's production seems to fit r.e.m.'s spirit (too early to say ? maybe)

r.e.m. new album

"Accelerate", to be released on april 1.
songs rehearsed live at the Olympia theatre in Dublin in july 07.
produced by Jacknife lee (snow patrol, bloc party, u2).
tracks to (possibly) appear on the CD: accelerate, mr. richards, staring down the barrel of the middle distance, living well's the best revenge, I'm gonna dj, houston, on the fly, disguised, man sized wreath, until the day is done, hollow man, sing for the submarine, supernatural superserious, horse to water (well, some of them, at least).

Side note: if the album turns to be half as good as the dublin shows (type "rem olympia" on youtube and check for yourself) then it could really be one of the best REM efforts to date.
More news to come as they pop up in the net.
ps. check out www.ninetynights.com if you're interested

hello

hello guys
this is a blog about the passion
a place I seriously suggest you to avoid
more to come soon