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