R.E.M. "R.E.M. Live" Era: 2 CD/1 DVD: Oct. 16

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard.com:

R.E.M. Preps First Concert CD/DVD Set

August 21, 2007

by Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

In a career first, R.E.M. will on Oct. 16 release the aptly named "R.E.M. Live," its maiden concert album. The two-CD, one-DVD set is drawn from a Feb. 27, 2005, concert at Dublin's the Point on the Around the Sun tour. The DVD portion was directed by Blue Leach (Depeche Mode, Snow Patrol).

The track list is weighted toward material from "Around the Sun," from which six songs are taken. But it also features a handful of oddities, including "I Took Your Name" from 1994's "Monster," the vintage "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" and the previously unreleased "I'm Gonna DJ."

A trailer for the project can be found on the R.E.M. fan site Murmurs.com.

As previously reported, the group is in the studio with producer Jacknife Lee, with an eye on a 2008 release for its next album. A host of new songs were debuted during a recent run of shows in Dublin.

Here is the track list for "R.E.M. Live":

"I Took Your Name"
"So Fast, So Numb"
"Boy in the Well"
"Cuyahoga"
"Everybody Hurts"
"Electron Blue"
"Bad Day"
"The Ascent of Man"
"Great Beyond"
"Leaving New York"
"Orange Crush"
"I Wanted To Be Wrong"
"Final Straw"
"Imitation of Life"
"The One I Love"
"Walk Unafraid"
"Losing My Religion"
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"
"Drive"
"(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"
"I'm Gonna DJ"
"Man on the Moon"

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard:

ARTIST: R.E.M.

ALBUM: R.E.M. LIVE

R.E.M. has been generous with greatest-hits and rarities compilations, but it hasn't released a live album until now. "R.E.M. Live," recorded in February 2005 in Dublin, pits classics (1986's "Cuyahoga") against recent tunes ("Leaving New York") and hits all the marks ("Everybody Hurts," "Walk Unafraid"). R.E.M. knows there is a sweet spot between Michael Stipe's deep warble and bassist Mike Mills' honeyed tenor backing vocals, and that pairing is deployed often during the night, with Mills taking the lead on "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville." Attention does seem to wander during some of the post-millennial songs, and the insistent clapping on the wrong beat during "Drive" is irritating, but the crowd's love is audible and the band more than earns the affection. If "R.E.M. Live" feels at all incomplete, it's only because one show cannot sufficiently convey three decades of music.

[areyoureadytojump]

On sale today in the USA!!

[busyboy]

Debuts at #12 in the UK.

[areyoureadytojump]

MTV.com:

R.E.M.'s R.E.M. Live debuts at #72 on the Billboard 200 with week-one sales of 11,500.

[reception]

Reviewed by Ken Barnes
USA Today

R.E.M., Live: * * * 1/2 (out of four) Arousing Eire

Recorded in Ireland in 2006, this double CD (plus DVD) captures the band in storming form, breathing life into staples and providing fresh perspective on more recent tracks. Bonus: Contains these philosophical words of wisdom from I’m Gonna DJ: “Death is pretty final/I’m collecting vinyl.”