Like Title, this is another great abandoned song from the early Green sessions, cast aside probably because it sounds "too R.E.M." and didn't fit with the new experimental sound of Green. Which I suppose it does, it sounds like a song written by an R.E.M. fan so wrapped up in their favourite band that they are unable to come up with anything other than jangly minor-chord songs.
This one has no vocal from Stipe, possibly another reason why it was abandoned, maybe a vocal melody just didn't fit. So, once again, this is my attempt to perform and record the song as though it were actually recorded by the band. Of course there is a studio recording of this out there amongst bootleggers which would be superb if it were not for the extremely poor, compressed audio quality that renders the song quite grating.
Instrumentally it's fairly straightforward, drums, bass guitar, Peter's Rickenbacker centre-left and an acoustic guitar strumming in the far right.
i always liked this one. it is definitely cut from the same cloth as "driver 8," so i respect the band for refusing to repeat themselves, even though there is a smashing song in here somewhere.
ReplyDeletestill, the riffs and implied melodies really hit that special r.e.m. sweet spot, way more than most of their post-berry work. i would have loved to have seen it revisited ala "bad day."
i wonder if this is the track they dubbed "the last r.e.m. song."