Pretty Persuasion

Pretty Persuasion was my first introduction to early R.E.M. when I saw them play it live on the Old Grey Whistle Test (not at the time I might add, more like ten years later!). Though the song intrigued me I wouldn't say it was love at first sight, it has grown on me over the years and now, for me, comes to represent the band at their most jangly, cryptic best.

This cover is based on the album version but has ended up striking quite a resemblance to the Old Grey Whistle Test version and I'm pleased with this one because it's the jangliest I've got a guitar, that isn't a 12 string Rickenbacker 360, to sound!

That Beat

I was in Dublin around ten years ago and I found this little record shop that specialised in bootleg recordings. It was here I bought my first bootleg R.E.M. recording (a hobby that would gain momentum in years to come). I bought three things, a video of them performing on Rockpalast in 1985, a cassette of a show they did at Tyrones in January 1981 and a CD of their performance at Merlins, Madison in April 1982. On this CD were two unrealeased songs that captivated me for weeks to come, Romance and That Beat.

I'm not for one minute going to say that That Beat was good enough for Murmur or Reckoning but it is one of the best early R.E.M. songs never to be released. There's a hint of Rock n' Roll in it, a style carried over from their earliest days as a band, but it has the signature of a maturing R.E.M., the lively bass guitar competing with the lead guitar for attention and the undecipherable lyrics from Michael Stipe - though I suspect there were never actual "words" for this song, most likely just a string of vowels that sound good with the melody.

A tricky one to cover. The version I based it on isn't the Merlins, Madison recording but the studio demo recorded circa 1982-1983. The recording was very simple, drums centre, guitar left, bass right. I centred the bass, kept the guitar left but with lots of reverb to spread the sound and added a very subtle acoustic guitar just to accentuate the pucking of the strings.

That Beat was played live as late as 1984 before being abandoned by the band. It would have been lovely if this was reprised for the 2007 Dublin Rehearsals the way Romance was.

Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

In 1994 I had just discovered R.E.M. through Document, Automatic For The People and Monster and I naively assumed they were a band at the beginning of their career. Without the Internet it wasn't as easy as it would be now to quickly look up the band's discography. Having discovered this "new" band was born in the early 1980s I instantly became intrigued and so my first attempt at delving into the early material of this band was to purchase a cassette of The Best of R.E.M. Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) is the first track on this compilation and so it was the first song I heard from this newfound youthful R.E.M. and for that reason it is a song that means a lot to me and was my favourite Chronic Town song until I discovered Wolves, Lower. I was excited by the pace and energy of the song and a very young-sounding Michael Stipe, almost unrecognisable from the Stipe I knew on Automatic For The People.

Though I have nothing against the carousel organ intro to the album version I was particularly taken by the way they open this song live, in particular on Livewire, that terrible Nicklodeon kids show they appeared on in 1983. So, this cover is a combination of the album version, the early live version and also I feel it lends itself slightly to the version they performed on the Live At The Olympia release.

Living Well Is The Best Revenge

I was looking forward to covering Living Well Is The Best Revenge because I had a definite vision for how I would approach the recording of it. I told myself that for every bass or guitar part that I would play I would think about something that makes me angry and take that out on the strings whilst being recorded. I was determined not to make this a wishy-washy cover of a really angry song. I think I've done an OK job of getting the anger across.

Living Well Is The Best Revenge is a signal of intent, an act of rage and, by far, the strongest album opener since Begin The Begin on Lifes Rich Pageant. It also introduces its audience to the new throaty Michael Stipe. I don't know what has happened to his voice between Around The Sun and Accelerate, but something has happened! Either it's too much smoking or too many live concerts but his voice crackles and rumbles with passion and with a distinct coolness.

The song features a cascade of crunchy electric guitar positioned carefully around the sonic spectrum. I believe there are three guitars for example during the verse, one left, one right and once centre. Then of course, there is another one of Mike Mills's amazing bass guitar performances, only to be bettered still by his performance on the following song, Man-Sized Wreath.