Crazy

A cover of a cover really, although if R.E.M. can ever be accused of claiming a song as their own it's Pylon's Crazy. It was covered in 1985 and released as the B-side of Driver 8 and is also the first song off B-sides compilation album Dead Letter Office.

I had actually covered this previously, about 10 years ago, the original was more influenced by the original Pylon version whereas I wanted this version to not only be more murky and layered like the way R.E.M. did it but to also benefit from experience and better recording equipment. Special attention was made to layering guitar parts at different octaves to create that 12 string sound. The only thing that hints at the Pylon version still is the strong bass guitar part that is more noticeable in the mix than when R.E.M. did it.

Country Feedback

The reason for doing Country Feedback was that I was so impressed with my attempts at guitar noise/feedback in Sweetness Follows that I wanted another song I could go to town on and this seemed perfect. Plus, the song is essentially just a loop as far as most instruments are concerned so it was a quick one to complete.

It was a bit tedious getting the guitar "solo" accurate as I'm 99% sure it was recorded in one go by Peter Buck and was not rehearsed. I always believe trying to reproduce off-the-cuff moments like this can be a bit laborious and phony. Nevertheless I'm pleased with the end product considering the short amount of time it took to complete.

Hope

If I was going to tackle Hope it was always going to have to be an alternative take on the song as a straight reproduction would be pointless and involve no guitar work whatsoever! I went with the idea of seeing how it sounds with a more traditional band setup of drums, guitars and bass, with an accordion replacing the repeating melody that drives the song. 

The result? Well, just average really. I don't think it's a particularly strong song to start with, it's charm comes from it's unique instrumentation and Stipe's vocal. So, stripped down it sounds rather weak. I do like my build up of sound at the end though and I think it's been a fun experiment.

Sweetness Follows

A common habit of mine it to say "I'm not going to cover that" and then I do! With Sweetness Follows lots of things were stacked up against me: The challenge of reproducing the cello sound, learning how to play the acoustic guitar parts and getting the guitar feedback without owning an amp.

I ended up using a distorted bass sound for the cello parts, sounds unlikely but I don't think it's too bad at all. I think I've got the acoustic guitar parts quite accurate although I was never sure of the chords during the "chorus", it always seemed like the chords ascend but I don't think they do, I think it's just the cello that ascends. Finally, not owning an amp meant I was never really going to get nice guitar feedback sounds although I have managed a close approximation by turning up the gain and distortion and playing notes very high up the fretboard.

Sweetness Follows is a real funeral march of a song and is probably the song that tackles death the most on Automatic For The People and yet it somehow brings with it a feeling of recovery and resolve. 

West Of The Fields

It was through covering this song that I began to appreciate it more. I've always considered it a bit of a lost song on Murmur, a less than spectacular ending to a classic debut album. But it's actually got a really dark energy. I've always been struck by the sense of foreboding as the final chord fades away accompanied by the eerie organs.

It's also quite a tour de force instrumentally, showcasing Berry, Buck and Mills at their best: An inventive, ever-changing drum performance from Bill Berry, a lively bass line from Mike Mills and choppy, energetic chords from Peter Buck.

Consequently, I've walked away from this cover now thinking that it's an under-rated moment of quiet brilliance on Murmur and a cover I'm really proud of for capturing all the elements I've come to admire.

Fall On Me

It was the Athens demo that inspired me to cover this. In re-visiting the song I discovered I've been playing the wrong chords all these years, I was playing the intro guitar part wrong and had been using the wrong chords for the bridge as well! So, once on the right track, it all kind of fell together quite nicely.

I've always liked the very simple technique employed by Don Gehman of panning the electric guitar left and acoustic right – simple but effective. I wasn't going to add organs but felt the song was lacking without them.

Michael Stipe announced this as his favourite R.E.M. song when they played it live for MTV Unplugged in 1991 and I believe it to be a bit of a fan favourite too. At no point in their career has it not appeared in their live set. It's the archetypical R.E.M. song in a sense, a guitar intro that is instantly recognisable, a minor key arpeggiated chord sequence and an emotive, strong vocal from Stipe.

Cuyahoga

I have no idea why it's taken me so long to cover this song. Always have loved it, a gorgeous strummed bass guitar riff and some interesting bass parts in the bridge and chorus too. The verse features a really delicate guitar part panned far left (so often played incorrectly live by Peter Buck himself in future performances) and some lovely jangly, layered guitars in the chorus.

I deliberately left out the piano and synth parts from Lifes Rich Pageant through my appreciation for the stripped down Athens demo version.

I visited Ohio in 2008 and bored everyone with my uncharacteristic knowledge of the Cuyahoga river and its pollution problems. Boring people with R.E.M. based trivia is becoming something I'm doing more and more these days…

Vocally, I've always loved this song as I believe it stands as the perfect mid point between the undecipherable mumbler in Fables and the emerging extrovert and political spokesman of Document.

I Believe

Another great Lifes Rich Pageant song I've been tempted by in the past. This super-fast song just brims with energy and was a joy to put together.

Though the drums and bass are as per the album version I've gone with the Tourfilm version for the way I treat the main guitar. On the album the riff that opens the song dies away and comes back whereas played live on Tourfilm the guitar sound is more at the forefront, a lot dirtier and less precise.

Green Grow The Rushes

A nice little song which almost completes my task of covering all songs from Fables Of The Reconstruction, with only Can't Get There From Here to go, should I decide to take this on.

My first memories of this song were hearing it on The Best Of R.E.M. on cassette in the early nineties. I remember being struck by, and impressed, how a rock band in their mid 20's could create a song as mellow and non-macho as this. It was around the time of grunge with all the lads at school opting for the loudest, most masculine music possible whereas the band I liked wrote songs like Green Grow The Rushes!

Instrumentally it's rather basic, there's nothing particularly complex going on with the drums or bass guitar, just a jangly electric guitar weaving it's way through the song towards the closest thing the song has to a climax right at the end. The one finger guitar riff in the bridge is reminiscent of that in 7 Chinese Brothers.