Ages Of You

Supposedly a re-write of Burning Down, Ages Of You is another early song that didn't make it on to an album. It pretty much follows the template for R.E.M. songs in the early 1980s; indecipherable lyrics, jangling guitars and a driving rhythm section reminiscent of  Radio Free Europe.

I only covered this out of a desire to work on a new R.E.M. cover and running out of obvious songs to take on. I do like the song but feel the Dead Letter Office version is mixed really badly with so much reverb on the drums that it drowns out everything else. The Murmur outtakes and demos revealed a version of the song without any reverb on the drums enabling me to hear some of the more subtle guitar work and the bass line. Also, I discovered that by turning the reverb on the guitars up really loud and layering the tracks I could get a guitar sound quite similar to the original.

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville

I've been tempted to cover this for some time but have been indecisive about how to approach it; whether to go for a reproduction of the album version or the way they play it live.

I kind of went for a compromise between the two. There was no way I was going to reproduce the piano parts from the album version because, to be honest, I just don't like the song enough to go to all that trouble. But I specifically like the tremolo-effect lead guitar parts that colour the song and give it it's country feel. So I kept these and opted for a more jangly guitar sound for the rhythm guitars.

This song is quite like no other R.E.M. song. It actually doesn't even sound like them. Having been listening to The Beatles a lot in the past few weeks I feel confident in saying that there is something very Beatle-esque about Don't Go Back To Rockville, something about the chord changes and the guitar sound.

But it's a fun song to listen to and cover, the perfect medicine for these cold, dark winter months.

Wendell Gee

My motivation for covering Wendell Gee was to actually have a go at singing it as it's a song that I can do a half-decent job of singing and it's within my vocal range. But, as is often the case, what might sound good in my head when I'm singing in the car or around the house sounds very plain when I listen back to an actual recording! So for that reason, it was a classic case of "stick to what you do best" and this idea was abandoned.

It's a bit of a no thrills backing track though I'm proud of the overall feel of the track. Sometimes when I'm recording myself playing guitar I get so uptight and I think this is reflected in the overall sound. Here, I made a conscious effort to play lazily and do it in one take and, in doing that, it has a kind of bluesy late night feel to it! 

It's based purely on the Athens demo of the song not the actual album version, hence there being no piano parts and no banjo in the middle 8 (not that I own a banjo!).