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.