Showing posts with label liner notes In Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liner notes In Time. Show all posts

Everybody Hurts - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

03 May 2008
Everybody Hurts - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

Everybody Hurts from the R.E.M. album, Automatic for the People

"This song doesn't really belong to us any more; it belongs to everbody who ever got solace from it. The reason that the lyrics are so atypically straightforward is because it was aimed at teenagers. I've never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the idea that high school is a portal to hell seems pretty realistic to me. It's hard for everyone.
Musically Bill Berry originated the chord changes, and after a couple of weeks after arrangement hell, we settled on an Otis Redding type vibe. Thanks Steve Cropper"
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Steve Cropper wrote Otis Reddings' Sitting on the Dock of the Bay'.


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All the Right Friends - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

All the Right Friends - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

 All the Right Friends from the Vanilla Sky Soundtrack

This is by far the oldest song on this set. It was written in 1979 by Micheal and me before we had even met Bill and Mike. We played it at every show until about 1982. I don't know why we never recorded it; maybe we thought it was kind of juvenile.

Twenty years later, when asked to contribute a song to the Vanilla Sky soundtrack with about eight days notice, it no longer seemed quite so naive. We recorded it in three hours prior to a show in Seattle, and quite consciously tried to record it as we would have in 1982.
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The movie sucked! See the original instead - Open Your Eyes (English translation)

Maybe they should have done a song about Darth Vader and his family issues..


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In Time - liner notes to R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits




I've taken the time to write out the liner notes that R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck wrote to accompany the booklet that came with the special edition of R.E.M.'s greatest hits album, In Time. If you can't see the forrest for the trees, the album's title is a reference to Out of Time from which several of the songs are taken from.


Each link below will take you to the page which contains Peter Buck's commentary, and a little of my own. There's also the odd lyric, chords or video. I learnt some cool things doing this - enjoy!

In Time, R.E.M. Greatest Hits

1. Man on the Moon
2. Great Beyond, The
3. Bad Day
4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
5. All the Way to Reno
6. Losing My Religion
7. E-Bow the Letter
8. Orange Crush
9. Imitation of Life
10. Daysleeper
11. Animal
12. Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
13. Stand
14. Electrolite
15. All the Right Friends
16. Everybody Hurts
17. At My Most Beautiful

18. Nightswimming

19. One song lyrics theme by U2


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Nightswimming- A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

Nightswimming- A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

Nightswimming from the R.E.M. album Automatic for the People

"Nightswimming is the only we've ever written where the words came first during the mixing stage of Out of Time, Micheal came to us with a complete set of lyrics amd suggested that we might want to put them to music. Being competitive bastards that we are, Mike and I started auditioning chord changs and tunes for Micheal. The two tunes of mine that Micheal rejected eventually became Drive and Try Not to Breathe. Mike had a piano instrumental that he played to Micheal. He listened once, nodded his head to hear it again, and on the second pass he sang the the lyrics. It was Nightswimming, exactly like the record we would record a year later. I was standing in the corner dumbfounded."

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When I saw R.E.M. play in New Plymouth a few years back there was a big lake the separated the band and the audience. It was a cold rainy night but a few souls dived in. As R.E.M. played Nightswimming everyone in the water went nuts. Micheal Stipe said they only played the song because opeing act The Checks had begged them to play it. Lucky us.

Here's a comment from R.E.M. blog Popsongs that explains it better !

And here's a youtube of the two Mikes doing Nightswimming on Live with Jools Holland (a popular British show where bands showcase their songs, with Jools often joining in on the piano).

Extra for experts: Nightswimming lyrics

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night

-

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At my most beautiful - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

At my most beautiful - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

At My Most Beautiful from the R.E.M. album Up

"Obviously, this is our tribute to the Beach Boys. Mike told me that when he and Bill lived in Macon, they would cruise the city, singing along with a Beach Biys eight-track. He said it really stretched their upper ranges. Until the day Bill quit, they could still hit those notes.

I'm not sire that Micheal even knows that the Beach Boys have an unreleased album called Smile, but he went along with the feel of the track, knowing that Mike and I are big fans.

The bass part on this is probably my favourite line that Mike has ever come up with. When we play it live, I play bass. I feel like such a pro, up on stage playing this super cool part. "

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Brian Wilson eventually did release Smile - and toured it.

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A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck: Electrolite

02 May 2008
Electrolite - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck

Electrolite, From the R.E.M. album, New Adventures in Hi Fi

"I love this song. The track was recorded somewhere in Arizon on the 1995 tour at soundcheck and finished in Seattle in 1996. It's probably the least melodramtic pre-millennial folk-blues end of the century, good-bye song ever written. It might also be the only one but whatever.

My only complaint? When we play this song live, I get saddled with the god damned banjo. The thing that weighs ninety pounds and has strings made of the same stuff thye use on cheese slicers. Talk about suffering for your art! Well, it may not exactly be art, and I don;t really suffer, but I'm sure you get the drift.

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I just think Electrolite's piano melody is simply one of the best that Mike Mills has come up. I am also surprised that Powerade has never thought to use it in a commercial....


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A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck: Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

01 May 2008
A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M. Greatest Hits album 'In Time' written by Peter Buck: Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Automatic for the People Album

"We included this song on Automatic in order to break the prevailing mood of the album. Given that the record dealt with mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family, we felt that a light spot was needed. In retrospect, the consenus amongst the band is that this might be a little too lightweight"

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Yes, it might be light weight song but if so why, is it on the In Time Album? Surely there are better singles waiting to be added? Drive for instance? Strange Currencies?


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Animal - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits album 'In Time' - written by Peter Buck: Animal

30 April 2008
A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits album 'In Time' -written by Peter Buck: Animal

Animal, from the R.E.M. greatest hits album, In Time

"This is the newest song on the record. It is also the most spontaneous. It was recorded in about 15 minutes. Within a couple of weeks from first hearing it, Michel had written and sung the vocals (including that creepy robot backing vocal). Mike then out on his Arabic-type vocal, I added lead guitar and it was finished. Now all I have to do is convince the guys eveything should be done this quickly. Who knows? It could happen?

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Yeah and its probably the weakest song on the In Time album, a good album filler, but it aint no killer. Any way, see if you agree with me by watching the youtube of the Animal promo video.




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Stand - A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits album 'In Time' - written by Peter Buck: Stand

A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits album 'In Time' -written by Peter Buck: Stand


Stand, from the R.E.M. album Green.

"Without a doubt, Stand is the, um, how shall I put this? It's the stupidest song we've ever writen. That's not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of my favourite rock and roll records have been extravagently dumb, and while Stand doesn't reach the god-like heights of inspired stupidity as a song like Louie Louie by The Kingsmen does, we're at least in the same ballpark.

The listener might want to note the guitar solo; I'd just bought a wah-wah pedal that morning, The first thing I used it on was the solo on Stand. When I looked around to see what everyone thought, I was met with gales of laughter. I assumed that anything that could inspire that kind of reaction must be good. I hope I was right. "

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Interesting that Peter Buck refers to Louie Louie - it was written by a guy called Richard Berry....

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A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits album 'In Time' -written by Peter Buck: Animal

29 April 2008
A liner note from the Special Edition of R.E.M.'s Greatest Hits album 'In Time' -written by Peter Buck: Animal

"This is the newest song on the record. It is also the most spontaneous. It was recorded in about 15 minutes. Within a couple of weeks from first hearing it, Michel had written and sung the vocals (including that creepy robot backing vocal). Mike then out on his Arabic-type vocal, I added lead guitar and it was finished. Noe all I have to convince the guys eveything should be done this quickly. Who knows? It could happen?

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