Complete Live Recording from MTV's 2001 Unplugged Sessions! Includes 6 Never-Broadcast Songs!
R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe," was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the early '80s, R.E.M. brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Throughout the '80s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-'80s to scores of alternative pop groups in the '90s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.
"No band but Nirvana made more breathtakingly transformative use of MTV Unplugged than R.E.M., the only act to headline the show twice... By 2001, drummer Bill Berry and some of the campfire vibe are gone. But new songs like "At My Most Beautiful," with its neo-Beach Boys harmonies, and the elegiac bubblegum of "Imitation of Life" show a band that could still sucker-punch hearts, while quietly magnificent takes on "Cuyahoga" and "So. Central Rain" conjure the same triumphant melancholy they did in the last century..." - Rolling Stone
Features:
Double LP
Includes 6 never-broadcast songs
Selections:
1. All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)
2. Electrolite
3. At My Most Beautiful
4. Daysleeper
5. So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
6. Losing My Religion
7. Country Feedback
8. Cuyahoga
9. Imitation of Life
10. Find the River
11. The One I Love *
12. Disappear *
13. Beat a Drum *
14. I've Been High *
15. I'll Take the Rain *
16. Sad Professor *
* not included in original television broadcast
R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe," was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the early '80s, R.E.M. brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Throughout the '80s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-'80s to scores of alternative pop groups in the '90s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.
"No band but Nirvana made more breathtakingly transformative use of MTV Unplugged than R.E.M., the only act to headline the show twice... By 2001, drummer Bill Berry and some of the campfire vibe are gone. But new songs like "At My Most Beautiful," with its neo-Beach Boys harmonies, and the elegiac bubblegum of "Imitation of Life" show a band that could still sucker-punch hearts, while quietly magnificent takes on "Cuyahoga" and "So. Central Rain" conjure the same triumphant melancholy they did in the last century..." - Rolling Stone
Features:
Double LP
Includes 6 never-broadcast songs
Selections:
1. All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)
2. Electrolite
3. At My Most Beautiful
4. Daysleeper
5. So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
6. Losing My Religion
7. Country Feedback
8. Cuyahoga
9. Imitation of Life
10. Find the River
11. The One I Love *
12. Disappear *
13. Beat a Drum *
14. I've Been High *
15. I'll Take the Rain *
16. Sad Professor *
* not included in original television broadcast
