Customer Reviews

R.E.M. Live 2CD/1DVD

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I find it hard to believe that Peter, Mike, and Michael would actually sit down, watch this DVD, and pronounce it fit for human consumption.

As stated in other reviews, this IS virtually unwatchable.

And that's a shame, 'cause it's a wonderful rock show that sounds great, but looks awful.

Seriously, what could they be thinking when they okayed something that just looks like they set a couple of hyperactive kids loose in the production room, told them to push as many buttons as often as possible, and then instructed the camera crew to just fudge with all the bells and whistles on their equipment, and, oh, every once in a while, for a second or two, show something IN FOCUS?

The concept of concert DVD's is a great one, and one that I've invested a lot of time and money in, as far as owning and watching. There are so many lessons to be learned from watching a Jonathan Demme or Martin Scorsese-shot show...watch The Last Waltz or Heart Of Gold to see what I mean. Why some of these directors find it necessary to give us something so muddied, something so out of sync with the original intent (which I would imagine would be a visual souvenir to go with the CD), is beyond me.

UNLESS...the original intent WAS this headache-causing, nausea-inducing mess.

Again, the music is great, performed well, and is a joy to listen to.

Sadly, the DVD drags the package down to the point where, after one aborted attempted viewing, it will probably never see my DVD player again, unless the government recruits me to torture suspected terrorists, in which case I would slip this in, turn the sound down, leave the room, and wait for the impending screamfest.

Three stars out of five for the music alone.

CDs: 3.5 stars; DVD: 2.5 Stars

This is the first official live album release in REM's illustrious career, and what a curious choice it is. This is released 2.5 years after its recording at 2 shows at The Point Depot in Dublin, Ireland (why now, and not say 2 years ago?), when REM was touring behind the "Around the Sun" album, arguably its weakest album ever.

As to the audio CDs, "R.E.M. Live" (2 CDs, 22 tracks, 103 min.) brings a mix of the newer tunes, mixed with some older tracks. The album starts off with the best track on here, a blazing "I Took Your Name" (from the underappreciated "Monster" album). The problem is there are way too many tracks from "Around the Sun", 6 to be exact, bunched up in the first half of the show. Yet, there are some great nuggest as well: "Bad Day", "Orange Crush", "What's the Frequency Kenneth" and "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville", with a guest appearance from Daniel Ryan of The Thrills (from Ireland), obviously getting a huge crowd response.

As to the DVD (105 min.), well it's almost unwatchable, to be honest. Edited in MTV-style, it changes angles literally every second during most songs, just about causing motion-sickness. I couldn't stand for most of it. There are no extras whatsoever on the DVD, no interviews, or other goodies you might expect from this.

R.E.M. released a concert movie once before, "Road Movie", taped in the mid-90s durng their "Monster" tour, and still available as DVD. While the editing is just as migraine-inducing, the music on it is MILES better than this release, so if you wanna explore REM at their height of a live band (with Bill Berry as their drummer), I would highly encourage you to check that out.

While the performances here are solid, one CD with 17 tracks and a second CD with 5 just doesn't seem like the way to go, at least for those who aren't just going to rip it to their iPods anyway. That second CD is crying out for filling up with...oh, c'mon guys, you're geniuses when you can put your minds to it. A double-live CD packed to the brim with 159 minutes of your best songs would have been legendary. This is merely adequate.

What a great missed opportunity this DVD set is. I won free tickets to see a screening of this DVD in a movie theater yesterday, and I was really excited -- I'd seen REM on the tour that this DVD documents, and love their music.

But boy was I disappointed when it started -- the DVD was PAINFUL to watch and made both my wife and I nauseous -- it has to be the worst concert DVD I've ever seen -- the editing is beyond frenetic -- I mean, harsh cuts that never last more than 1 or 2 seconds on each shot (you can count them out -- 1, 2, 3 -- CUT; 1,2,3 -- CUT; 1,2 -- CUT; 1 -- CUT), and even worse -- the shots are never steady (as if the director/producer told the cameramen "Don't ever hold your cameras still), they focus on random things (SUPER closeup of Michael Stipe's left eye; grainy footage of video monitors in the editing room; get a good shot of a guitar and then [WHY???] cut to the same shot with green editing graphics over it; a foot); and even worse, they do inneumerable things to distort the picture when the do have a good shot (put a prism in front of the camera [I think], mess with the graininess and/or color).

Despite LOVING the music and generally being a fan of concert videos, we couldn't stand more than 20 minutes of this PAINFUL video -- it gave us both headaches.


So, buy/listen to the CDs, or even play the DVD if you want to hear surround sound, but for your own sake, TURN THE TV OFF IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET NAUSEOUS or a headache!!!!

The CDs:

I have listened to the CDs in my car where I could give them my full attention. Overall I'm impressed with the performances. I think the show makes a good case for the quality of the material on R.E.M.'s last studio CD, "Around the Sun". "Around the Sun" was ignored by many critics, and maligned by many fans of the band for being too low-energy. When you hear songs from "Around the Sun" played live however, they are so good it's almost as if the band's earlier material has to live up to the adult perspectives in the songs from "Around the Sun".

I thought the concert was great overall. The only songs I found uninteresting played live actually were a few things written much earlier in the band's career, things you would expect to smoke live, like "Cuyahoga" and "The One I Love". I think the band is more comfortable and energized playing their newer material than rehashing hits from the Bill Berry days.

I'd give the CD 4 and a 1/2 stars for the quality of the performances and for not including too many of the band's old hits.

The DVD:

Years ago I bought an R.E.M. concert video called, I believe, "Tour Film". It was almost unwatchable. A typical song on "Tour Film" had a video spliced together with footage from different shows. When you watch bands play on a show like Austin City Limits (a show I love), you feel like you're onstage with the band, or in the front seats. "Tour Film" made me feel like I was watching a set of disconnected images. I have only watched select tracks from the new "R.E.M. Live" DVD, but I can say the new DVD is more watchable than I remember "Tour Film" being anyway.

(I have a "So You'd Like To..." guide to R.E.M. on Amazon for anyone with an interest)

I decided to pick this cd up since the sound of a live R.E.M cd was appealing to me. It was pretty good but not the type of memorable performance you would expect from a band of this caliber. The song selection was excellent as it didn't concentrate on all their overplayed hits. But unlike the great live bands/performers of our time such as Springsteen, Rush, Dire Straits, etc.,..R.E.M failed to rise up and establish themselves as a top tier live band with this recording which they really needed to do at this point in their careers. Simply put, there was nothing special about the way the songs were done on this cd and it's a little overpriced at $20 as the dvd gives you the same songs you already heard on the cd. If you are a die-hard R.E.M fan I guess you get this cd right away- otherwise wait for the price to come down or buy it used.

The 2-disc CD portion of this collection is worth the price alone, however the live DVD was a disappointment. The material on the DVD is a track-for-track carbon copy of the material on the CD's...no problem there, though it would've been nice to have had some bonus material included. The problem with the DVD is that theres a pan or cut on every beat which makes for quite a frenetic viewing experience. Guess thats the latest in cutting edge, artsy film school technique...made me nauseous though.

Spectacular, classy, thoughtful as always. They are so amazing live. Certainly a must have for REM fans and any intelligent music lover. This set just confirms that I am so blessed to have had REM's music to help define my adult years.

Chuck Berry. Beatles. Dylan. Springsteen. Clash. Public Enemy. R.E.M. What do they all have in common? They all infused their music with politics. Sometimes it was to tell you what they thought, sometimes it was to make you think about what you believe, sometimes both.

The most enduring music (with the exception of a few transcendent moments like a-wop-bop-a-lu-bop) has always had a message behind it. Sometimes it's personal (Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell), sometimes it's political. But, when done right, it's always worthwhile.

R.E.M. does it right. You need to exercise your mind now, just like you did with Murmur. We are not all mindless clones, we aren't all happy shutting off our brains and listening to Britney and Garth.

This is great music and represents the varied history of R.E.M. very effectively. The worst concerts I've ever attended have been the ones where the artist just sings one song after another. (Same goes for concert albums.) I want to hear the comments between songs, the interplay with the audience. If not, I'd just stay home and listen to the studio LP. Say it loud, Michael, say it proud.

REM has proven again that they are the world's greatest rock band. From track 1 to the last track on cd 2, it's high energy and high emotion. It brings back all the old memories of meeting REM in NYC and 3 times here in Atlanta. All I want to do is roll down the windows of my car and crank up the volume as loud as I can and sing along. For those who are not familar with the newer REM music this provides some great examples of the newer music. FYI - The next new album is coming out in March and REM is bringing the rock back!!! www.myspace.com/jmm1979