Customer Reviews

R.E.M. - When the Light is Mine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 Video Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...Just start playing the standard tracks -- "Radio Free Europe" and The Cutting Edge version of "Driver 8" -- and once they start, simply press 'Enter' on your remote and the disk will switch over to alternative versions of these selections.

It's good to have all these old videos compiled on DVD; now I can throw away my old VHS "REM Succumbs" tape.
I still think Jim Herbert's videos are a treat; it's amazing that even though these videos are usually pronounced "boring" or "headache-inducing" by many viewers, their influence on music video in general is incalculable. Back in the day, it was amazing to see how so soon after these original videos began coming out, nearly every band who was making music videos began copying the Herbert approach. High praise for all these unique clips, which from a time when R.E.M. embraced (or pioneered) the whole southern-gothic-mysterious feeling.

My sole reason for docking this review two stars is for an unusual production oversight: the producers of this DVD never bothered to scrub or re-sync the videos with more up-to-date audio tracks, which very easily could have been done by any editor with a few mouse clicks. (Obviously, the audio for the live performance videos, and Stipe's non-lip-synced vocal for "So. Central Rain" would have had to remain as-is. No problem there; the audio is just fine for these segments.)
Instead, what is on the DVD are the original, worn-out and/or inferior audio tracks from the original sources. As a result, the lengthy "Left of Reckoning" may look as good as it ever has, but it sounds atrocious, with a very worn, watery sound that is nearly absent of decent high-end. Even the video for "Radio Free Europe" suffers from the same effect.

I'm calling for R.E.M., one of the greatest American rock bands ever, who always have issued quality stuff before, to re-issue this DVD with improved sound. Then this compilation will be well worth its weight.

The picture and sound transfers are gorgeous here. So if you own videotape versions of some of this footage (i.e. REM "Succumbs"), it's worth picking this baby up: the older videos from Reckoning, "Driver 8," "Life and How To Live It" are all stunningly crisp in their digital incarnations. Forget the grainy analog quality of those 80s-era compilation tapes, the re-mastering here is well worth the purchase. Also, I enjoyed the vintage interviews from the early- to mid-80s when the band members all seemed so excited and passionate about the burgeoning college music scene, and anxious to stake out their own ground in it. If you're an REM fan, this is a must-have collector's item.

The video for "Driver 8" is worth the price of admission alone ... that's just my opinion though ...

I bought this DVD under the guise of a Christmas present for my 17 year old daughter, who is a huge fan of the band. The gift that keeps on giving! I have had the pleasure of following REM since 11/82, when I saw them at The Chateau in Albany, NY...worked at a small record store and fell in love with "Chronic Town". I used to take that EP home, plop on the couch with the headphones plastered to my head to try to decipher the lyrics...then finally realized it didn't matter, and these videos prove that. It's not just what they say, it's how they say it...the humid, etherial mood of the music is intoxicating...I remember hearing an interview years ago with Michael Stipe, and he basically said that if we're meant to fully hear all the lyrics, if it's a message he wants understood, he'll sing more clearly. Otherwise, make up the words as you go along. He's a genius. These videos are the soundtrack of my life, and it was wonderful to see them again. Now that I have the videos, however, I might invest in lip reading classes

Many of the videos are repeats, released before. They are worth a look again, probably the best being "can't get there from here" - it's so low budget it's funny and shows the band having a good time at a drive - in. If you look closely, you can see the drive - in is actually long since closed and abandoned. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the Athens drive-in but who knows? Since they had no budget to speak of, this location probably worked pretty well!
The gems are live performances from the tube and at the IRS studios. At the end in the extras section you can see some interviews from "life's rich pagent" that give some history of the band. Another great video comes right off the top at the introduction, where we see the band wondering around Finster's paradise garden to a re-mix of "old man kensey." Michael is even wearing glasses, and Mike is not!
This could have been much better with band commentary about the background to the videos, but it's still worth the money if you are an R.E.M. fan.

I AM A TOTAL REM FAN- THIS VIDEO IS AMAZING- THE EARLY YEARS-TOTALLY ROCKS-LOOK AT THE BOYS BEFORE SUPERSTARDOM HIT- YOU NEED TO BUY THIS

REM has never followed the crowd and their videos don't either. The ones I remember seeing were illuminating the second time around. The ones I hadn't seen before were worth watching over and over again. Dang, they're darn near brilliant!

It's hard to believe that R.E.M. have been around twenty-six years and counting, and even harder to believe that they continue to make music today (though fans may question the quality of that recent work compared to their earlier classics, they still keep true to the creative muse).

This DVD video collection highlights the band's years with IRS Records, a maverick label that benefited from attachments to A&M and RCA but nevertheless helped birth the alternative scene in America in the otherwise stagnant Reagan Era. There are some gems here among the pack: "Wolves, Lower" is a very interesting slice of "Chronic Town"-era REM, the live performances of "Radio Free Europe" and "Talk About the Passion" are great, and the "Cutting Edge" broadcasts from the early Eighties are nice looks at the band before they got massive, got signed to a major label, and lost their drummer along the way (thankfully due to exhaustion and not the rock-star cliche of an early death).

Through it all, R.E.M. manage to defy catagorization; despite the odd, vaguely New Wave-ish video for "Wolves" (which reminded me a little of Joy Division or the Cure), they can turn right around and do a silly take on "Can't Get There From Here" or bring it back to seriousness with "Fall on Me" or "Talk About the Passion". And they can have a good time onstage, as the live performances attest.

All in all, if you want to see R.E.M. in all their indie glory (before the acclaim of "Out of Time", the bombast of "Monster", and the techno noodlings of recent albums), this is the DVD for you. I would have liked a documentary of the band's IRS days to be on there, whether it previously exists or would have to be brought about by new interviews. But despite lacking that overview, this DVD is worth the price of admission.

If you already like R.E.M. this is a nice collection to have, if you haven't already culled together this material from somewhere else. I'm sure some of it is previously unreleased, but available by some means through the vast rock and roll underground. This was a time when Michael Stipe had hair and they had a drummer and all was right with the world. There are some funny moments, especially the candid interviews. The most interesting moments to me were the extended portions at Howard Finster's place. Some of the TV performances, though, are surprisingly weak and it's obvious that early on Stipe was not comfortable with being a front man. However, the energy of the group and the creativity there, overall, really shines through in this collection. It's obvious that this is a group ready to do anything to conquer the world, that really hung together as a unit and were dedicated to their craft.