Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: A&M Video
• VHS Release Date: January 4, 1994
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301248260
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,155 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars music video at its best, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Succumbs [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Fans of REM from the IRS Records days will love this, just everything music videos should be. My personal favorite would have to be "So. Central Rain" (with a live vocal from Stipe) and "Can't Get There From Here." "Radio Free Europe," "Fall On Me," "Left of Reckoning," "Driver 8," all great ones.... you get the point

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A grab-bag of oldies but goodies., March 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Succumbs [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Most of the videos contained in this compilation are ones that never made it into heavy rotation on the major music networks, probably because much of it is abstract and a little lengthy. However, R.E.M. fans expect a little abstract, and so they'll probably enjoy the grainy footage of the band's earlier days. "Can't Get There From Here" is a gem, and "Radio Free Europe" is interesting to watch, too.

4.0 out of 5 stars The best R.E.M. video collection, February 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Succumbs [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is the best R.E.M. video collection for two reasons:
1. The early R.E.M. music is still the best.
2. I hate music videos, and this is an anti-video. The band makes sarcastic reference to this at the beginning of the video, smirking that the music video is an art form that will surely stand the test of time. (*Heh. Chuckle.*) Even the title of the video is "R.E.M. Succumbs" (to the pressures to create music videos to their songs).

The individual videos themselves also draw the focus to where it should be: the music. "Left of Reckoning" is nothing more than a speed-tweaked, jerky, blurry movie of the band wandering around a yard full of whirligigs -- for 20 whole minutes, the length of the "Left" side of the Reckoning album (the vinyl album had Left and Right sides). Then there are videos that show nothing but the band performing the song -- again, the focus is on the musical performance only. Even the most fully-developed of the videos, Fall On Me, draws your attention to the music and lyrics, by flashing the lyrics in big letters across the screen over an upside-down background.

I hate the way music videos draw the focus away from the music and instead concentrate on the visual (think Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera as the worst examples of this -- all visuals, no musical substance). My favorite music video of all time is the Replacements' "Bastards Of Young." The entire video is of a speaker blasting out the song, while a guy sits on a couch listening, and plaster falls from the ceiling. This video GETS IT. It's an anti-video video. The way things should be. The music should be enough to keep your interest on its own. Videos really only detract and distract from this -- not add to it.

And so it is with this R.E.M. video. Unlike most of R.E.M's later videos, the videos in this collection are nothing much. You'll watch "Left Of Reckoning" maybe a couple of times and then just go back to playing the CD of Reckoning instead. And if it doess that, then my friends, that is the true mark of a successful video.