Customer Reviews

Surprise Your Pig: Tribute to Rem

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

 

 

I think most people just don't "get" this album. It's not intended as a straight-up tribute, in fact it's more of a send-up and an interpretive tool for most of the bands on the record. One of the songs (Can't Get There From Here) was sung entirely using made-up lyrics because the lead singer for The Mr. T Experience couldn't find a lyrics sheet. And Steelpole Bathtub's "We Walk" is utterly unrecognizeable. Not that it's a bad thing, the new version is striking in its simplicity. The spoken interlude is especially interesting and memorable.

As for the assertion that most of the artists are nobodies, I will invite you to notice that most of them have serious indie credibility (King Missile, Steelpole Bathtub, Jawbreaker), and a few of them are close personal friends of the members of R.E.M. (Mitch Easter, Vic Chestnutt). It is certainly not your average everyday tribute, nor is it meant to be. I will include a liner note excerpt from Kris McLaughlan, the one who put this whole project together:

"Each band chose their cut, and in most cases totally reconstructed it in any way they saw fit. That, in my opinion, is the beauty of this compilation: the diversity of each song, and the 'interpretations' that each band made."

When I bought this disc back in 1992, it highly amused me for about fifteen minutes. The main reason was the King Missile (you know, of "Jesus Was Way Cool" and "Detachable P***s" fame) cover of "Get Up." What was a slightly annoying song in the original version on _Green_ became maniacally entertaining in the King Missile version, complete with deliberately stumbly and out of tune keyboard lines and enthusiastically off-pitch backing vocals, and sped up a good 20 BPM from the original version. I can happily live without the rest of the album (though the Sicilian version of "Talk About the Passion"--not "Pretty Persuasion" as the other reviewer mentions--is kind of interesting).

I bought this "tribute" album back in the early 90s, and listened to it a few times. Other reviews complain about unknown bands, and that they sound nothing like the originals, but I think these observations miss a deeper, more transcendant point. I *like* unconventional interpretations, and have never cared whether an artist is "popular." But many of the performances sound as if they didn't even bother to learn the songs or develop an interpretation, they just bang it out. Some performances attempt to duplicate the sound of the original, but change up the tempo or vocal delivery (e.g. Mitch Easter's Shiny Happy People), but most retain only passing resemblence to the original structure and lyrics (e.g. most of the rest). This by itself would not be bad, if only there was some heart and soul put into the effort.

One would like to think a tribute to REM would in some ways be a celebration/deconstruction/elaboration of what made the originals so great - and reveal some passion from the artists as to what inspired the tribute - what we have here sounds more like an attempt to leverage REM's popularity to sell a few records with slapdash recordings of what sound like might be their songs.

To be fair, I think there are a couple game attempts to do the material justice, but to cut to the chase, nothing that could possibly justify parting with real money to buy this disc. That may sound uncharitable, but don't say I didn't warn you.

i'm a huge r.e.m fan and have been since the mid-eighties. and i'm a huge fan of tribute albums, which were a big thing in the nineties (one of my favorite albums of all time is i'm your fan: a tribute to leonard coen (which r.e.m. is on)-- definitely check that one out!). having said that...

this is not your typical tribute album. it sometime seems like these artists have a total disregard for these songs. and that's why i think a lot of r.e.m. fans wouldn't like this tribute (as some of the reviews here attest). but i have to say that i love this album.

a little history-- i first bought this back in the 90's when it came out (not sure what year) and hated it. listened to it once and sold it. never gave it another thought. then recently i was looking for something else on the internet and happened upon it. just out of curiosity i went to amazon and ordered it. i've had it for a few weeks now and i have to admit that i was wrong all those years ago. i'm not sure why i didn't see it back then, but this is a really cool album.

it's all about the irreverence. what i said before about the artists disregard? it's what makes this album great. don't get me wrong, i'm all for the more respectful tribute albums, but here it's that irreverence that shows what great songs these are. that you can do such crazy and destructive things to these songs and they still rock.

it reminds me of that cover of 'these boots are made for walking' by crispin glover. it's totally insane but great nonetheless (look it up, it's on itunes, and maybe here-- you won't regret it!)

anyway, if you love r.e.m. and are up for a little experimentation, get surprise your pig. it's a lot of fun, and after a few listens, a lot of these versions really stand up even if a first they may seem like a bunch of throwaways. and some are even kind of lovely.

p.s. a particular favorite of mine is the vic chestnut track, and the michael stipe "cameo" in particular

Phelg Camp's cover of "Feeling Gravitiy's Pull" is awesome. If you are one of those artsy-fartsy REM/GenXer's "woe-is-me-no-one-understands-me" fans typical to the late 80s and early 90s expecting to hear the urgent pathos of Michael Stipe's voice re-interpreted then you are an idiot. If the title does not give away what this record is about then you need to go back and review satire and parody in your high school literature text. If you are into punk rock then this is a great record for you. This isn't about mood, pathos, or art this is about having fun with the most overrated "mood" band of the 1990s.

Most tribute albums are pretty bad; it's a fact of life. And you know what? Those bad tribute albums sound like "Sgt. Pepper" compared to this one. Bands you've never heard of and will never hear again, most of whom can't play a lick, do their own versions of REM songs that are often unrecognizable. About the only listenable cut is an Italian version of "Pretty Persuasion." I've owned over 1,000 albums over my lifetime; this is one of the 10 worst.

Most tribute albums are pretty bad; it's a fact of life. And you know what? Those bad tribute albums sound like "Sgt. Pepper" compared to this one. Bands you've never heard of and will never hear again, most of whom can't play a lick, do their own versions of REM songs that are often unrecognizable. About the only listenable cut is an Italian version of "Pretty Persuasion." I've owned over 1,000 albums over my lifetime; this is one of the 10 worst.