Listen To The Holler

R.E.M. “Life and How To Live It (Live at the Avalon Theatre, Los Angeles 10/29/2003)” – 25 years ago on this day, R.E.M. played their first show at an Episcopalian church in Athens, Georgia. They wouldn’t be known as R.E.M. until a week or so after that show, but it was the debut of the classic line-up that would last until after the release of their 10th album in 1996: Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe. Together, these men created one of the finest catalogs in all of pop music, including several songs that I am certain will remain part of the public conciousness for many decades to come. Though the band’s songwriting has waned in the time since Bill Berry’s departure, they are still capable of excellent work informed by a sense of optimism, good will and empathy that has only grown deeper over time.

I have R.E.M. to thank for many things, including one of the most exhilirating concert experiences of my life. Seeing the band play “Life and How To Live It” at Madison Square Garden in 2003 easily ranks among the top 10 best performances that I’ve ever witnessed, in part due to the total surprise of seeing it played at all, but mostly because it was delivered with an incredible manic intensity that blew away the comparitively timid and low-key album version. This recording of the song from only a few weeks later comes close to capturing that charge, but it’s hard to compete with the memory of being so fully absorbed in the song and that moment, particularly at the point when the tension builds up and releases when Stipe shouts the song’s title. (Click here to buy it from Amazon, and here for the Thank You R.E.M. site.)

Mr. Flash – Excerpt from “Monsieur Sexe” – Oh, the French and their musical orgasms. This is a section from a cd-length mix of “adults only” funk which is rather naked in its ambitions. At some points in the mix, the music can err on the side of sounding like porn girls masturbating to soundtracks from 80s science documentaries (think: Look Around You), but for the most part the music is funky and the mood is light and flirtatious. (Click here to buy it from Arcade Mode.)