12.07.2005
I wanted to be wrong
Yesterday's mail brought the latest R.E.M. Fan Club Christmas package, complete with the "Christmas single." The single this year was actually a DVD, with a performance from Belgium in July of this year featuring "Turn You Inside Out" and "The Great Beyond." I first joined the fan club about five years ago, well after the band's commercial heyday and creative peak. I had tired of hearing from friends about the cool vinyl singles they'd get in the mail each December, however, so I signed on.
The band began sending out Christmas packages in 1988, debuting with a single that contained "March of the Wooden Soldiers" and the live staple "See No Evil" by Television. As this fan site shows, the band continued to issue a special single each year through 1997, featuring covers, live tracks and assorted oddities. In 1998 they issued a video cassette with Stipe singing Radiohead's "Lucky" with that band and a take of "E-Bow the Letter," both taken from performances at that year's Tibetan Freedom Concert. They returned to the vinyl single format for two more years before going digital in 2001 with a CD single. The 2002 edition was the most adventurous, featuring Mike Mills' version of Badfinger's "No Matter What" and the band's take on Big Star's "Jesus Christ." The others all featured a couple of live tracks recorded that year.
This year's DVD marks yet another shift. It's not necessarily a welcome one, either. The singles early on were a real treat for fans, offering songs no one else could hear. As they fell back on live cuts, the singles (and CDs) began to feel like extras culled from album singles. With this year's offering, it seems as if the band is advertising its concert DVDs. I'm not trying to look a gifthorse in the mouth -- even one that charges me $10 a year for the pleasure -- but R.E.M. built its core fanbase on its quirks, creativity and one-to-one connection with those fans. As it has mutated into R.E.M. Inc., it has lost much of that early charm. It would be one thing if the band's musical output of late had been better, but even its last couple of discs have seemed uninspired. I had hoped this year's package would indicate a renewed creative spark. Looks like I'll need to keep waiting.
The band began sending out Christmas packages in 1988, debuting with a single that contained "March of the Wooden Soldiers" and the live staple "See No Evil" by Television. As this fan site shows, the band continued to issue a special single each year through 1997, featuring covers, live tracks and assorted oddities. In 1998 they issued a video cassette with Stipe singing Radiohead's "Lucky" with that band and a take of "E-Bow the Letter," both taken from performances at that year's Tibetan Freedom Concert. They returned to the vinyl single format for two more years before going digital in 2001 with a CD single. The 2002 edition was the most adventurous, featuring Mike Mills' version of Badfinger's "No Matter What" and the band's take on Big Star's "Jesus Christ." The others all featured a couple of live tracks recorded that year.
This year's DVD marks yet another shift. It's not necessarily a welcome one, either. The singles early on were a real treat for fans, offering songs no one else could hear. As they fell back on live cuts, the singles (and CDs) began to feel like extras culled from album singles. With this year's offering, it seems as if the band is advertising its concert DVDs. I'm not trying to look a gifthorse in the mouth -- even one that charges me $10 a year for the pleasure -- but R.E.M. built its core fanbase on its quirks, creativity and one-to-one connection with those fans. As it has mutated into R.E.M. Inc., it has lost much of that early charm. It would be one thing if the band's musical output of late had been better, but even its last couple of discs have seemed uninspired. I had hoped this year's package would indicate a renewed creative spark. Looks like I'll need to keep waiting.
