Complete Live Recording from MTV's 1991 Unplugged Sessions! Includes 5 Never-Broadcast Songs!
R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe," was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the early '80s, R.E.M. brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Throughout the '80s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-'80s to scores of alternative pop groups in the '90s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.
"No band but Nirvana made more breathtakingly transformative use of MTV Unplugged than R.E.M., the only act to headline the show twice... The '91 sessions came just as the semi-acoustic Out of Time was taking R.E.M. from big to huge. The hits "Losing My Religion" and "Radio Song" (appealingly rap-less here) gain intimacy; ditto beloved deep cuts like "Perfect Circle," even more of a 4 a.m. confidence than the Murmur original. B-listers "Disturbance at the Heron House," "Fretless," "Half a World Away," "Low," "Swan Swan H" bloom in wonderful new ways, as Stipe recalibrates phrasing and Mike Mills repositions his fragile backing vocals..." -Rolling Stone
Features:
Double LP
Includes 5 never-broadcast songs
Selections:
1. Half a World Away
2. Disturbance at the Heron House
3. Radio Song
4. Low
5. Perfect Circle
6. Fall on Me
7. Belong
8. Love Is All Around
9. It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
10. Losing My Religion
11. Pop Song 89
12. Endgame
13. Fretless *
14. Swan Swan H *
15. Rotary Eleven *
16. Get Up *
17. World Leader Pretend *
* not included in original television broadcast
R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe," was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the early '80s, R.E.M. brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Throughout the '80s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-'80s to scores of alternative pop groups in the '90s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.
"No band but Nirvana made more breathtakingly transformative use of MTV Unplugged than R.E.M., the only act to headline the show twice... The '91 sessions came just as the semi-acoustic Out of Time was taking R.E.M. from big to huge. The hits "Losing My Religion" and "Radio Song" (appealingly rap-less here) gain intimacy; ditto beloved deep cuts like "Perfect Circle," even more of a 4 a.m. confidence than the Murmur original. B-listers "Disturbance at the Heron House," "Fretless," "Half a World Away," "Low," "Swan Swan H" bloom in wonderful new ways, as Stipe recalibrates phrasing and Mike Mills repositions his fragile backing vocals..." -Rolling Stone
Features:
Double LP
Includes 5 never-broadcast songs
Selections:
1. Half a World Away
2. Disturbance at the Heron House
3. Radio Song
4. Low
5. Perfect Circle
6. Fall on Me
7. Belong
8. Love Is All Around
9. It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
10. Losing My Religion
11. Pop Song 89
12. Endgame
13. Fretless *
14. Swan Swan H *
15. Rotary Eleven *
16. Get Up *
17. World Leader Pretend *
* not included in original television broadcast
