R.E.M. New Adventures in Hi-Fi

If you don't own this album you are doing yourself a serious injustice. I will say that right now. It's my favorite REM album, and definetely at the top of my All Time list. So good, that the ever daring (??) Rolling Stone review department (read my ideas on this first) gave it 4 and 1/2 out of five. Without even knowing if it was going to be liked by other people in general!

If you listen to these lyrics you will surely assume that Mr. Stipe has gone off the deep end of sorrow. He has grown tired, and is just worn out. But I don't think that is totally the case. Stipe has a history of writing non-autobiographical songs that sound like they are totally about him. I'm sure he's had his rough times, and I know that "New Test Leper" was somewhat autobiographical (about his experiences on a talk show, or a talk show he was watching), but not every lyric here is about Stipe. But it does sound that way, and that's part of what makes REM so great.

Another reason this is one of the jewels of my collection is the differences in the way it was recorded. Most of the songs were recorded either totally live on the Monster (Anuerysm '99 ha!) tour or in soundchecks. There is hardly any over dubs, and some of them sound so raw. It's great. The two rocker, "The Wake-Up Bomb" and "Departure" are full of live energy, you can just barely make out the audience at the very end. Pure greatness it is.

Highlights
All 14 are highlights, every last one. But my favorites, (if that's possible) are "The Wake-Up Bomb" and "Departure" for their electric live sound, and "Leave," for that incredible ARP siren throughout.

Audio
Departure
This was a tough pick, but I love this song. It doesn't represent the whole album, which is what I normally aim for, but it is incredible. Recorded live in Detroit, I don't know if it was even touched after that. If it was, it was to add that killer organ track, but that might have been it. But it still has the album track-sound, somehow, someway.
Listen (700 kb)
(Right click and choose "save as")

BUY! BUY! BUY!
This album doesn't need any coaxing. Just go and buy it, because if you don't have it there's something missing.
Buy now from the !Internet!

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