R.E.M. had a longstanding relationship with the BBC that
began with a live broadcast in late 1984 and continued for the next twenty
years. The weighty new set R.E.M. at the
BBC collects 104 performances the Georgians recorded for Aunty across eight
CDs with two full-length TV specials plus a few bonus videos on a DVD. If that
sounds like too much hypnotic jangling and mumbling for you, there are also
more concise two-disc CD and LP editions of R.E.M.
at the BBC.
A glance at what’s included on the briefer sets may
initially be disappointing since they tend to shun the one tantalizingly
classic broadcast from the eighties, but the recording quality of that 1984 set
from Rock City, Nottingham, is a bit rougher than the rest of what’s available.
The Best of R.E.M. at the BBC favors
crisp recordings and readings of the songs that differ from the album versions.
Both the big box and the Best of
begin with a selection of unplugged interpretations. Things continue to mix up
from there as “Lotus” from the highly underrated Up whines with strange synth sounds, “At My Most Beautiful” strips
back the Brian Wilson-density of the album version, “Orange Crush” roars out as
a rawer fruit than the rendition on Green,
and “Drive” trades in the dusky acoustics of Automatic for the People for raging, glam distortion.
The one obvious flaw of The
Best of R.E.M. at the BBC is the decision to double-up on “Losing My
Religion” when so many other—and frankly, better—songs from the big set could
have been featured instead. Nevertheless, The
Best of R.E.M. at the BBC is a nice opportunity to hear a selection of the
group’s songs a bit differently than we’re used to hearing them, and the
results are generally lovely and vicious.
