R.E.M.

Po dlouhých devíti letech přijedou do Čech

Nejkrásnější rockové písničky jsou od R.E.M.
O tom nás tato kapela , původem z Athens v Georgii, přesvědčuje již od roku 1980 kdy ji založili zpěvák Michael Stipe, kytarista Peter Buck, bubeník Bill Berry a baskytarista Mike Mills.
O R.E.M. se také říká, že jsou největší alternativní kapela na světě. Je to asi tím, že přes své komerční úspěchy si R.E.M. po celou svou kariéru podrželi novátorský přístup k psaní a produkování písní a také díky originálnímu soundu kapely.
R.E.M. se nikdy nebáli experimentovat. Již jejich první nahrávka z roku 1983 „Murmur“ byla vyhlášena časopisem Rollig Stone za album roku a dokázala porazit i v té době aktuální alba Michaela Jacsona „Thriller“ nebo „Synchronicity“ od Police. První skutečně výrazný komerční úspěch však znamenalo až jejich páté album „Document“, které se umístilo v americké Top 10. Největšího úspěchu dosáhla však kapela s albem „Out of Time“ i následným osmým albem „Automatic for the people“ s nimiž se jejich popularita stala celosvětovou.
V době kdy kapela vydala album „Monster“ vyrazila na turné, které se zapsalo do análů jako nešťastné a které později vyústilo i ve změny ve složení kapely. Stalo se , že R.E.M. museli zrušit celé své evropské turné plánované na zimu a jaro 1995, protože bubeník Bill Berry utrpěl mozkovou příhodu a byl na více jak dva měsíce hospitalizován.
Když pak kapela vyrazila do Evropy v letních termínech, byla nucena turné přerušit pro náhlou a nezbytnou operaci Mika Millse. To vedlo k tomu, že pražský koncert byl dvakrát zrušen a uskutečnil se až na třetí pokus v srpnu 1995. Tehdy R.E.M. ve vyprodané Sportovní hale (dnes T- mobile Aréna) dokázali, že živé provedení jejich celosvětových hitů je zážitek z říše snů.
Po těchto peripetiích se kapela na čas stáhla do ústraní. V té době se rozhodl Bill Berry z kapely odejít a věnovat se práci na své farmě. Kapela odmítla úvahy o novém hráči na bicí a dál pokračovala jen ve trojici. Od té doby vydali další tři alba na nichž dokázali, že talent psát velké hity, aniž by se jakkoli podbízeli, je jim vlastní.
V lednu příštího roku přijedou představit poslední svou písňovou kolekci nazvanou „Around The Sun“, která vychází právě v těchto dnech (Warner Music). Můžeme však očekávat, že kapela zahraje i nejlepší písně z alb , která známe jen ze svých playerů i největší hity z počátku let devadesátých. Na dokonale propracované show je budou doprovázet další tři muzikanti.
R.E.M. jsou známí precizností s níž připravují veškerou svou tvorbu, produkci koncertních vystoupení nevyjímaje, a ve spojení se zvukovou dokonalostí Sazka Areny se můžeme těšit na nádherný a nezapomenutelný večer.

Everybody Hurts
When your day is long and the night,
the night is yours alone,
when you’re sure you’ve had enough
of this life, well hang on.
Don’t let yourself go,
‚cause everybody cries
and everybody hurts
sometimes.

Sometimes everything is wrong.
Now it’s time to sing along–
When your day is night alone, hold on
if you feel like letting go,
if you think you’ve had too much
of this life, well hang on.

‘cause everybody hurts.
Take comfort in your friends.
Everybody hurts.

Don’t throw your hand. Oh, no.
Don’t throw your hand.
If you feel like you’re alone,
no, no, no, you are not alone

If you’re on your own
in this life,
the days and nights are long,
when you think you’ve had too much
of this life to hang on.
Well, everybody hurts–
sometimes–
everybody cries.
everybody hurts, sometimes.
everybody hurts, sometimes.
So, hold on, hold on

R.E.M. – biografie

“What used to be important to me as a songwriter was to create something timeless. These days I’m more interested in expressing a feeling of what’s happening right now, to indicate and form a record of what we’re moving through in this present moment.”
Michael Stipe’s stated intent is present and accounted for on the thirteen new tracks that comprise Around The Sun, the thirteenth career album from R.E.M. and the group’s first new studio offering since 2001’s Reveal. At a time of critical choices in all sorts of spheres, from political to personal and beyond, R.E.M. has opted on Around The Sun to chronicle the current climate in all its metaphoric implications. The result is music with an immediacy and intensity that stands with the band’s most solid and assured work.
Commencing in Vancouver in 2002, work on Around The Sun was woven through a number of other high-profile R.E.M. enterprises, including preparations for an extensive tour and the release of In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2003, a Greatest Hits album that included two tracks, “Bad Day” and “Animal,” recorded during the inaugural Canadian sessions.
“We were really able to turn our attention to the new album after the tour,” explains Mike Mills, “when we spent three months writing and recording in the Bahamas. I think what seemed like the interruption of being on the road ultimately helped us in the studio. We had become very focused.”
Peter Buck agrees. “We’ve never really had the luxury of working that long on a record before,” he says. “We had time to really develop the music, although if you’d asked me at the beginning, I’d have said we were going for a more immediate and spontaneous sound – something a little different from the polish of Reveal. As it turned out, we kind of split the difference.”
“Our hope for what it might be was tempered by the direction the music took us,” adds Stipe. “You can’t anthropomorphize a collection of songs, but by the same token you have to leave room for the music to create it’s own meaning. The result literally speaks for itself.”
Indeed it does. True to its title, Around The Sun creates a diffuse musical penumbra of moods and meanings that, whatever their original intent, exist very much in the heart and mind of the listener. “These songs are not autobiographical,” Stipe insists. “They are made-up narratives that, like all our best work, are spoken by an unconscious voice. At the same time there is an intensity based on the conviction that, if we feel this strongly about it, we’re probably not the only ones.”
“We had a lot of sustained creative energy,” adds Mills. “There were upwards of forty songs in various stages of completion by the end of the process, and I think a lot of them will end up on future projects. But the essential approach remained the same: Peter and I would do demos that we would pass on to Michael for input and lyrics. It’s just that, this time around, we had an abundance of choices. What we’ve come to depend on over the years is a mutual influence.”
“I think of a lot of what we’ve done over the years is reflected on this album,” explains Buck on the stylistic parameters of Around The Sun. “The acoustic stuff harkens back to Automatic For The People, while there are some electronic elements that suggest Up. In the end, it wasn’t so much the individual sound of each song, as how they fit together.”
That fit, according to Stipe, intersects several key points with worlds both exterior and interior. “Songs like ‘Electron Blue’ and ‘High Speed Train’ come directly from the landscape of dreams,” says Stipe. “’I Wanted To Be Wrong’ is one of the strongest political statements we could make at a time when it seems you can’t breathe without it having some political significance. ‘Final Straw,’ in contrast, comes from a very deep, personal place.”
Other standouts on an album articulated with equal effect both in its parts and as a whole, include “The Outsiders” with its trenchant rap from Q-Tip; the debut single and video “Leaving New York” and a title track that presents a challenge and a comfort. Longtime R.E.M. backing musicians Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow along with relative newcomer Bill Rieflin (Rieflin performed with the band on tour in support of In Time) provide incisive instrumental support.
“It’s been our intent all along to push the boundaries of what we can accomplish together,” concludes Stipe. “We’re not interested in perfecting formulas. Right now, it seems important to stay alert to what’s going on around us and speak truthfully about it.”