There’s nothing like a 25th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue of an album you grew up with to make you feel like an old fart.
In 1983, when R.E.M. released Murmur, a 25th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue would have been of something from 1958, like one of Elvis Presley’s early records.
So if you ever find yourself telling a 24 year-old co-worker about how your life was changed by that 1983 R.E.M. club show, when it was you, your girlfriend, the bartender and the bouncer, and you all went out bar-hopping afterwards, and your girlfriend went home with Peter Buck, you might as well be talking about seeing a sock-hop featuring Buddy Holly and Little Richard. Which of course, would have been totally amazing too.
Anyway, everyone knows that these Deluxe Editions are a desperate attempt by the record business to wring money out of one of the few demographics – aging hipsters – that still buys physical CDs.
Whatever the motivation, Murmur is a true milestone in popular music, and its impact justifies the reverent packaging.
As anyone who was there remembers, Murmur gave birth to a genre of music called College Rock, which later became known as Alternative, which, after Nirvana, became the Mainstream.
College Rock may seem like a narrow-minded way to describe Murmur, but unlike other college rock classics like, say, The Cure's The Head on the Door, many of the themes buried within Murmur are indeed college-related. For example, there is an entire song devoted to "wasting time, Sitting Still." And perhaps no song better evokes the bonding friendships in college better than "Perfect Circle," wherein a group of friends stand around and "drink another, coin a phrase." I did that more than a few times, though there is no mention of the Hacky Sack traveling within that circle.
As befits a Deluxe Edition, Murmur has been remastered by the original producers and engineers (Mitch Easter, Don Dixon and Greg Calbi), and the improvement is immediately noticeable. The sound is crisper and sharper, but without losing all of the mysterious musical kudzu that made Murmur so intriguing in the first place. Hearing Murmur with fresh ears, you remember that much of the album, for all its inscrutability, has a good beat and you can dance to it.
Murmur is also, without question, the biggest "grower" record I've ever heard. I bought in soon after its release on the major buzz it had generateed among music fans, but it took weeks and weeks before the majesty of "Pilgrimage" and "Laughing" finally cast their spell over me.
To sweeten the pot, the 2nd disc of this Deluxe Edition features a 1983 show at a Toronto club called Larry's Hideaway. It's a fantastic, high energy show and a must for devoted fans. Hearing their raw live sound underscore what a remarkable album Murmur is, with a sound that stands apart from what they were doing then and from everything they've done since. Curiously, versions of "Wolves, Lower," "Moral Kiosk" and a cover of "Moon River" were left off the CD. But fret not: Rock Turtleneck is making them aviable to you here (they would be tracks 1,2, and 5):
"Wolves, Lower"
"Moral Kiosk"
"Moon River"
In a recent interview in Mojo, Peter Buck said that the band has recorded basically every show they've played from their very early days, so stay tuned.
Herewith, in two parts, is R.E.M.'s historic Murmur-era first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.
Part I:
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