First time I heard R.E.M. was on the recommendation of an American friend. I bought the first EP, and thought it was OK, but when they came over for the first time in late ’83 I was there (the first two UK shows were both in London, at the old Dingwalls and the old Marquee on Wardour Street). They blew me away, I bought ‘Murmur’, and we were off and running.
They came to the UK regularly, and I saw them many times. The highlights were two shows at the Marquee in ’84, the day that ‘Reckoning’ came out, and the following evening; two nights at Hammersmith Palais in ’85 in support of ‘Fables Of The Reconstruction’; Universal Amphitheatre in the summer of ’86; two stunning nights at Hammersmith Odeon (as was) in May 1989; the two ‘Bingo Handjob’ shows at the Borderline in ’91…
To me, their last GREAT record was Life’s Rich Pageant, which I listened to a couple of weeks ago in its entirety, and it stands up. I also have to say that 60% of Automatic For The People is terrific, particularly ‘Find The River’, which is a wonderful, beautifully understated ‘personal quest’ track that gets me where it matters. Personally, I wish they had broken up in ’92, and there wouldn’t have been all those disappointing albums (Monster; New Adventures In Hi-Fi and Up were truly atrocious, in my less than humble opinion).
In memory of the good times, here’s a great clip from late ’84 from their appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test:
