R.E.M Live - R.E.M

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

R.E.M. has been generous with greatest-hits and rarities compilations, but it hasn't released a live album until now. "R.E.M. Live," recorded in February 2005 in Dublin, pits classics (1986's "Cuyahoga") against recent tunes ("Leaving New York") and hits all the marks ("Everybody Hurts," "Walk Unafraid"). R.E.M. knows there is a sweet spot between Michael Stipe's deep warble and bassist Mike Mills' honeyed tenor backing vocals, and that pairing is deployed often during the night, with Mills taking the lead on "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville." Attention does seem to wander during some of the post-millennial songs, and the insistent clapping on the wrong beat during "Drive" is irritating, but the crowd's love is audible and the band more than earns the affection. If "R.E.M. Live" feels at all incomplete, it's only because one show cannot sufficiently convey three decades of music.—Jessica Letkemann

Labels: , , ,