R.E.M. : Reckoning – Deluxe Edition

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/remreckoningdeluxe.jpg" alt=" " />There was no sophomore slump with R.E.M.'s <i>Reckoning</i>, now out in a deluxe edition. ...
8.4 I.R.S./Universal
2009 

R.E.M. : Reckoning (Deluxe Edition) Pretty much from their major label debut over twenty years ago, Green, people have long said that they like R.E.M.’s earlier, I.R.S.-era (the independent record label, not the government agency) material better.  Now (major label) Universal is following up on that by re-releasing deluxe editions of the I.R.S. records on their twenty-fifth anniversaries: first was 1983 debut LP Murmur last year (QRO deluxe edition review), and now sophomore full-length Reckoning.  These aren’t the first re-releases for either, as both came back out with bonus tracks, in-studios and b-sides, in the early nineties ‘I.R.S. Vintage Years’ re-releases.  And like Murmur (Deluxe Edition), Universal eschewed bonus tracks for a bonus live disc from the tour that followed the album.  While Reckoning isn’t quite the revelatory Murmur, that’s a hard feat to live up to (Murmur was Rolling Stone’s ‘Album of the Year’, beating out even Michael Jackson’s Thriller…), and it contains great track after great track.  Plus, the bonus live show, while still really just a ‘live disc’, is a well-recorded one, if a little sloppily played.

The one weird thing about Reckoning is that it often evokes comparisons and references to other music, and not just Murmur.  Next-decade alt-icons Pavement (QRO deluxe edition re-release review) awesomely name-checked it in their name-check of R.E.M., “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence” (their contribution to early nineties No Alternative compilation).  Much of the outtakes from the somewhat difficult recording sessions (singer Michael Stipe was worn out from the 1983 Murmur tour) found their way onto Dead Letter Office, the band’s excellent 1987 b-sides & rarities release.  And it’s one of those early, indie-imprint R.E.M. records everyone always says they like better than their major label stuff.

However, Reckoning can more than stand up & stand out on its own, starting with classic singles “so. Central Rain” and “(don’t Go back To) ROCKVILLE” (the album was also known for the band’s random capitalizing of song titles, something the Deluxe Edition unfortunately doesn’t keep, but we do…).  “so. Central” showcases Stipe’s early vocal restraint, “ROCKVILLE” the band’s up-country alt-swing – while written by bassist Mike Mills as a plea to his then-girlfriend “Ingrid Schorr” not to return to her home in Rockville, Maryland, the country flavor could almost make it about Nashville (and the song has since given off something of the opposite meaning, a plea for someone not to go to Nashville, or New York, or L.A. and try to ‘hit it big as a musician in the scary big city’).  But just as strong are the two songs that come before “ROCKVILLE”, “letter Never seNt” and “camerA”.  “letter” flows & grows with Stipe’s restraint, while “camerA” is beautiful in its slow waft.

“camerA” was Pavement’s favorite track off of Reckoning (they did a cover of it as a b-side to “Cut Your Hair” single, and both it & “Unseen” were included on the band’s own deluxe edition re-release of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain), but Stephen Malkmus sung in “Unseen” that “Time After Time (annElise)” “was my least favorite song…”  It isn’t the strongest on Reckoning, more mood music, but still more interesting than the preceding “Pretty Persuasion” (which didn’t even have interesting capitalization…).  The speedy, up-country side of R.E.M. on Reckoning is more memorable and outright enjoyable, like opener “Harborcoat”, if not as inspired as Murmur.  And “7 chinEse bros.” isn’t actually as good as “Voice of Harold” from Dead Letter Office, the same song, but with lyrics read by Michael Stipe off of the back of a gospel record found by producer Don Dixon above the recording booth where they made Reckoning, when Stipe was being particularly difficult.

The energy of pieces like “Harborcoat”, “second GuessinG”, or closer “little america” was only amped up on the ‘Live from Little America’ tour, whose July 7th, 1984 date at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom in Chicago was broadcast by WXRT, and is now being released for the first time.  That amping lifts tracks like “7 chinEse bros.”, Murmur’s “Sitting Still”, and Reckoning session outtake (later found on Dead Letter Office, and the 1992 Reckoning re-release) “Windout”, but it also sees the band a bit sloppier, especially at the end with final three songs “little america”, “second GuessinG”, and “ROCKVILLE”.  It is a better recording than the in-store performance that accompanied Murmur (Deluxe Edition), and does feature some choice early versions of “Driver 8” (the single of the following Fables of the Reconstruction) and “Hyena” (from the record after that, Life’s Rich Pageant).  Plus, R.E.M. interestingly started the show with their slow, heartfelt cover of Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” (a studio version of which would also be found on Dead Letter Office).

When R.E.M. put out Accelerate (QRO review) last year, many called the album a ‘return to form’ and the best since the 1997 departure of drummer Bill Berry (R.E.M. should hire Pavement percussionist Bob Nastanovich, following Pavement bassist Mark Ibold being hired as the new bassist for just about the only alt-band that can rival R.E.M. in longevity, popularity, and importance, Sonic Youth – QRO live review, with Ibold).  Much of that came from the return to speed & energy from the band, while not losing their distinct alt-skill.  And much of that was originally defined on Reckoning.

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