By Anthony DeCurtis 12.31.98 CDNow R.E.M.’s latest album, Up, marks a dramatic shift in the seminal band’s sound. The group rose to prominence as a definitive rock quartet, but when drummer Bill Berry abruptly quit in September of 1997, singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills had no choice but to venture [...]
By Chris Heath 12.24.98 Rolling Stone Toward the end of one of R.E.M.’s more uncertain years, Michael Stipe can be found onstage in Vienna, performing with his bands mates in a small club. They reinterpret much of Up, their first album without drummer Bill Berry (“He’s growing hay,” Stipe says), then let their hair down. [...]
By Dino Scatena 12.10.98 Herald Sun 4 stars As REM reminded us last time with New Adventures In Hi Fi, it usually takes a good six months to penetrate anything new from these gentle Texans. The inclusion of a libretto this time around might cut a few weeks off that. So, some initial obvious observations [...]
12.09.98 Wall Of Sound Even without a tour, it’s still a great time to be an R.E.M. fan. The band’s promotional sweep in support of the recently released Up rolls on, with Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and friends wrapping several weeks of U.S. and European TV performances with a slot on the Tonight [...]
By David Bauder 12.06.98 The News And Observer R.E.M.’s 1991 song, “Losing My Religion,” became a hit tune with few people knowing what the song was actually about. Singer Michael Stipe recently tried to explain the ideas behind his best-known song, as he stood before cameras taping an episode of VH1′s “Storytellers.” As it turns [...]
By David Sprague 12.02.98 Guitar Magazine R.E.M.’s Peter Buck talks about the secret to getting good feedback, reconstructing the formidable band that was once R.E.M., and finding new mountains to climb as a professional guitarist. Pete Buck’s guitar style – jangly, swimmingly impressionistic and decidedly non-riffy – practically defined the first days of alterna-rock, for [...]