Live at the Olympia
October 29, 2009
My apologies to those still waiting around for me to write about Accelerate — it will come, eventually! — but to tide you over in the meantime, you can read my review of the band’s new Live at the Olympia over at Pitchfork.
October 29, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Great review!
Can’t wait to read about the Accelerate songs and the outakes (SDBMD and On the fly). I really like On the fly. I think it sounds great live. It gives the record a nice breathing space between all the fast rock songs. If you don’t listen closely, it can feel like a boring around the sun outake but there is something deeper or darker underneath the surface which makes it good.
October 29, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Well hell: you just sold me a copy of this, which I was going to ignore on the grounds that, meh, live album blah-blah-blah.
Nice review!
November 3, 2009 at 11:32 am
I’m enjoying the album actually. The version of “I’ve Been High” is a really really nice surprise (been streaming on REMHQ), and it’s great to hear the ‘oldies’ done live in such quality.
Worth noting how well Michael’s voice has held up over the years! A lot of singers who need to get up that high can’t sustain it with age. He sounds just like he did back in the early 80s. He can still nail “Kohoutek”; wow.
November 5, 2009 at 1:06 pm
This record is soooo much better than ‘REM LIVE’ That record was way too slick and polished for my tastes. ‘Live at the Olympia’ has a realness and rawness to it that brings the songs alive. Great song selection as far as I’m concerned. ‘A must’ for fans. And a damn good introduction to their music for anyone checking them out for the first time.
November 28, 2009 at 7:56 pm
………..And my apologies for not sending you a small stipend for your efforts, Sir
….I like ON THE FLY…
December 4, 2009 at 10:49 am
Disguised… indeed it was.
December 12, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Would’ve thought by now we would be ready to proceed ——WHOH !