was a burgeoning music geek’s dream. Even 20 years ago when I first fell for the their sound, they already sported a deep catalog with numerous B-sides, concert bootlegs and unreleased studio outtakes.
Almost as quickly as word spread about the band calling it quits after 31 years came news of yet another greatest hits compilation in the works. Since the band has already released several such albums, and with many already compiling best of lists — like this — it got me to thinking about the band’s overlooked songs.
With all that material, overlooked is a relative term. Some of the band’s most beloved songs were never released as singles — I’m looking at you “Harbourcoat,” “Cuyahoga” and “Flowers of Guatemala.” I considered some overlooked because they were buried by the band, overshadowed by greater hits or released when the band’s fame was on the wane. Or simply because I couldn’t believe more people, even R.E.M. fans, didn’t like these songs as much as I did.
Let the debate begin, what’s your favorite overlooked R.E.M. song, or, for that matter, overlooked song of your favorite band? Here’s 11 of mine:
11. “Horse to Water” from “Accelerate”
2008’s “Accelerate” was a welcome burst of guitar squall and clatter after the band spent much of its post-Bill-Berry years as overly ponderous and sounding unsure of itself. Given a choice between overly-planned and plodding R.E.M., or a more lyrically loose, but guitar driven version of the band, I’d take the latter. “Horse to Water” is a tight rocker with some nimble Stipe wordplay, but the song belongs to Buck and hired six-string gun Scott McCaughey, who blasts through the track with an abandon of a much younger, and youthful musician.
10. “Oh My Heart” from “Collapse Into Now”
By this spring, many longstanding fans had already stopped following R.E.M., but “Collapse Into Now” had some fine moments, none finer than “Oh My Heart.” A reprise of sorts that betters 2008’s Katrina lament “Houston,” this is classic R.E.M. that transcends its specific politics to create a gorgeous little moment. Even if you aren’t interested in the album as a whole, this one is worth tracking down.
9. “Star Me Kitten” from “Automatic for the People”
It is hard to say if anything on “Automatic for the People” is overlooked, but this is one of the quietest songs on a quiet album, far less loved than “Nightswimming” or “Find the River,” but more interesting. Over a droning chorus, Stipe sings of his romantic obsession, and depending on how one hears it, either something creepy or playful is afoot. As an added bonus, check out the version with William Burroughs on lead vocals.
8. “Ages of You”
Not unlike “That Beat,” this was an early touring track that morphed several times before landing as a B-side. Regardless, Berry’s playful beat and Buck’s chiming chords set the perfect tone for the inscrutable wordplay. Is it all a put on or something more? “Sofa seated one too much.” Indeed.
7. “Bittersweet Me” from “New Adventures in Hi-Fi”
Recorded the previous year while on tour promoting “Monster,” “Bittersweet Me” features a mix of “Automatic” introspection and “Monster” stadium rock. Stipe turns from vulnerable to defensive on a dime, riding Buck’s claws out on guitar hooks. “Bittersweet” and the album it appeared on, “New Adventures in Hi-Fi,” sounds fresher to my ears than many tracks off those more heralded, and better known “Automatic” and “Monster.”
6. “That Beat”
This is a lost number from the band’s early days of non-stop touring and refining of their sound. Years later, they resurrected “All The Right Friends,” “Romance” and “Bad Day,” but not this rollicking rocker with its great Buddy Holly-like guitar breakdown. Studio outtakes and live versions exist on YouTube, my favorite coming from a 1982 club stop in Madison, Wis.
5. “Kohoutek” from “Fables of the Reconstruction”
“Kohoutek” is probably the most overlooked track on what is probably the band’s most overlooked early album, “Fables of the Reconstruction.” “Mumbles” Stipe paints a narrative of bangles, bells and flying fish over a sturdy folk rock jangle before asking “If I stand and holler, will I stand alone?”
4. “Why Not Smile?” from “Up”
This track from the band’s first post-Bill Berry offering, the introspective but worthy “Up,” recalls early Magnetic Fields more than anything in the R.E.M. catalog to that point. “Why not smile? You’ve been sad for a while,” Stipe sings over burbling electronics and roiling guitars. Consider this “Everybody Hurts” on a personal level, downcast but hopeful. It works.
3. “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)” from the “Chronic Town” EP
“Carnival” equals the far more celebrated “Radio Free Europe” and “Gardening at Night.” A driving but thoroughly danceable beat from Berry and Mike Mills propels Stipe’s ominous rasp-delivered lyrics. Buck’s guitar, meanwhile, pokes and sticks and agitates rather than rings. “Gentlemen don’t get caught, cages under cage.” Is it a warning, a mere statement of fact — or a threat?
2. “Fretless” from the “Losing My Religion” single
Buck has suggested this soundtrack offering should have made “Out of Time.” Itap an angst-filled dirge of the first order. Stipe’s plaintive “Don’t talk to me about being alone,” backed by Kate Pierson of the B-52’s is as stark as it is haunting. If you consider “Out of Time” and “Automatic for the People” era R.E.M. as the high-water mark for the band, “Fretless” will be welcome to your ears.
1. “Letter Never Sent” from “Reckoning”
“Letter Never Sent” lands among some of the all-time R.E.M. classics “South Central Rain,” “Seven Chinese Bros.” and “Rockville.” Guitarist Peter Buck kicks it off with a driving riff that is soon joined by the rhythm section’s giddy syncopation. Lead singer Michael Stipe sings from an amicably-addled mind about his college town and catacombs before launching into a hefty “whoah-oh-oh-oh” before as drummer Bill Berry and bassist Mike Mills join him in singing “Heaven is yours where I live,” a joyful noise to be sure.
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Aging indie-rock fan Barry Osborne works for Denver Post Online, you can find him on Twitter @barry_osborne.
