R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Written by: Moti Kupfer
Release Date - 09.09.1996 (Europe/UK) / 10.09.1996 (US)
Following the release of the album "Monster" in 1994, which achieved major commercial success, sold millions of copies and continued the tremendous momentum of the quartet from Athens, Georgia, "R.E.M." embarked on a tour for the first time in seven years, since the grueling year-long tour held to promote the 1988 album "Green".
This tour, considered one of the most successful and profitable in the industry that year, included more than 100 shows across three continents, among them an unforgettable performance in Ramat Gan on 9.8.1995.
The shows, held in huge venues, also featured opening performances by prominent and acclaimed artists, including "Radiohead", "Sonic Youth" and "Grant Lee Buffalo".
On paper, the tour schedule looked demanding and daunting enough, but it prepared no one for the series of medical emergencies, some of them genuinely life-threatening, that struck the band members during this period and threatened to break it apart completely.
The most famous incident occurred when drummer Bill Berry was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm as the tour reached Lausanne, Switzerland. Mike Mills later required abdominal surgery to remove an intestinal adhesion during the European shows in July, while Michael Stipe had to undergo emergency surgery to repair a hernia, a procedure completed without postponing any of the scheduled performances.
Inspired by "Radiohead's" decision to record some of the basic tracks for "The Bends" while on tour, as well as by Neil Young's 1973 live album "Time Fades Away", "R.E.M." decided to take eight-track recording machines on the road.
The band used the machines to document the new songs it was working on, while also recording the live shows, soundchecks and even informal improvised playing in dressing rooms. This method eventually produced the official recording of the instrumental "Zither", characterized by a swaying rhythm and a style reminiscent of surf music.
These live recordings formed the principal basis of the band's tenth album, "New Adventures in Hi-Fi", released on 09.09.1996 in Europe and the UK and on 10.09.1996 in the US.
This is not, however, a conventional live album, since all of its material was entirely new. The album was expanded with four additional songs recorded during a productive session held after the tour ended at "Bad Animals" Studios in Seattle.
"We got into the studio feeling very happy and relieved that everyone was okay, especially Bill," Mike Mills said in an interview in November 1996.
Mills added that the experience had brought the band much closer and made its members realize how important they were to one another. After surviving such a crisis, making the album felt easy. They had discussed creating an album from their touring experience a year and a half before setting out on the "Monster" tour, hoping to capture the loose, spontaneous feeling of a soundcheck, a live performance or a dressing room.
The album marked the beginning of the quartet's electronic adventures, which would intensify on the next album, "Up". This can be heard in "Leave", which opens with a minute of guitar and organ before an electronic siren cuts through the air.
The somber siren, together with the opening and the chord structure that conveys a sense of sadness, creates an especially oppressive atmosphere. It serves as the backdrop for the character at the heart of the song, who longs to leave the present situation and find a better life.
The music on the album, vibrant and eclectic, spread in many different directions. The opening track, "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us", a product of the Seattle studio sessions, featured Stipe sounding unusually world-weary as he sang, "This is a story, all too often told", over drummer Bill Berry's relaxed beat and an Ennio Morricone-style baritone-guitar motif played by guitarist Peter Buck.
The song also establishes the mood for the rest of the album. References to cowboys and the Wild West are woven through it, giving it a rough, untamed quality that fits well with the album's motif of work and creative processes.
The minimalist "Be Mine" contains variations on the classic phrases printed on small Valentine's Day conversation hearts.
The melancholic and rough-edged "E-Bow the Letter", on which Stipe duetted with his longtime heroine Patti Smith, also carried echoes of the pastoral, somber folk style that characterized "Automatic for the People".
The electronic device known as an "E-Bow" is used to play an electric guitar. It creates an electromagnetic field that drives the strings instead of fingers or a pick.
The song was inspired by a letter Stipe wrote but never sent to his friend, actor River Phoenix, who was struggling with personal difficulties. Phoenix died in 1993 at the age of 23 from an overdose of cocaine and heroin.
Patti Smith provided backing vocals on the song, an experience that changed Peter Buck's life. Buck recalled first seeing Smith perform in 1976 and thinking he would gladly give up ten years of his life to be the bassist in her band. He also noted how deeply she had inspired Michael Stipe.
The last song on the album to be recorded in the studio, the mournful "New Test Leper", uses biblical language to portray the guests on a daytime talk show as modern-day outcasts. Its title is a play on the biblical term "leper" and the New Testament.
The song describes the reactions to a transgender person's appearance on a talk show. The host, the audience and the other guests treat the person as an outcast.
In a 2008 exchange, Stipe explained that the character was inspired by a person he had seen on a television talk show trying to explain and defend her choices and orientation. Watching her be humiliated merely for appearing on the show was painful, and the commercial breaks made him wonder what was said when the cameras were off.
The remaining three quarters of the album, lightly polished through Scott Litt's discreet post-production work, came from complete live performances or soundchecks recorded at various locations across the US during the band's enormous 1995 tour.
Much of the material continued the garage-rock line that characterized "Monster", although the performances themselves received additional musical weight. The four band members were augmented by two more multi-instrumentalists, Scott McCaughey and Nathan December.
The idea of shaking off the trappings of fame recurs throughout the album. One example is "Bittersweet Me", a song with propulsive energy that represents one of the album's more pop-oriented moments, thanks to the guitar riff that opens it and repeats throughout the verses.
The song was released as the album's second single, and its cover stated that it was taken from the film "Stanco e Nudo". In fact, no such film exists.
"The Wake-Up Bomb" is effectively the dark side of "Crush with Eyeliner". While the latter celebrates creativity and stylistic pretense, the former is sung from the perspective of a vain, empty person who fashions himself into a star solely for publicity.
Going on tour felt to the band members like drowning. "Undertow" was written about that feeling and was inspired by the rock band "Sonic Youth".
The title of the dark and surreal "Binky the Doormat" comes from the 1992 black comedy "Shakes the Clown", and the song deals with relationships and preserving one's identity.
Musically, it is pure melodic beauty, combining a rough-edged guitar arpeggio, an energetic organ sound and a chorus built around a call-and-response structure between Michael Stipe and Mike Mills.
It took Stipe a long time to recover from the death of his close friend River Phoenix. One way he dealt with it was by writing songs about him, including "So Fast, So Numb", which plays with the rock-and-roll cliché of living fast and dying young.
Before a performance, Stipe introduced "Electrolite", which closes the album, as the band's small love letter to the 20th century. He said he was personally glad to be in the 21st century, since the previous one had offered truly wonderful things alongside things that were far less good.
Stipe also said that he initially did not think the song was good enough for the album, but Peter Buck and Mike Mills convinced him otherwise. They were right, he later felt, and it became one of his favorite songs. For him, it embodies the years he spent living in Santa Monica.
The song is an anthem to the idea that Los Angeles represents a combination of outward glamour and inner emptiness. Stipe said the title refers to what he called the "electrolyte blanket": the sight of Los Angeles at night from the hills, or from above in an airplane.
The "Rolling Stone" review sharply suggested that the record might mark either R.E.M.'s swan song or the beginning of the rest of the band's life. At the same time, many critics noticed that "Electrolite" ends with Michael Stipe emphatically singing, "I'm not scared... I'm outta here", a line interpreted as a hint that his days in the band might be numbered.
In reality, Stipe had no intention of leaving the group, but things changed dramatically after the album's release. The band parted ways with its manager, Jefferson Holt. Then Bill Berry dropped a bombshell by telling his bandmates that he intended to retire, just as recording sessions for their next album were due to begin in October 1997.
Berry's decision, which was not made lightly, came after months of soul-searching and lengthy discussions with Mike Mills and Bertis Downs. Yet the unsettling news left a group known for its exceptional harmony facing a difficult dilemma. After all, "R.E.M." had operated democratically since its formation, and its members had previously said they would break up if any one of them left.
In the end, Berry told his bandmates that he would not retire if they decided to break up because of his departure. Buck, Mills and Stipe therefore chose to continue as a trio, with Berry's blessing.
It may not have been the end of the world, but it was certainly the end of "R.E.M." as we knew it. The band had to undergo a process of reinvention before returning with the album "Up" in 1998.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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