Wow And Flutter

Long and short pieces on music you should listen to; audio gear; and pop culture.

Tag: Bingo Hand Job

The only five R.E.M. albums you need

May 27, 2019 /

My piece on the Bingo Hand Job (a/k/a R.E.M.) 1991 concert disc got me thinking about this band that’s been part of my musical DNA since they wormed their way into my brain in 1983, with the release of Murmur, their dark, mysterious, poppy and pretty fantastic full-length debut album. That disc sat on my turntable for a good solid month while I listened, headphones on, trying with all my might to figure out just exactly what Michael Stipe was actually singing about. And once I thought I had the lyrics figured out, I had to reevaluate that opinion the next time I listened to those songs. It was like they were a living being, constantly changing their shape and identity; but that’s what made those early songs so beautiful. Their meaning is what you want to believe it is. It’s like the ending of Lost In Translation: what is Bill Murray whispering in Scarlett Johansson’s ear in the last scene? Doesn’t matter: write your own poetry.

Which R.E.M. albums do you need to have? That your life will be entirely empty without? Well, let’s be honest: you need ALL of them, but if you had to pick only five, they are:

  1. Murmur (1983) Where it all began. Jangly guitars, and mood that mirrors the kudzu vines growing on the cover. Song You’ll Play On Repeat: Radio Free Europe.
  2. Reckoning (1984) Their followup, but deftly avoids the “let’s make another one like the last one” trap. Their lyrics are a little clearer, and the sound punchier. Song You’ll Play On Repeat: Don’t Go Back To Rockville.
  3. Document (1987) The album after Lifes Rich Pageant. NOT produced by John Mellencamp’s producer Don Gehman, but goddamn if “Strange” isn’t the spitting image of vintage Mellencamp. Side two gets murky (but worth the trip) after “The One I Love,” but side one is killer, including the song-for-our-current-times “Exhuming McCarthy.” Song You’ll Play On Repeat: It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).
  4. New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996) A recent addition to my collection, and so fricking good that it kicked Out Of Time from the top 5 list. The last album with Bill Berry behind the drum kit, and the band playing (most of the tracks were recorded live, during their tour behind Automatic for the People) as if they knew it were the last time they’d all be together. Song You’ll Play On Repeat: The Wake-Up Bomb.
  5. Automatic for the People (1992) Saved the best for last. In fact, if you only had room for ONE R.E.M. album on your shelf, this would be it. There is not a single song on this album that is not a classic. Despite the album’s overall theme of (as guitarist Peter Buck noted) “mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family,” it’s inspiring, moving and (yes) funny. And it rocks hard (“Ignoreland.) Song You’ll Play On Repeat: Nightswimming.

Record Store Day 2019 Review: Bingo Hand Job (R.E.M.), Live at the Borderline 1991

April 25, 2019 /

One of the more anticipated releases from this year’s rich Record Store Day trove was a widely-bootlegged March 1991 almost impromptu live set from R.E.M., playing under the hilarious pseudonym Bingo Hand Job.  There are a couple of reasons I was stoked to get a copy: 1) the fairly limited number of copies pressed (3000 in the US); 2) R.E.M. was a band I sadly never got to see live, and 3) at the time, the band was not quite the biggest band in the world, though they were sure on their way.  So the chance to hear them in a really loose, mostly acoustic setting (they cover Love Is All Around, for crying out loud) was too good to miss.

[Craft Recordings]

The Borderline is a pretty legendary London club – holding only about 300 people, it’s pretty intimate.  You can get a sense of the room from the acoustic space generated from this recording.  For a bootleg recording, it’s not too bad.  I honestly don’t think they’ve cleaned it up at all, but it doesn’t matter: muddy sonics didn’t hurt Murmur, after all.

R.E.M. in 1990 (JA Barratt/Photoshot/Getty Images)

This is still the early R.E.M. I love so much – the songs on this two-disc set span their entire catalog up to that time.  The band is clearly loose and having a great time (as is the well-lubricated crowd), and the fun extended to the band members’ pseudonyms (Michael Stipe =“Stinky,” Peter Buck =“Raoul,” Mike Mills = “Ophelia”, Bill Berry = “The Doc,” as well as guests Spanish Charlie (Peter Holsapple of the dBs), Conrad (Billy Bragg) and Violet (Robyn Hitchcock).  As Mike Mills said recently, “” too concerned about being a professional band.”  Thank god for that.  If you can track down a copy of this at a not-insane price, (copies are going on eBay right now for about $75(!)) get it. 

Tracklist:

Side A

1. “World Leader Pretend”

2. “Half A World Away”

3. “Fretless”

4. “The One I Love”

Side B

1. “Jackson”/”Dallas”

2. “Disturbance At The Heron House”

3. “Belong”

4. “Low”

Side C

1. “Love Is All Around”

2. “You Are The Everything”

3. “Swan Swan H”

4. “Radio Song”

5. “Perfect Circle”

Side D

1. “Endgame”

2. “Pop Song 89”

3. “Losing My Religion”

4. “Get Up”

5. “Moon River”

Record Store Day!

April 13, 2019 /

It’s 6:30 in the morning at in Buffalo, New York. Where else would I be?

Revolver Records, Buffalo NY

It’s the happiest day of the year! It’s Record Store Day, the day where music lovers everywhere get to celebrate the great culture that is the record store, and get the chance to score some great new, often previously unavailable music from, well, everyone. Often the list includes a lot of limited edition, just-for-Record-Store-Day discs, but the real attraction is in the music itself.

This year’s list was really rich and diverse. Each of the past couple of years have offered one or two discs I was really interested in, but this year’s list was an absolute treasure trove of great stuff. Best yet, I managed to get everything I was looking for – I can’t wait to get these home and get them on the turntable!

This year’s RSD haul

Top to bottom, left to right:

  • Bingo Hand Job (a/k/a REM), Live at The Borderline 1991: an oft-bootlegged set from REM, now (presumably) sonically tidied up for the masses
  • Fleetwood Mac, The Alternate Fleetwood Mac: same track order as the classic first album of the pre-Rumours lineup, but all alternate versions/takes
  • Mission of Burma, Peking Spring: first vinyl release of the influential Boston band’s 1998 compilation/rarities disc
  • Courtney Barnett, Everybody Here Hates You: 12″ single B/W “Small Talk”
  • Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Purse EP: four track disc with Elvis collaborating on the songs with Burt Bacharach, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan
  • Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks (NY “test pressing” version): do I need another version of this record? No! But the record we all know wasn’t the one Dylan originally recorded in NYC in 1974. Right before Columbia was going to release the record, Dylan decided to re-record a bunch of it in Minneapolis. This is the complete NYC version.
  • Lou Reed, Ecstasy: one of Lou’s last albums first time on vinyl, from 2000, featuring the great Fernando Saunders on bass (limited edition, this one.)

By the way, Buffalo is a GREAT vinyl town, and Revolver is an amazing story. The owner, a great guy named Phil Machemer, got his start selling vinyl for a couple of years in popup locations around Buffalo before opening Revolver in another part of the city a couple of years ago. In December, he opened a second (!) location in Elmwood Village (the college-y part of town, where I went this weekend.) I can’t think of a better example of the strength of the vinyl resurgence than this! A must-visit if you’re up this way.

“Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.”  – Miles Davis

 

Shoutouts and Credits

  • Coming Soon!

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