Back in October 2007, I was able to view an extraordinary event hosted by the Athens Historical Society. The video reportedly took place at the Wuxtry Records on June 6, 1980. While I cannot claim that the video matched with the songs on this collection the event provided a glimpse into this young band which had only been performing live for 2 months.
The reason that I bring this up is that I understand that the band had performed a couple times at the record store. The record store video/audio recordings at Wuxtry Records were not "Demos" per se but more like a rehearsal of the band.
My first experience with these was via a cassette tape that I received at the Hillside Record Fair in Hillside, IL. Listed as "Garage Rehearsals" it was my second such recording of some of their earliest music. The songs below, reflect a glimpse at some of their best music up to this point and while only 1 of these songs would actually make it onto an album during their early career (Just A Touch), others have seen a rebirth in recent years.
'All the Right Friends' was rerecorded and put on the 'Vanilla Sky' soundtrack and 'Permanent Vacation' was performed live at several dates during the 'Best Of' Tour.
The common theme in many of these songs portray R.E.M. reflecting on their life around them. Songs about relationships, friends, girls, etc., all the things that break young guys hearts. They are not all that complicated and I would venture to guess when you start writing simple songs with catchy hooks that the point is trying to figure out just what R.E.M. is all about.
One of the noticeable comments that I remember hearing from the Wuxtry video performance was how they felt that outside of the fact the band looked so young was how Michael Stipe reminded them of Elvis. Unfortunately, that cannot be provided here but still a very important recording nonetheless.
The tracks on this were taken from the "Early Movements" Bootleg CD release.
Tracks (Right Click to Download)
1. Dangerous Times
2. All The Right Friends
3. Different Girl
4. Narrator
5. Just A Touch
6. Baby I
7. Mystery To Me
8. Permanent Vacation