Intro to UP

  Here's where things get a little nuts ...



 
  Forgive the next line, but this is the end of the band as we knew them (and I don't feel particularly great about it). Of particular relevance is where Michael states Bill wasn't gonna leave if they threatened to break up. Plus there's a record deal, ya know. In hindsight, the catalog going forward is nowhere near as strong as the Berry years. However, it's clear the (now) trio were not finished making music--Michael is not even 40 at this point--he's not finished, but the sick thing is he could be. They all could be done and their legacy would be amazing. Do they spoil it? Or does it matter. The demand, particularly overseas, was still there. There's a part of me that believes this withdrawal which really began with E-BOW is an attempt to step back from the limelight as they did with OOT and AFTP, sort of how Pearl Jam kind of wanted to be left alone a little. It's hard to be an artist when you're constantly scrutinized and its this exterior part of being in a band that finally catches up to Bill. The band claims he'll never be replaced and he never is, and on the plus side Peter and Mike have already been writing ideas for the next album. The only thing missing is Berry's veto power and songwriting skills--both define R.E.M. in a way that makes this album the beginning of an entirely new group.
  Onto the album, which for me had this piece of good news--lyrics are now included!! Which gives me time to go back and edit previous trainwrecks. However, the bad news is that for the next few albums, the guitar is scarce. I won't be diving too deeply into keyboard and organ parts and the sparseness inherent in the sound of the new R.E.M. is akin to Radiohead, whose affect on the band is undeniable. As I write this, I have no idea what some songs have to offer at all!
  When the album broke the record company decided Daysleeper was the first release, I'm sure because it was the track most likely not to scare old fans as it sounds remarkably like something off an older album. However, the song is a touch on the boring side and if they had embraced some of the experiments more. For instance, Suspicion was officially released almost a year after the album came out--a song that probably should've been the first out. Lotus was second and it hits a little hard, but the more you listen to it on its own the more it seems to drag. UP is experimentation. Instead of taking a step back and trying to soul search, the band plows ahead and wants to find themselves in the music. Honestly, the results are remarkable with a lot of hit and miss but they really are fucking around in the most purely artistic way. Some of these songs are voted out by Bill I'm sure, but upon a listening party with the band he noted the jealousy he felt that the group could seemingly pick up without him so seamlessly. With Bill do Hope, Apologist, or Sad Professor make the album? Very strange tracks. What is going through Michael's head while he's writing these songs? He definitely falls back heavily on character pieces, these are almost short stories--graduating from conveying the tone and feeling of a story and diving into true narrative. What's missing is that feeling of fan ownership, songs that are abstract with interpretable lyrics move with this album to specific stories and set lyrics. A lot of these songs are people who are down with nowhere to go but UP. Which is where the band is. Expectations are both high and low, but the remaining members of the band stick to their guns and get to work, not worried about the commercial results. UP is the beginning of the road to what the band would eventually become with Accelerate, so consider this the beginning of the learning curve.


 

NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI: ELECTROLITE

  To end this album on such a nice easy song is almost apologetic. Sorry for complaining about the road! Hugs and smooches! Michael originally didn't think the song fit the album, but was overruled. Maybe he was worried about the not overly original lyrics, or perhaps it was just how personal the song was. It was inspired by his life in L.A. and particularly after an earthquake damaged his house and he went up Mulholland and looked upon the city at night. 'Electrolite' is really just short hand for Electric Lights and being that this song is a bit of a goodbye to the 20th century, the idea is appropriate. There is also an excitement in stepping into the future, thinking the coming years would progress the issues of humanity--the 20th century was a shit-show, and it needed to 'go to sleep, really deep.' Unfortunately the 21st Century has seen a regression of humanity, but the song doesn't know that. It also doesn't know this is Bill Berry's last official track listing with the band. In hindsight it's a fitting elegy to a part of the band that would never be replaced and whose departure left the group scrambling for identity for fifteen years. Electrolite is a fun, simple tune with a catchy lyric that pretty much sums up the journey the band had been on and maybe Bill's final thought as well: 'Don't be scared. I'm outta here.'

ELECTROLITE

Your eyes are burnin’ holes through me
I'm gasoline

I'm burnin' clean
20th century go to sleep
You're Pleistocene

That is obscene

That is obscene

You are the star tonight
Your sun electric, outta sight
Your light eclipsed the moon tonight
Electrolite
You're outta sight

If I ever want to fly
Mulholland Drive
I am alive
Hollywood is under me
I'm Martin Sheen
I'm Steve McQueen
I'm Jimmy Dean

You are the star tonight
Your sun electric, outta sight
Your light eclipsed the moon tonight
Electrolite
You're outta sight

If you ever want to fly
Mulholland Drive
Up in the sky

(You are alive)

(You are alive)
Stand on a cliff and look down there

(You are alive)
Don't be scared

(You are alive)
You are alive

(You are alive)
You are alive

You are the star tonight
Your sun electric outta sight
Your light eclipsed the moon tonight
Electrolite
You're outta sight

20th century go to sleep
Really deep

We won't blink
Your eyes are burning holes through me
I'm not scared

I'm outta here
I'm not scared

I'm outta here

  Simple song. I sometimes tab the piano parts here, but for this track it's really just chords and doodling. The banjo is tuned like a guitar, so the below part you can also play on banjo. Love the lead stuff and the subtle pinky remove the second time you hit C in the Verse.

ELECTROLITE

Verse

e|-3--3--3-3--3--3-3--3--3-0--0--0--|

B|-3-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-3----|

G|-0----0--0----0--0----0--0----0---|

D|-0-------2-------0-------2--------|

A|-2-------3-------2-------3--------|

E|-3-------0-------3-------0--------|

Bridge to Chorus

e|-2---0-------2---2-------|

B|-3---1-------3---4-------|

G|-2---2-------2---4-------|

D|-0---2---x2--0---4-------|

A|-----0-----------2-------|

E|-----0-----------2-------|

Chorus

e|-0---3-0---0---3-0---0---3-2---3-2-3---|

B|-0---3-1---0---3-1---0---3-3-----------|

G|-0---0-2---0---0-2---0---0-2-----------|

D|-2---0-2---2---0-2---2---0-0-----------|

A|-2---2-0---2---2-0---2---2-------------|

E|-0---3-0---0---3-0---0---3-------------| 

Lead (B-Am x3, C-D)

(Banjo Doodle, B Chord: G string 7/8

                Am: D string 5/7)

e|-7--7--7--5--5--5---0---2-------|

B|-7-7-7----5-5-5-----1---3-------|

G|-8----8---7----7----0---2-------|

D|-9--------7---------2---0-------|

A|--------------------3-----------|

E|---------------(x3)-0-----------|

NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI: LOW DESERT

  This song probably sums up this album more than any other. It talks specifically about the road weary traveler and especially the last line 'the mountains yawn, the clouds let out a sigh.' The band was part of something larger that was 'egging' them on, this album is the true result of an album like Monster. You can't fault the band for leaping back into the arena, but did it lead to their semi-split? If the band had locked itself into the studio for the rest of their days and kept things simple, does Berry stay? Hard to say, but there's only one more track after this in the Bill Berry era and things really effing change. Also, this song has an 'OOT' feel to it and would fit right alongside Country Feedback.




LOW DESERT

It happened fast, it's over quick
A little dust and the engine kicks

Did your hands drift down off the wheel?
A road owl hit your windshield
An eyelash or a little bit of sleep?
Did time stand still?
Just call it now, and you're on your way

Hey
Hey hey
Hey

All the ashtrays cities and the freeway drives
Broken casino and waterslide
The 18 wheeler and the payback dives
Gravity pulls on the power line
A jet stream cuts the desert sky
This is a land could eat a man alive
Say you'd leave it all behind

Hey
Hey hey
Hey

There's a radio tower, it's egging you on
Back to the place where you never belonged
Where the people thrive on their own contempt
Whatever meaning is long gone spent
If you had to guess or make a bet
Would you place yourself inside of it?
The mountains yawn, the clouds let out a sigh
Tricked again, let go, okay

Hey hey

Hey
Hey hey
Hey

Hey hey

Hey

  This has a nice twang to it. It's pretty much dependent on the slide moments, but it's still fun to play without one. There's a second guitar in there, so listen for the interplay.

SO FAST, SO NUMB

Bridge

e|---0-0---0-0----|

B|---x-x---7-5----|

G|---7-5---7-5----|

D|---7-5---7-5----|

A|-5-5-3-5-5-3----|

E|-0-0-0---0-0----|

Verse (> denotes played with slide)

e|----------0-0-0----|

B|-3>7<6-0--1-3--3---|

G|-3>7<6-0--2-0---0--|

D|-3>7<6-0--3-5------|

A|----------0-5------|

E|----------0-0------|

Bridge to Chorus (add 7 on high e occasionally)

e|-0-0-0----|

B|-5>7-5----|

G|-5>7-5----|

D|-5>7-5----|

A|-0-0-0----|

E|-0-0-0----|

  

Chorus (> denotes played with slide)

e|-0-0-0-0-0-0----|

B|-0-0-0-0-5>7----|

G|-0-0-0-0-5>7----|

D|-3>5-3-0-5>7----|

A|-3>5-3-5-0-0----|

E|-0>0-0-0-0-0----|

Lead (G-C, G-C-C, Power Chords at the 3rd and 8th)

e|----------------------------------------------------|

B|----------------------------------------------------|

G|------7>9-7<5-5/7h-5-5------------------------------|

D|-5>7-9---------------5h-5-3-5-7-5-7-9-7<5-5-5-7-5-0-|

A|---------------------------3-------------7-7--------|

E|----------------------------(Can also bend here)-3--|

NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI: SO FAST, SO NUMB

  This one became a staple for the rest of the tenure of the band, even if it wasn't pushed when first released. One of those late album gems that had a lot of energy and let Michael yell a lot. This song is maybe one of the better examples of Michael's self-revealing style of lyricism where his characters lay it on the line as opposed to abstractly describing a moment or a larger world through narration. The experimentation Michael is going through starting with Monster and extending to this album and beyond is fascinating and there are a handful of songs that are better for it, including this one. At this point in the bands life, the days are gone when the vocals serve as just another instrument, but it was fun to have every album come out and for fans/critics to try and compare to Murmur. Another pleasant part of this song are the Cat Stevens-style background voices for the chorus.



SO FAST, SO NUMB

You're moving through rough waters motor boy
And swimming in your sleep
How could I be so blind-sighted
Not to see that there's something wounded deep
Anyone could scratch your surface now it's all amphetamine
You're blasting yourself into the present
To blur some past indignity

Say that

You say that
You hate it
You want to re-create it

I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go, kill devil hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb that you can't even feel

You're drinking the raw adrenal baby and do-si-do-si-do
You're eating cartilage shark-eyes shark-heart all present tense
And boy your blood is running cold
Listen

This is now this is here this is me this is what I wanted you to see
That was then that was that that is gone that is past you've
Cast yourself, cast, passed by, thrown down fast

You say

You say that
You hate it
You want to re-create it

I've played this round I've played your lover
I've played it out and to the hilt, well
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb that you can't even feel

You love it
You hate it
You want to re-create it
Now

This is here this is me
This is what I wanted you to see
That was then that was that that is gone that is what I wanted you to feel

You love it
You hate it
I'm spitting out the bitter pill

I've been around I've been your lover
I let it go at kill devil hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb that you can't even feel

I've played this round I've played your lover
I've played it and out to the hilt
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb that you can't even feel

You've played around you've played me lover
I let it go, kill devil hills
You're moving so hard, so fast, so numb that you can't even feel

  This song is so stright-forward chord wise I'm lazily not putting a full tab, except for the lead. Peter never leaves the first few frets, but that said, the progression is dope. Perfect arena rock.

SO FAST, SO NUMB

Verse

D-F-C-G, D-F-C-C

Chorus Bridge and Chorus

F-G x2, Em-C-G-D, Em-C-F, Em-C-G-D-C

Solo (F-G x2, Bb-C)

e|------------------------------------------10^-12^--|

B|------10/11/10----------10/11/10-12^-11-13----12^--|

G|-10-12--------12---10-12---------12^---------------|

D|---------------------------------------------------|

A|---------------------------------------------------|

E|---------------------------------------------------|

End on D.

NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI: ZITHER

   I appreciate a good R.E.M. instrumental. I'd love to know how many started as tracks for Michael to listen to and weigh in on lyrically. This one seems to be an excuse to play a Zither, but it's the guitar line that comes across more than the plucky double stringed autoharp. Although you can still feel the effect on the song, mostly as the pick rakes across the strings, perhaps due to the recording being handled in the dressing room at the Spectrum in Philly. Fun tune to play as always.




ZITHER

"1,2,3 ... "

Guitar

e|----6>7----------6>7-----------|

B|-7-8---10-7-5-7-8---10-7-10----|

G|---------------------------x2--|

D|-------------------------------|

A|-------------------------------|

E|-------------------------------|

e|---------------------------------------------------------|

B|-10-8-7-7-7/8/7-5-7-7/8/7-5-7-7/8/7-5-3--3-4>6--------7--|

G|-------7-7-------7-7-------7-7---------3------5---5-7-7--|

D|----------------------------------------3------7-7----7--|

A|------------------------------------------------8--------|

E|---------------------------------------------------------|

Bridge (Muted Chords F#-B-E-A x2)

e|----------------------------|

B|-----------4------------2---|

G|----3-----4-4----1-----2-2--|

D|---4-4---4---4--2-2---2---2-|

A|--4---4-2------2---2-0------|

E|-2------------0-------------|