Review of REM: Perfect Square

Introduction

REM’S ‘Road Movie’ was a seminal concert film, its neon-blasted migraine-cutting like the shredded shards of a scrambled dream; as well as being the perfect visual metaphor for the life-sapping inertia of the Monster world tour that left the band ragged and half-dead (and, in drummer Bill Berry’s case, quite literally thanks to an on-tour brain aneurysm.) It proved no creative dent however, not only did they record an album on tour (1996’s eclectic ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’) but they made a lo-fi masterpiece when Berry bailed (the underrated ‘Up’) and recently returned to something of their ‘Automatic For the People’ commercial credibility with the poppy ‘Reveal’. ‘Perfect Square’, their first concert film to cover this new material finds the band in a reflective mood, churning through robust early songs and some fresh new tunes. Whilst the airy decadence of Wiesbaden’s Bowling Green (from where the disc takes its title) pulls the show a million miles away from the parched, grungy hue of ‘Road Movie’, and the music never quite conjures the breathtaking postmodern punch of the masterful ‘Monster’, the band plough through their contractually obliged motions with customary efficiency.

Video

Okay anamorphic transfer of what looks like a smudgy digital source (although I wouldn’t swear by it.) Certainly not top of the line, so somewhat out of touch with the audio. The camera-work similarly is uninspired, the cutting frayed and amateurish, weakly mimicking the timbre and tempo of each song. It even occasionally veers into borderline-crass territory with countless shots of bouncing tits in the arena.

Audio

Three choices to bedazzle the high-spec sound-system or free-will impaired: bog-standard stereo and good, nicely textured if ever so slightly flat 5.1 are fine. Crystal-clear, Earth-shatteringly loud (if that is your pleasure) DTS is available, and preferred.

Features

Warner Music ensures the prospective reviewer that in the retail release, the DVD will contain added documentary footage. Sadly, they haven’t had the foresight to include it here (or should we read something more sinister into the proceedings?) Still, as a result any promised added value is unreviewable. Guess what that means.

Conclusion

With the recent release of their second Greatest Hits, it would be easy to take `Perfect Square` as a retrospective. But even if this is REM coming full circle, it’s pretty much business as usual as far as the material is concerned, as the hits-heavy set admits to the stadium-packing mega-rockers they became, rather than the rootsy, folky, sensitive alt-rock types they were before everyone starting liking them. And then stopped.

The band seem sprightly enough, the German crowd galvanized by their mere presence, and whilst these are certainly shinier, happier days than ‘Monster’, the band struggle to bring life back to well-worn classics, so the older and newer stuff works better. And whilst brand new material is sparse (the best of which is the exuberant, primitive roar of ‘Animal’,) the muddily sprightly ‘The Great Beyond’ (an addition to the ‘Man on the Moon’ soundtrack) has a jovial melody and one of those baffling, yet strangely life-affirming Stipe lyrics. Even the recent, disappointing ‘It’s the End of the World’-esque single ‘Bad Day’ is full of pep and political bluster, and feels, well, fine. The inclusion of older, less studio-bound songs combined with the deconstructive feel of the newer material gives the whole production a raw edge.

The collapse of old into new signposts poignantly vocalist Michael Stipe’s metamorphosis from introverted, retreating dreamer into the most intensely charismatic front-man in American rock, his voice groggy, ragged, but coated in a warm middle-age husk. And Stipe’s body is still as nimble as his voice: his jittery, epileptic animations have mellowed into a engagingly full-bodied, more than a little self-parodying mock-Elvis jive. Old pros they certainly are, and the struts and poise feel compulsive rather than staid, guitarist Peter Buck measures his commanding pose, his hanging swagger constantly tilted in a delicious slacker’s sneer.

There’s plenty of highlights: The always pleasant surprise of the chilling ‘Drive’ with Mike Mills’ bass growling menacingly throughout and Stipe flexing effortlessly through the melancholy melody. A moving rendition of the delicate ode to the emotional-disconnection of the modern-age, ‘Daysleeper’, decked out with affecting, if a mite overblown lullaby piano. And even if they must surely detest it by this point, ‘Losing My Religion’ still sounds like just about the best pop record ever. Quirkier songs get a fresh work-out: wistful ‘Nightswimming’ redux ‘Electrolite’, complete with a giddy jazz piano and a cathartic, propulsive version of ‘She Just Wants to Be’ are particularly memorable. Best of all though is the charred, haunting ‘Walk Unafraid’ a highlight from ‘Up’ and a restless, jangling masterpiece here.

It’s all very reliable, but there are few truly eye-opening surprises and, as dusk settles into night, the show settles into the anomie of routine and half-baked songs (the nauseated lilt of ‘At My Most Beautiful’ springs to mind.) Meanwhile the exertions of hit single ‘Man on the Moon’ have slipped into a lifeless pastiche by this stage, Stipe and co. tweaking the formula in a vain attempt to go the distance. And one can’t help but snigger when lighters rise to the blue surface of the crowd like speckles of phosphorous algae to the tired, tortured strains of ‘Everybody Hurts’, a song so cheapened by overuse in soap-opera funerals that it has long ceased to carry any emotional weight of its own. So whilst the second half is patchy, last-minute surprises like the formidable hymn-like dirge ‘Country Feedback’ and the rattling derailed train of ‘So Fast, So Numb’ make up for some lost time.

It all closes down in predictable style with the glorious tumble and tumult of closing-staple ‘It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ and whilst it all lacks the possessed, exhausted power of ‘Road Movie’, (available, and highly recommended on R2 DVD) it goes through the motions with considerable professionalism and a few spine-tingling moments for those fanatics who have heard these songs as many times as the band have played them.