Classic & Current Contemporary Non-Schlock-Rock Metropolitan Music

Murmur (1983) - R.E.M.

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There was so much excitement when this record came out. Even though R.E.M. were from Athens, GA, many of us in North Carolina felt like this was "our band." They were always playing Friday's, a little club on Tate Street in Greensboro that had a knack for attracting bands that went on to make names for themselves.

Also, since North Carolina's Mitch Easter and Don Dixon produced this record (in Charlotte), R.E.M. helped bring national attention to some of the great music coming out of the Triad and Triangle.

The single for "Radio Free Europe" was released in 1981 so I was able to play that and "Sitting Still" on Deaconlight before its demise at the end of 1981.

I started doing the "New Generation" show on WKZL in 1982. That was the year R.E.M. released the EP Chronic Town on I.R.S. records. This is a great record in itself, but I don't think you can get it as a CD EP. At least I haven't found one. The five cuts are on the 1987 release Dead Letter Office, which also has b-sides and other unreleased material. Still that's not the same as slapping the vinyl on the turntable and hearing "Wolves, Lower," "Gardening at Night," and "Carnival of Sorts" on their own. R.E.M. was recording Chronic Town with Mitch Easter at his Drive-In Studio as Deaconlight was in its final months in 1981.

Then came Murmur at last in 1983. Even better was that it was on I.R.S. records because my contact there, Michael Plen, always made sure I had records to give away to fans to spread the word. It is also because of Plen that I was able to interview R.E.M. twice.

The "New Generation" show aired on Sunday evenings. That was an interesting time because this mostly new music show - where I played whatever I wanted - was so popular that WKZL's program director, Tom Collins, started letting newer stuff make its way into regular rotation. After some lobbying, I convinced Collins to add "Radio Free Europe" to our regular mix of classic rock. [Wikipedia says WKZL was "one of the first major commercial stations to play R.E.M.'s music in high rotation."] A few weeks later we added "Talk About the Passion."

A lot of rednecks hated the new stuff I played and they would call and complain, insisting that we play "Free Bird" and get that "new wave shit" off the radio. [Ironically, I remember at an R.E.M. concert at Ralieigh in the late 1990s, someone yelled "play Radio Freebird"!] But R.E.M. stuck and when the follow-up record Reckoning came out, we played a bunch of stuff off of it in regular rotation as well.

One of the regulars at Casablanca, where I used to spin records on Monday nights, was a big R.E.M. fan and a fan of my show. R.E.M. did an in-store at the Record Bar (I think) in Winston-Salem. I didn't go since I had already met them. But Ralph and his buddy bought a copy of this record and had R.E.M. autograph it for me.

You will notice in the picture that my name is spelled "DeDe." I have spelled my name different ways, but at the time I spelled it that way to be like BeBe Buell, Todd Rundgren's girlfriend at the time.

But Michael Stipe just put two capital Ds - DD. I liked it so much it stuck. So I dropped the extra e and e and shortened my name to DD. (I was born Donna, but legally changed my name to DD in the 1990s). So I guess I have Michael Stipe to thank for the way I have spelled my name for more than two decades. Thanks, Michael!

-- Original post June 25, 2005
   Updated 11/28/2008 (DD)

Murmur Original Album Tracks

Note: When the deluxe edtion of Murmur was initially released on iTunes, it didn't include the liner notes. After I e-mailed R.E.M.'s manager Bertis Downs about this, the liner notes were posted on R.E.M.'s website. He seemed surprised they liner notes were not included so that might be fixed. If not, you can
download the liner notes to Murmer - Deluxe Edition here. (PDF - 1.15 MB).

1. Radio Free Europe
2. Pilgrimage
3. Laughing
4. Talk About the Passion
5. Moral Kiosk
6. Perfect Circle
7. Catapult
8. Sitting Still
9. 9-9
10. Shaking Through
11. We Walk
12. West of the Fields

Additional Tracks on Murmur: 25th Anniversary Edition

Recorded live at Larry's Hideaway, Toronto, Canada performed July 9, 1983

1. Laughing
2. Pilgrimage
3. There She Goes Again
4. 7 Chinese Bros.
5. Talk About The Passion
6. Sitting Still
7. Harborcoat
8. Catapult
9. Gardening At Night
10. 9-9
11. Just A Touch
12. West Of The Fields
13. Radio Free Europe
14. We Walk
15. 1,000,000
16. Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)

Vintage Playlists with Songs from R.E.M. - Murmur

• Sunday Deaconlight - 13 December 1981

Murmur Deluxe: An Insider's Look

From R.E.M. HQ's Kevin O'Neil - 24 November 2008. Reproduced at Deaconlight.com with permission.

This Tuesday, November 25th will celebrate the release of the Murmur Deluxe Edition, marking 25 years since Rolling Stone honored Murmur as "Album of the Year." To coincide with this, Universal Music will be releasing a remastered two-disc version of Murmur as part of the Deluxe Edition series. The Deluxe Edition is comprised of classic records re-released in a two-disc format. Previous releases include Elvis Costello and U2, so we are certainly in good company. The first disc in the release is Murmur as it was intended: twelve remastered songs as they originally appeared in 1983 -- no extra bits and pieces and no fluff. The second disc features the perfect companion piece to a great studio album: a live club show recorded only months after the record was released.

We were excited to work with Universal and appreciative of their efforts to give Murmur the treatment it deserves. From R.E.M.'s standpoint, the very first step and most important thing we could do was to get Mitch Easter and Don Dixon involved. As producer and engineer, they were essential to the process of shaping Murmur, and we wanted their ideas, opinions and ears to help present the Deluxe Edition as well. And according to Don and Mitch, the obvious and only choice for remastering was Greg Calbi, who mastered the original Murmur. With this sound team in place we knew we were in good hands... I mean ears. But that's only half the team, as once a great record is finished a whole lot of people work very hard to make sure that record is heard on the radio and stocked on the store shelves (remember this was 1983). In the case of the original Murmur, of course those people were the staff at I.R.S. Records. We were grateful for the help of former I.R.S. employees Michael Plen, Jay Boberg, Carlos Grasso and Sig Sigworth, whose assistance, ideas and recollections were essential to the success of this release. You can hear their stories in their own words on the liner notes of the package.

With Murmur holding such a special place in R.E.M.'s discography, we approached it with two goals in mind: we wanted to maintain the integrity of the original album, and we wanted to make the second disc something of true value, not just added content for the sake of more content. With that in mind, it was important to us that Murmur appear on a disc by itself, as it was originally intended and released. As much as I enjoy b-sides, alternate takes and demo versions of great songs, it would have been a disservice to the record to clutter a cleanly sequenced album with distracting extras. For the second disc, we wanted to offer something we had not released before, but had a cohesive quality which would compliment Murmur, rather than crowding it. Everyone agreed that a live show was the perfect fit. The show we picked is a well-loved recording at a club called Larry's Hideaway in Toronto. It was originally recorded for a radio broadcast in July, 1983, just after the release of Murmur. Nearly all the songs from Murmur are included in the show, as well as song from albums which were not yet appeared on a record. According to diehard fans, this show is not to be missed and has since become one of the most bootlegged and blogged about performances of the band's early career. Now, having been remastered from the original tapes, you'll get to hear an R.E.M. show like it hasn't been heard in 25 years.

Mojo Magazine calls Murmur one of the "100 records that changed the world," and I'm not one to argue with a good review.

More R.E.M. at Deaconlight.com

• R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (2011)
  Press release, album cover, track listing