By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you!  I just had a wonderful run of Dynamis, then realized “Oh yeah, I am fresh out of videos for today!”  Thankfully, I had one ready to play and record, and you are in the right place to listen to it!

The song I have selected for today is by one of my favorite bands from my entire life, REM.  This song “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” was a single from their album “Monster”, which is home to some of my favorite REM songs.  The album itself has a wide range of sound, but a common element is the “fuzz” guitar sound that seems constant in nearly every track.  This song is not an exception to that trend, but naturally here at laptopsessions.com, we give you acoustic guitar and an in-tune voice to go along with it!

There’s been some debate to the last line of the song.  Most places i’ve read lyrics to the song say the last line is “I’ve never understood, don’t f*** with me, uh-huh”.  However, the radio play version I have heard countless times does not alter this last line that is in the CD version.  It leads me to believe the last line does not include the f word.  However, I still can’t figure out what it is.  So you will notice a change in the last line which does not change the meaning of the line at all.

This is also unique because the song has no acoustic guitar track, so hearing this played back is quite unique to me as well.

I hope you enjoy this latest installment, and I know you’ll be back tomorrow for our favorite day of the week, as Jim dips into his library of original goodies for a great session installment.  I’ll be here to watch it, and I know you will be as well!

By Ben Neal:

R.E.M.’s latest album Collapse Into Now hit last week amid two months of buzz that it was the group’s strongest outing in more than a decade. This buzz was predictable as most rock bands that have been removed from their zeitgeist for a decade or more get “return to glory” buzz for their next album quite often, but this time the buzz was not wrong.

Let’s back up for a moment and clear some things up: R.E.M.’s recent work was still quite good. Even the much maligned Around the Sun perceptively captured the mood of 2004 America in songs like “Final Straw” and “Leaving New York.” Frankly a band at the point of their career that R.E.M. is at (well past their zeitgeist moment, but still an extremely popular live act) will always face criticism of repeating themselves; well as someone once said “every time I try something new, all they want is 1993.” Yes, many of the same songs had similar lyrical and harmonic themes, but freshness was still there (no one complained about Hitchcock repeating himself by continuing to make thrillers). One valid criticism, specifically, is that the band became a bit too monolithic and too Michael Stipe-driven, and well those critics will be elated to see the increased presence of Peter Buck on this album.

Collapse Into Now starts off with the rocking tune “Discoverer” that is a bit of an announcement (that’s not dissimilar to U2’s “Vertigo”) that the band is back with an upbeat rock tune, but with classic R.E.M. lyricism. Following up the debut track is a series of tracks that make up the strongest parts of the album, including “All the Best,” “Überlin,” and “It Happened Today.” Within these tracks one can see similiarities with other R.E.M. songs both thematically and musically, but they stay fresh and exciting. “All the Best” serves a great rocker and shows that Stipe and company are not afraid to face their career mortality or to be self aware with lines like “It’s just like me to overstay my welcome,” whereas “Überlin” takes a slightly more somber tone, but is classic R.E.M. (and feels reminiscent of their “Losing my Religion”) combining serious themes of loss and change, with surreal lyrics and great harmonies. With “Oh, My Heart” and the remorseful, yet beautiful “It Happened Today,” the band explores the heartache of a Katrina-type tragedy.

While not reaching the heights of the previous songs, later tracks in the album like “Mine Smell Like Honey” and “Me and Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I” are excellent tracks and make the album a cohesive unit and runs the full gamut of the R.E.M. universe. Themes of loss, failure, and coming back rejuvenated from those failures are consistent and well-explored throughout the album: the band has never shied from being referential to its influences (often outside of the musical realm) or to itself, and has a healthy sense of humor and humility about their self, which serves them well.

Another healthy change is having an album that has consistent themes, but has musical variance; this is especially important since their last few releases have had an all or nothing approach with either all hard rocking tracks or melancholic tracks dominated by Stipe’s crooning voice. From the hard rocking sound of “Discoverer” or “All the Best” to the slow paced somber sounds of “Walk it Back,” Collapse Into Now provides everything an R.E.M. fan (or any music fan in general) can ask for. It may not be a great album, but it certainly reaches greatness at times and is a treat for the listener, and really at this point in their career, that is no small feat.

P.S. Fans of Patti Smith or Eddie Vedder should be sure to check out their “cameos” on the album.

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to an all-new weekend edition of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song video blog! We’ve been doing a lot of work on the site recently, in terms of adding new features and new material to the Laptop Sessions site as well as promoting it so that we will bring in new fans to this great venture. For instance, by this weekend, we will be adding category descriptions for each of the artists we have covered — these will provide interesting background information on their songwriting, information on both original and cover songs that the artists have produced, and share some information about what material has been used for the Laptop Sessions thus far.

And now, without further ado, on to the Laptop Session of the day! I am pleased to bring you the album starter from this year’s R.E.M. release, Accelerate, “Living Well is the Best Revenge.” When the album first came out, I was interested in it, but I had my doubts. I do own both volumes of R.E.M.’s greatest hits, but I really only love about half of the tracks — I would have personally preferred a one disc greatest hits, but that’s just me. Suffice it to say that I wasn’t sure how I would feel about an entire album, especially when their last few albums have received mediocre music reviews. Still, I was interested, so I took a shot…

And I’m so glad that I did! The album is one of my favorites from this year. The music is upbeat and rocking, the vocals are strong and the lyrics interesting, and there is really only one song on the album that I’m not crazy about. The packaging of the deluxe edition (which, yes, I bought — I’m a sucker for attractive CD packaging…) is impressive. There is a booklet tied together loosely with string and a subtitle on the front cover that reads “This will fall apart.” And I don’t doubt that it would if I pulled on the pages too hard…

This song, “Living Well is the Best Revenge” is a great album starter. The verse is really only one chord, so I hope I’ve done it justice. Without the fullness of the other instruments, it just doesn’t sound the same, but you need to watch one other YouTube video after mine — the official R.E.M. music video for the song. They recorded it while driving in a car — the drummer, who is driving, is literally using the steering wheel for the percussion in the song. It’s a great idea that I wish my band MoU had thought of before, as we have been known to rehearse for gigs in the back of our bassist’s van!

That’s all from me for now; make sure to check back tomorrow for an all-new, amazing video blog entry from Jeff…

See you next session!

All Verses: D, Dsus4, A, C, G, A, Asus4

Chorus: Gm, C, G

Bridge: G, slide down (x8)

Lyrics

Make your money with a suit and tie
Make your money with shrewd denial
Make your money expert advice,
If you can wing it
Make your money with a power ply
Make your money with a buyout bribe
Make it lie as long as you mean it

I’m not king of comedy,
Grease the pig, give a squeeze (squeeze me)

Make your money with exploitation
Make it holy illumination
Say a prayer at every station
Don’t forget to ask for mercy
Make your money with a pretty face
Make it easy with product placement
Make it charged with controversy
I’m straight, I’m queer, I’m bi

I’m not king of comedy,
I’m not your magazine,
I’m not your television

Make your money, make it rich
Make it young and make it quick
Make your money on the jukebox, baby,
It’s pick up sticks,
Make your enemies, make your moves
Make your critics fumble through
Make it smart and make it schmooze
Make it look easy

I’m not king of comedy,
I’m not your magazine,
I’m not your television,
I’m not your movie screen
I’m not commodity (all together now)
I’m not commodity
I’m not commodity