R.E.M. : Sitting Still

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Sitting Still

Saturday Morning Flashback.


This week marks the 25th anniversary of R.E.M.'s debut album, Murmur. It has been digitally re-mastered and never sounded better.

In my opinion, Murmur is the defining album of the 1980's, the one that launched the whole notion of "indie" or "alternative" rock music... it's just that no one knew what to call it back then. It was under the radar post-punk rock and roll that had lost all of the anger but maintained the swagger. It didn't burst onto the scene--it climbed up very, very slowly out of the college radio scene. It had an intellectual, we're so un-cool that we're cool vibe to it and I can remember sitting on my living room floor playing it over and over again because I didn't know quite what to make of it.

There were only a handful of non college radio stations back in 1983 that would even play this album. One of them was WXRT in Chicago, where I was living at the time. (Ah yes, remember when DJ's had artistic license and could play what they liked?)  XRT introduced me to R.E.M. and I am forever grateful.

Many R.E.M fans feel that it never got any better than Murmur. I am such a big fan of their second album Reckoning that I can't make that claim but this is without a doubt the one that started it all. While most casual fans will know "Radio Free Europe" and "Talk About The Passion" from Murmur, I encourage you to dig deeper; there is not a bad song on this album and "Sitting Still" is one of my favorites. It's classic R.E.M.; catchy with an edge.
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If you own the CD and don't want to spring for the deluxe edition, you can improve the quality of the sound of the original in iTunes. Many albums that were not digitally recorded sound like their volume is low and muffled. In iTunes, highlight the song  and then click: FILE/ GET INFO/ OPTIONS. You can increase the volume level and change the equalizer preset settings. I find that using "Vocal Booster" helps.

This is the new re-mastered version. Enjoy!


by R.E.M. from Murmur

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R.E.M.: Sitting Still (mp3)

ADD COMMENT

julieTuesday, December 16th 2008 5:18PM

wxrt--chicago's finest rock....we lived in Indiana and used to hoolk up a wire hanger to the radio just to tune in. rem,elvis costello, style council----gone are those dj days. glad you guys are here!

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