Tag Archives: new adventures in hi-fi

#914: R.E.M. – New Test Leper

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Got a memory of listening to New Adventures in Hi-Fi for the first time. It’s a bit vague, but I remember where I was and when, all the essential things. Was in January 2018, and I was on a bit of an R.E.M. trip after revisiting Murmur after a few years and falling head over heels for it. The first two weeks of that month, I went into the office at my then new job, went onto Spotify and went through the band’s discography an album per day. I was the only one in there pretty much all the time, so I could play them all out of the loudspeakers while I was doing my duties or whatever. As a result, the lyrics usually went over my head, but the music always stuck out at some parts. ‘New Test Leper’ was one of the tracks from the album where these little moments piqued my ears quite a few times.

Always appreciated the overall tone of this track. It’s a swaying 6/8 time number with these layered acoustic guitars and a great melodic bassline from Mike Mills. Those times when the bass ascends during the chorus followed by Michael Stipe’s descending “hey, hey, hey” feel so satisfying. Stipe’s hushed and restrained vocal performance suits the track perfectly, can’t think of another R.E.M. track where he takes that sort of a approach. It’s quite a unique track. And you’d never think it was five and a half minutes long, despite what it might say on the CD or Wikipedia.

The track’s first line caused a bit of controversy among some Christians back in the day, where it seems that Michael Stipe is just disowning Jesus Christ. But listening on, the track reveals itself as a first-person account of a not-so-very religious person who finds themselves as the subject in front of a studio audience on a talk show. The narrator’s trying to get the audience and host to understand their point of view, but to no avail. The network cut to commercial, the host has no personality, the audience won’t listen, and overall the whole experience is a bit of a farce. I can’t think of another track that tried to merge religion with a cultural situation such as a talk show, and for that reason I think ‘New Test’ deserves some props. But on the whole, good music, great lyrics, brilliant performance all round. It’s a stellar track.

#721: R.E.M. – Leave

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An absolute mammoth of a track, ‘Leave’ can be found on R.E.M.’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi album released back in 1996. The song is the longest composition the band ever committed to tape and is placed bang in the middle of their longest album. I see it as the record’s centrepiece, delivered with a ferocity and sense of urgency that makes me just a bit anxious when listening to it. That siren synthesizer that blares throughout doesn’t help alleviate that tension much either. There’s something very cinematic about it that I really like though. Sounds like the end credits track to a bleak action film. At least that’s how I feel.

The track is recognised as being of the last noteworthy songwriting contributions by original drummer Bill Berry before he left the group in 1997 to become a farmer. He came up with the five note riff that the whole track depends on and plays the acoustic guitar in the introduction. It’s after that intro that the song proper begins with a booming thwack of the snare and the aforementioned siren. I feel it’s worth mentioning that the track is essentially a live performance recorded at a soundcheck during their Monster tour so you can properly hear the reverberations of each instrument and Michael Stipe’s vocals around the room. Peter Buck messes up the lick for a brief moment near the end, the band comes in a bit late when coming close to the finish, and for a split second you can hear someone yell ‘wow’ at the performance right in the last second – and it’s all these little rough moments that show just how much effort and energy each member was putting in.

Michael Stipe reportedly didn’t like the way his voice sounded on the final release so this alternate/remix version (below) was made at some point and made available on the bonus disc for the band’s In Time compilation. I’ll stick with the version from Hi-Fi.

Just speaking on Hi-Fi for a brief moment, I would say it’s my third(?) favourite of R.E.M.’s. I’ve come to really like songs from that album well after I started this blog; unfortunately I can’t write about ‘Electrolite’, ‘Be Mine’, ‘E-Bow the Letter’, or ‘How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us’. There’s a lot of content that could’ve been. The post on ‘New Test Leper’ should be good though.