R.F.E.R.E.M.

Five versions of Radio Free Europe by R.E.M., plus an unearthed rarity, to enliven your weekend.

Racing ahead at the top is the most familiar, the Don Dixon & Mitch Easter produced version opening R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur in 1983, with video approved by I.R.S. (the label that is, not the Internal Revenue Service).

Close behind is the original video by Arthur Pierson, who provides this fascinating back story

"I "directed" this video for Michael and the band. 

Really he was in charge. 

The president of the label, said that 

it would be on MTV over his dead body 

and we were forced to recut it 

together with some crap video from a county fair or something. 

When the band released their "Succumbs" collection, 

much to my gratification, 

they included this original version. 

Saw Michael years later 

and he greeted me like an old friend. 

True artists."

Next up is R.E.M.'s debut UK TV appearance, performing on Channel 4's The Tube. Radio Free Europe was one of three songs played live, the others being Talk About The Passion and So. Central Rain. 

All of this preamble leads to Friday's release of Radio Free Europe 2025, a 5-track EP "honoring Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty [...] with proceeds from the vinyl pressing to benefit RFE/RL on its 75th anniversary & World Press Freedom Day".

The lead track is a brand new remix by Garret 'Jacknife' Lee, who previously co-produced R.E.M.'s final two studio albums, Accelerate (2008) and Collapse Into Now (2011). Lee also has a CV of artists he's worked with that would take several posts just to list. 

To be honest, Radio Free Europe 2025 (Jacknife Lee Remix) is the least exciting version on the EP. He ramps up the bass, tones down the rest and plays around with the intro a bit. For all that, it sounds more like a studio soundcheck, Mike Mills hogging the mike (excuse the pun) whilst the others play away in the background.

You also get both sides of the original HIb-Tone single (Sitting Still being the B-side), which are far more satisfying propositions. I've owned both of these since I bought the 2CD collection And I Feel Fine...The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 back in 2006, so I'm pleased that these are available again on this new EP.

Of the greatest interest is Radio Free Dub, a remix by Mitch Easter dating from 1981. Nothing can surpass the single or album versions, but this is a lot of fun. Still very demo sounding, though hearing Stipe's vocals occasionally put through the effects blender is a hoot. 

Closing out is Wh. Tornado, a 1981 demo of instrumental song White Tornado, which popped up half a decade later on the B-side of Superman, though I first heard it on the Dead Letter Office compilation a few years after that.