I was a pretty big R.E.M. fan as a kid, and have long found "Country Feedback" to be a highlight from the R.E.M. catalog. Of course, as I got older and immersed myself in metal and hardcore and the like, R.E.M. fell by the wayside for a long stretch of time, but this song never left my regular rotation. Certainly one of the band's darkest tracks with its droning, restrained instrumentation and eerie pedal steel, I can think of no more perfect example of a song that is "heavy" without literally being "heavy."
The vocal performance here is nothing short of amazing—all the more impressive considering the fact that it was apparently largely improvised on the spot in a single take. Given the intense emotional weight of the piece, to know that it just kind of... happened? Holy shit.
Michael Stipe has more than once referred to "Country Feedback" as his favorite R.E.M. song, and I'd have to agree. Watching him perform it live you can just tell he fuckin' means it. It's almost like he's in a trance at times. Every live performance I've seen on YouTube is equally outstanding (including this epic nine-minute take with Neil Young), and gives me almost the same level of sadness-induced chills as the studio recording.
Brutal.
(In a good way.)
Comments
I like this idea…song review/recommendation rather than a whole album.
The connection between REM and brutality goes way back:
http://web.archive.org/web/...
5.16.2014 | By the_rick
Glad to hear it, hopefully more people will get into it over time, too. It’s a quick/fun way to try and get people to check out a wide variety of music.
And the “Unmangler” rules, ha, ha. Thanks for the link!
5.16.2014 | By Andrew Aversionline
Such a great song. This album was in a friends 10 disc car CD changer back in the day and the volume always turned up a notch or two when it came on. Out Of Time along with Empire and Human lead the way in plays in that time period.
5.17.2014 | By Dan Klajncar