R.E.M.

[captainofbeef]

(CNN) -- Rock group R.E.M. plans to debut a song from its upcoming album Wednesday on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°" program.

R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe says the band was honored to be involved with the "Planet in Peril" project.

The song "Until the Day Is Done" also will appear later this month in "Planet in Peril," a four-hour CNN documentary that looks at environmental crises around the world.

"With 'Planet in Peril,' Anderson Cooper and his team have done an amazing job capturing global eco-devastation," said R.E.M singer Michael Stipe in a news release. "The images in the film are beautiful, while at the same time heartbreaking and frightening. We are honored to have our song included in this monumental project."

This isn't the first time R.E.M. has worked with Cooper. The band premiered its video "Bad Day" on the show in 2002.
Anderson Cooper 360°

"Planet in Peril" executive producer Charlie Moore said the group's longstanding commitment to environmental causes made them a natural choice for the project.

Moore said they contacted R.E.M. earlier this year to see if the group would be willing to write a song to go with the documentary, and the band happened to be in the studio working on their upcoming album.

"We were able to hear some of the stuff they were doing and this particular song fits perfectly for the project," Moore said.

He said the group, their management and their record label were eager to be involved.

"It's sort of serendipitous that we were able to work something out with them," Moore said. "All the stars were lined up for this to happen, they were in the studio, they were working on a song that fit with the feeling that the pictures portray and they really match up very well. And we like their music, we like their work and are just thrilled that they wanted to be a part of it."
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"Planet in Peril" features CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and "Animal Planet" host and wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin.

The two-part documentary was filmed in 13 countries and focuses on the issues of climate change, deforestation, species loss and overpopulation.

CNN will air "Planet in Peril" on October 23 and 24 at 9 p.m. ET. It also will be broadcast on CNN International.

In a message on the R.E.M.'s Web site, the group said it had finished recording songs for the new album, which is scheduled to be released next year.

The band also is releasing a live CD/DVD on Tuesday with 22-tracks recorded at a 2005 concert in Dublin, Ireland.

[PTAhole]

I hope the new album's good. Around the Sun was balls outside of a few songs.

[captainofbeef]

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/entertainment-catch-all/2008/03/19/rem-s-stipe-reveals-his-sexuality-86908-20355484/

Can't say I didn't see this coming...

[PTAhole]

Eh, who cares. Their new single is pretty fucking good. I hope the rest of the album is, as well.

[captainofbeef]

^Yea, I didn't really care for the new single. I hope the record is better...

[PTAhole]

Really? I thought it sounded kind of like a mixture between Document and Monster era R.E.M. Whatever, there's no way it could be as bad as Around the Sun.

[captainofbeef]

It was definitely not as bad as the Around the Sun material. Still, it was only lukewarm to me.

[PTAhole]

Understandable.

[ie]

I've only heard Monster, which I thought was thoroughly average.

I've heard a lot of talk about one REM album or another, so I need one album recommendation and one album recommendation alone. I'll give the forum some time before I grab the one recommendation.

[PTAhole]

Monster is pretty average. (At least for R.E.M.) Check out Murmur, their first album, it's probably still their best.

[captainofbeef]

^I'd agree, get Murmur first.

[ie]

I figured Monster was average, but I picked it up for like $2, so... that's probably why.


Ah man, I thought there was going to be more of a fight about it. I wanted to see you guys duke it out or something. Oh okay, I'll grab Murmur then...

[captainofbeef]

I haven't had the time to pick this up with finals and all. Hopefully I'll pick it up tomorrow.

P.S. Zeitgeist is a waste of time...

[PTAhole]

It's not really a comeback album, since they never really went away. It's just their best album in a long time. (Zeitgeist isn't very good, unless you're a hardcore Pumpkins fan, by the way. Only really two or three good tracks.)
Anyway, Accelerate was really good. It moves really fast (It's only 35 minutes, unlike their past three or four albums which were all over an hour.) It's sounds like a few different eras of R.E.M. mixed together (say, Document and Monster) "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," "Accelerate," and "Horse to Water" are fantastic R.E.M. songs that will go down as some of their best tracks ever. The rest are also really good, catchy tunes. It's certainly their best since Bill Berry left the band, and maybe since Automatic for the People. If you like R.E.M., definitely pick it up.

[ie]

Hmm... I didn't like Murmur all that much. I know REM is indie college adult alternative incarnate, but it's just samey to me. Is that all REM is about?

[PTAhole]

Eh, if you didn't like Murmur, then you probably won't like most of their other stuff. Automatic for the People is a departure for them, and it's quite good, so I guess you could check that out. Too bad you didn't like it.

[captainofbeef]

Other R.E.M. records have a different sound than Murmur, like AFTP and Out of Time. But, if you didn't care for Murmur, like Tim said, I doubt you would like most of R.E.M.'s other stuff.

[ie]

I do like a couple of their singles... "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", "Losing My Religion", "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon". Which, with a list like that means that at best I'm aiming to be a fair-weather fan.

I might check out Automatic for the People someday, but I guess I'll leave them be for a while. Not ready to be a fair-weather fan of anything just yet.

edit: Also, what's up with Stipe's Goblin make-up? I saw that on Live 8 I think and thought it was kind of odd.

[ie]

What is up with Stipe's Goblin make-up anyways?


Also, I did check out Automatic for the People today, because I saw it for $1 at Half Price Books. I didn't want to get another cheap REM CD only to be disappointed by it. Overall, it might be my favorite of the REM albums, but I don't feel bad for passing up on it, like I might with Under the Table and Dreaming.

[captainofbeef]

I thought he only did that for Halloween. I guess I was wrong. PTAhole is probably the one to ask on that one.

I've recently fallen in love with Automatic all over again. I can't get enough of Nightswimming.

[PTAhole]

I'm pretty sure that he just does that for Halloween, but who knows. It's fairly common for him to have weird makeup on stage.
Automatic is one of my favorite albums. Just beautiful song after beautiful song.

[ie]

That explanation works for me.

I think we've all dug Automatic because it has some ear-friendly music on it.