U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - R U Talkin' R.E.M. RE: ME? - Up

Episode Date: June 6, 2018

Adam Scott Aukerman return once again to discuss R.E.M.’s eleventh studio album, Up. We’ll hear of typewriter faults, fan-submitted sequencings, and their shared love of the Doobie Brothers before they dive into R.E.M.’s first album as a trio. Plus, they describe kissing styles during an episode of “What’s Your Kiss Style?” This episode is sponsored by The Sound of Vinyl (www.soundofvinyl.com/REM) and LightStream (www.lightstream.com/REM).

Hey, everyone. Thanks for listening to Are You Talking R.E.M. R.E.M.E. The month of June, always fun. It is extra special for us this year because we are celebrating Earwolf pride all month long. We hope you'll join us by getting Queerwolf and checking out some of our shows that you may not know about. You can listen to intimate conversations and interviews on shows like Homophilia, Queery with comedian Cameron Esposito, and Getting Curious with the one and only Jonathan Van Ness from Queer Eye. Or you can laugh your face off while listening to live stand-up on Put Your Hands Together

and getting the perfect combination of political and pop culture hot takes on Throwing Shade. Those are all great shows with people I love. Celebrate Pride Month with Earwolf and listen to our favorite LGBTQ plus shows now. Subscribe to Query, Homophilia, Throwing Shade, Put Your Hands Together, or and Getting Curious on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen. from chronic to collapse town and into now respectively that is this is are you talking rem remy the comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things R.E.M. This is fucking good rock and roll music. Fucking good. This is fucking good.

Fucking good. Fucking good rock and roll music. Rock and roll music. Music. Welcome back. We're doing it. We are doing it. Today we'll be talking about the album Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up. We'll be talking about that.

Look up here. Look up here. Look up here. Look up here. Oh my God. Were you a Three Amigos fan? Am a Three Amigos fan. Look up here. Look up here. Oh, my God. Were you a Three Amigos fan? Am a Three Amigos fan. Okay, good.

I'm glad that it never waned for you, speaking of David Wayne. I went with David Wayne to see it. You did? Where? When we were little kids. Little boys? Yeah. How old were you?

You must have been, okay, it came out when I was 16. It came out in 1986. So you must have been 12 or something? I was 13 when that movie came out. And you knew David Wayne, I think? No. No. Okay.

But I did go to see it probably four or five times. Yes, I did. And every time I went to see it, the theater was almost empty. Yes. The first time I went to see it, the reels were out of order. Oh, my God. And that's the type of movie where it doesn't really matter. Yeah.

So we saw like real one, two, three, five, four, six, I think. And around, we saw five and I was like, huh, something's a little strange, but I don't really know. And then we saw four and I'm like, I feel like this is out of order somehow. And so then I went back with my mom in Arizona, weirdly enough, where I was spending the summer. I was like, I saw the funniest movie. You got to see it. And I was like, I think the reels were out of order when I saw it. I just want to check. And of course they were. Yeah. That's so funny because I was on a ski trip with my dad and my stepmom

in Tahoe or something. And I brought them, I was like, you got to see this movie. So I also saw it in two different locations as a 13-year-old. There were very few movies that I felt, especially comedy movies, that I felt like I could take my mom to and that she would actually like. Pee-wee's Big Adventure was one in 1985 and Three Amigos was another one. And so funny. But Look Up Here, if you're wondering why we're talking about it, is from one of the funniest scenes of Three Amigos,

which I believe I saw on the David Letterman show, that clip, the ca-caw, ca-caw, look up here, look up here. I saw that and that made me say, okay, I definitely need to see this movie. Yeah, I remember bringing my dad to see it and seeing him laugh uncontrollably. Really? Like beside himself.

Wow. And I remember which joke it was. It was the male playing. You see the little balls on it and how Chevy Chase just doesn't get the joke. Right. He pretends. It's so long.

He pretends to get it and then pretends again. It's a really long play. Three Amigos has great comedy scenes that are three times longer than they should be. For sure. That are great because they are. Have you seen it lately? I don't think so. It's worth a look.

We should check it out. We should do a podcast. I believe I have maybe the Blu-ray and I've watched the deleted scenes, but I haven't watched the whole thing lately. It's strong. We're talking about REM on this show. Exclusively. Exclusively.

Let me introduce us. I, of course, am, I mean, I had a TV show. Score. Now I don't really have much going on other than. Scott, that's not true. have much going on other than... Scott, that's not true. But I mean, you know, used to be people were knocking down my door

to interview me about whatever projects I had. Scott, Scott, what's going on? What's up with your career lately? Scott, get away from my door! Now I have this podcast. That's around about it. My name is Scott Aukerman. I'm one of the hosts.

And across from me, he's wearing a Franz Ferdinand-ish horizontal stripe. I like that description. It's not a scoop neck, but it definitely has horizontal stripes. And he has freshly shorn hair that's sort of asymmetrical in a way, kind of a very 80s look today from our co-host here. He is primarily known as the character Adam from Parks and Rec. What's his name? Sure.

Adam. He's known as Adam from Parks and Rec. And I refer to him as him because he is a separate person. Of course. Of course. He's known as Adam from Parks and Rec. And I refer to him as him because he is a separate person from me. Of course, of course. He's a character. Do you think he's living... First of all, that is an alternate universe because some of it was set in the future. That whole last season was set in the future.

It was set, I believe, in 2017. Oh, okay. So it was now the past. They did not get a lot of it right, I have to say. Well, there was... What were the things? There were like technology things technology yeah certain phone things that never came to pass they did their best it was only a three-year jump so it's like what are you gonna so yeah i i don't remember what the things were but you're right there were things there unfortunately they uh did

not get the future right off the mark you know. You know? Oh, man. Has there ever been, you know, a lot of times they set a movie or a TV show in the future, a few years in the future. Has there ever been that got it exactly right? That's interesting. Is it? Good question there, Scott. I would say yes. Okay. And I would say the only movie that ever really got it right

was uh godfather 3 godfather 3 definitely that was set in 2049 that's right and we know that they got it right when we yes of course we know uh adam scott is here hello adam hey hey hey hey hey hey hey adam i you know it's only only been a week since listeners heard our last episode, but I feel like it's been a long time since I've seen you. It's been a while. As they say now, it's been a few minutes. Yes, it's been 60 seconds. Or how about 120 half seconds?

We're going to stretch it out a little bit. What have you been up to? Oh, gosh. Scott, you know, little of this, little of that. Okay. Now, I know what you're talking about because you acted it out when you said that. Little of this, little of that. Yeah.

When you said a little bit of this, you acted out like a cooking demonstration. And then when you said a little bit of that, you were hammering as if you were in your garage. Yeah. So you've been cooking a lot and you've been in the garage doing special projects? Well, I've been building ovens. So I'm in my garage building the thing. And then I bring it inside, I cook, and then I dismantle the oven and just sell the parts.

You're one of the world's best oven makers. Thank you. What goes into that? Well, it just starts with the basics. They've got to be hot, right? It has to be hot. And when you build an oven, you have to start with scalding hot parts. Right.

Otherwise, it won't connect. Otherwise, it's never going to get hot if the parts aren't hot. And you're never going to know if it works. Yeah, exactly. How hot do you like your ovens? 300 degrees. Not very hot. Yeah, exactly. How hot do you like your ovens? 300 degrees. Not very hot. Oh, on the outside?

Wow. These things seem dangerous. They're extremely dangerous. You cannot touch them even when they're off. So you have kids at home. What do you do? Do you set up like little orange cones around the oven? I don't.

I just let it flow. Whatever happens, happens. You know, how else are they going to learn unless they touch the scalding hot oven? Exactly. Yeah. Both of my children are bandaged head to toe, but not because of the oven. No, but you don't like looking at them, right? No, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Have you seen any concerts or anything? It's almost summer concert season. I got to tell you, I pass by the Hollywood Bowl a lot getting to and fro. Yeah. And a lot of people going in to see Paul Simon the last couple of nights. I drive by that place just about every day as well. And I see shows and I'm like, how do I not hear about any of this stuff anymore?

You got to look up online. I guess so. It used to be you would look in the paper like the LA Weekly. Right. And there would be full-page ads or whatever. Right. And nowadays you have to actually go to it to see it. Right.

Paul Simon, do you know anyone that went to see that? I think Tim Heidecker must have gone. Oh, Tim Kalpakis I think definitely went. Because he took a picture on Instagram of he was sitting behind Randy Newman, I think, watching. And so he took a picture of Randy Newman watching Paul Simon. That's the kind of Instagram content that he loves to put up. I love it. But no, I – Kulop, my wife, I don't know if you know her.

Yeah. You do. Oh, yeah. What does that mean? Nothing. Why did you say – Keep going. Keep going with the story. No, no, no, no. What does that mean? Nothing. Why'd you say, oh? Keep going. Keep going with the story.

No, no, no, no. But let's back up a second. Why do you say, oh, yeah? Because I know. You waggled your eyebrows up and down. I know, cool up. Yeah. Pretty well, right?

What is that? You just waggled those eyebrows again. I have a weird thing with my eyebrows. Oh, yeah. What's going on? Are you all right? I had to go to the eyebrow doctor yesterday.

The eyebrow doctor? Okay, I didn't realize there was an eyebrow doctor. About really bad news, he was like your eyebrows. Like a browologist? Yeah. And he told me

I need to really, really exercise my eyebrows as much as possible when I'm talking. Oh, okay. Otherwise, they're going to fall off. Oh, shit. They're going to fall off. Oh, shit.

They're going to fall off. Not just the hair, but the skin right underneath the hair. All of the skin, so it would just be like a layer below the epidermis. It peels off. Oh, no. If you don't move them a lot. So I apologize if I offended you. That would be terrible as an actor.

I mean, eyebrows are the only thing that tells anyone, the viewer, how the actor is feeling. That's right. I went to my agent right after that, and we talked, and we calculated. We did the math on it. Calculation. And it's 46% of my acting is eyebrow work. It's just eyebrow work.

Yeah. So this can't happen. And the other 54% is pointing, right? Pointing with my fingers. Yeah. So, needless to say, it's important that I keep these guys in tip-top shape. So when you watch Big Little Lies or something else that Adam's in, Krampus or something, you've got to watch for his eyebrows and watch for his fingers.

Keep one eye on the eyebrows, the other eye on fingers. And occasionally you're going to cross your eyes and it's going to be painful, but you got to do it to enjoy the movie. That's why whenever you see like a super, like a pretty close, close up,

like, what do they call it when it's this close? Yeah. Extreme close up of your face. ECU. I always get my fingers in there. You have to.

Yeah. And that's why if you watch that Guillermo, Guillermo, how do you say his name? Guillermo del Toro. Yeah. Filmmaker.

Yeah, you know that film where he's like the dude. Pan's Labyrinth. Pan's Labyrinth where the guy is like he's putting his fingers up to his eyes. That's because he's like that guy's the ultimate actor. Oh, he's so good. He's so good. He's so good. He's so fucking good.

Hey, speaking of this guy, let's listen to How Does It Feel When You're In R.E.L. again. I haven't listened to it today. This is a song that means a huge amount to me because I wrote it when I came out of a very bad, very dark period. How does it feel when you're in R.E.L.? Feels good.

How does it feel when you're in REL? Feels good Feels good How does it feel when you're in R.E.M.? Feels good. Feels good. To be in R.E.M. How does it feel when you're in R.E.M.?

The mandolin I'm out of here Back in stout Back in stout It's the best So good Engineer Ryan Who was that again?

Who did that? I can never remember his name Jordan Turn up your mic If you're gonna talk Jordan Cooper Jordan Cooper Jordan Cooper

It's brilliant. Brilliant. Good stuff. Check out his other music. As the girl that Scott went on a date with in high school would say, that was brilliant. College, but thank you. College. I did not go out on any dates in high school.

No dates in high school for Scott. We got to get to some mail. Boy, do we. Some wonderful mail. Alex Rice. Alex Rice from Excelsior, Minnesota. Whoa. Excelsior.

Is that just a kingdom? I don't know. I guess he must be king of this kingdom. Sounds like it. Alex Rice sent us a nice little note and several vinyl records. It's so cool. Like, so generous. Yes.

He sent us from, by the way, I want to say he, but I don't know whether Alex is a he or a she, so I'm so sorry. They sent us like six records from their personal collection. First of all, to you, excuse me, sent you the one I love, 12-inch single, because it has maps and legends live from the caves, and sent me the Fall On Me 12-inch single, because that's one of my favorites. What's the B-side on that one? Let me check. Oh, it doesn't say on the outside. Interesting. So you'd have to be buying this blind. Might just be a promo.

I'm not sure. Let's see. Fall on me on one side, fall on me on the other. Interesting. Yeah, just a promo. And then also sent us the vinyl of Reckoning. And then sent vinyl of Document. And sent some singles, some 45s,

Can't Get There From Here, and also Stand. And I made you take Stand. And I made you take Can't Get There From Here. But we split up the LPs as well. I'm taking Reckoning because I cannot find my vinyl of Reckoning and gave you Document because I have my vinyl of Document. And I think Document is one of the great works of the 20th century. And you can go around listening to Exhuming McCarthy all you want on that?

Oh, yes, I can. Funky, funky. I can force people to listen to Exhuming McCarthy when they visit me in my house. Let's hear a little bit of Exhuming McCarthy, by the way um just because i feel like it's come up uh so much recently um this is exhuming mccarthy from document why do you think the typewriter is in there did you ever use a typewriter, by the way? No.

I used to write on a typewriter. That's how I started writing. It's really hard. My mom did, so it's comforting to hear a typewriter because I would go to bed and hear her working late at night. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Funky, funky. Funky, funky. I don't mind that song anymore after hearing it so... It's the fucking best. I don't think it's the best.

Yeah, I used to write on a typewriter my plays that I did. And like, you know, 120-page plays. Sure. I'm writing on a typewriter. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. And then in around 94, 95, they came out with these, like, computer typewriters that would store – it had a little tiny screen. I remember those. And it would store up to about 28 pages on it. And it would save it and you could print it out.

But then after you finished 28 pages, you would have to delete it. Right. So you would get those 28 pages as good as you could get them, print them out, and then continue. You would make the corrections as you go and then print it out. Before that, it was always wide out. But you could only see a few lines at a time. You could only see a few lines at a time.

It was just infuriating. And then finally around 97 or so, got a PC. Yeah. That changes everything. That changes everything. Although, you know the story of Final Draft? Okay, so if you're in the screenwriting business, everyone uses Final Draft. And the reason everyone uses Final Draft is because the creators, it's not the best program out there, but the creators of Final Draft did something very smart, which is they sent it for free to all of the studios.

Right. So the studios now say, okay, give it. You have to use Final Draft. You have to use Final Draft because that's the free thing that we have that can decode whatever file you're sending us. So everyone uses Final Draft now. But except for when I was working on this script with my former partner and Bob Odenkirk, this is like 98, 99, 2000. We were using something called Scriptware, I think. And it had bugs in it where there was one particular bug

where we wrote 10 pages and then it erased everything that we had written Jesus Christ and so we rewrote the 10 pages pressed save

and it erased it again and this happened to us oh my god five times we rewrote the pages for memory why didn't you just use file and draft

because we had that's what you had that's what we had yeah you know John August came up with a new script writing software that's awesome. Who's John August? A writer, a screenwriter.

He wrote like Go and he's great. But he came up with a screenwriting software that's... I forget what it's called, but it's awesome. Really? Yeah. I got to check this out. Yeah. Okay, will do.

Now I'm just used to Final Draft. I know, but it's kind of better than that. By the way, Final Draft, we're willing to have you sponsor the show if you want. Oh, by the way, Alex Rice, who writes to us, says that they love the show and also their friend Seth, And they started their own podcast, Springsteen Song of the Week. They've been going for two years and 115 episodes. That is a good idea.

That's a really good idea. So check that out, and I'm going to listen to that myself. Thank you so much, Alex. Yeah, thank you. This is so nice. So nice. So nice. I also want to say that someone on Twitter, Nathaniel, oh gosh, on my iPod it does, oh no, Nathaniel Woodward at StubHubby on Twitter sent us their own different sequence for Fables of the Reconstruction.

And I've noticed not too different, but I don't know. Not too different from? Oh, no, not Fables. Sorry, not Fables. This is out of time. Out of time. Oh, okay. Okay, so there-

Different sequence for out of time. Out of time, yes starts with radio song The Demo. Basically trying to get rid of the KRS-One. Basically feels the same way that maybe I did, where the KRS-One rap is a little distracting. Uh-huh. Then goes to Losing My Religion. Same so far.

Same so far. Then goes to It's a Free World Baby. Yeah, I don't know about that. Basically trying to get rid of a couple of the songs that are a little harder to get into and putting in the two discarded ones that Peter Buck likes. Wait, what did he get rid of? Low. I don't know.

Figure it out yourself. Then Near Wild Heaven. Got rid of Low. Then Fretless. Okay. And then Shiny Happy People. Okay, so he got rid of Low. okay and then shiny happy people okay so we got rid of low

I think it's the same from here on out so you just got rid of low and end game and put in fretless and uh I don't think that works I mean

of course you don't no you are the most cantankerous well it's a free world baby is is awesome

but it's a little undercooked like yeah but I think those two's a little undercooked. Yeah, but I think those two songs are very undercooked, the ones that he took out. Anyway, Willow, I don't want to get into another argument with you because we're— It's out of time. Yes, that's your whole point every single time we talk about a different sequencing is, it is what it is. No.

We re-sequenced All That You Can't Leave Behind. I think we improved upon that, don't you think? Yes, I do. And I think every time I re-sequence something, I improve upon it. That's absolutely not true. Well, we'll maybe see a little later in the episode. We're talking about the band... The Doobie Brothers, right?

The Doobs. Good old Doobs. Do you like the Doobie Brothers? I do like the Doobie Brothers, right? The Doobs. Good old Doobs. Do you like the Doobie Brothers? I do like the Doobie Brothers. I love the Doobie Brothers. Do you really? Yeah. Okay, me too.

Have I ever played you... I have this on the iPod. Let me look for it. There's a band. It's not even really a band. It is like a guy who records under the name Self. Do you know Self? No.

Kind of bigger in the 90s, but also came back recently with a song. But he did – Never heard of Self. Self. He did a whole album using children's toys, all like children's musical toys. Okay, yeah. And called Gizmodry. Uh-huh.

And just kind of an interesting album where every single instrument used was like a children's xylophone or something. By the end of the album, are you pulling your eyes out of their sockets? I mean, it's an interesting experiment, but I do want to play one song for you. This is the only cover on it. is uh what a fool believes oh this is great i take it all back this is awesome

oh man He came from somewhere Back in the night Yeah, I love this. Yeah, this is great. The sentiments of fools Don't tell you not to It's funny, when I was like

peak Doobie Brothers like in high school or whatever, I discovered them. The Michael McDonald songs I would always skip. I was like, Really?

Yeah, but it wasn't until a couple years ago I was like, wow, these are the fucking jam. Michael McDonald songs I would always skip. I was like, ah. Really? Yeah. But it wasn't until a couple years ago I was like, wow, these are the fucking jam. Michael McDonald. Is great. Amazing. But I loved Long Train Runnin' and Blackwater, of course. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

They had some great stuff. Do you ever see, I mean, when did they stop doing, I don't know that much about their history. I never saw them. Yeah. They still tour. Yeah. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins on a recent song by...

Let me find it. By a modern artist. They both guested. I can't find it. but a great modern artist. What is his name? Doug Freeborn? Doug Freeborn, yeah. Great song.

That's great. Who is that again? Self? Self, yeah. Self has some really good, in fact, let me play one other song by Self, not a cover so you can get a little taste of what – This is around 96 or so. Yeah, it sounds like it.

Some good stuff. We're talking about – so who are we talking about? We are talking about – what were we talking about? We're talking about a band. Oh, did you hear there's a new Parquet Quartz? Yes, I do have that, yes. Do you want to hear a little bit of that? Yeah.

All right. I will find that. I saw – you know who I saw the other day at the Hollywood Bowl? It was LCD Sound System. Oh, God. I missed that show. With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I heard that was a pretty great show.

It was great. LCD is, I mean, just so good. No one better. No one better nowadays. I'm really bummed I missed that show. Why do you think you missed it? I just, I haven't, I've been working nights. Here's the new Parquet Courts single, Wide Awake.

This reminds me of LCD, actually. Yeah, the rhythm. LCD Sound System, by the way, going to see

their show, I kind of feel like it's the closest that you'll get to seeing the Talking Heads back during Stop Making Sense.

That's what I was going to say, like, I feel like I missed the Talking Heads show.... That's exactly what I was... Stop making sense. That's what I was going to say. Like, I feel like I missed the Talking Heads show. Yeah. Because someone was showing me photos from that night. From that show. Who was it?

Who went? Was it your wife? No. Gosh, who was it? Anyway. Speaking of the Talking Heads, did you watch any of coachella when it uh the live stream no the way you don't like it's it's i used to go to coachella and hate the experience yeah now being as old as i am yeah uh but the live stream uh

the past couple years i love it you just like like reserve the whole weekend and you just like I sit there and I watch like – It's a good idea. I wouldn't even think to do that. I just skip around the channels and I watch any band. And it was great this year. The Beyonce show was like next level. But David Byrne saw his set and you should check out his show when he comes out here. Oh yeah,

I definitely want to go see David Byrne. Because it's really interesting. They basically, every single musician has their instrument mobile and strapped to them, even the keyboards

and the drums and everything. And they all do synchronized dances every single song. And it's really, really cool. And they're all doing like arty, interesting things. Let's go see him.

Let's go see him. I think it's in august or something i would love to go see him um that's one that naomi cannot get behind yes the whole talking heads thing with me she's like no cool up actually likes she likes him yeah yeah so uh she when i told her about it she was very interested so uh let's go that was like one of my big bands and growing up was talking at yeah i mean that is like they are just a monster yeah sorry for saying oh god damn it why are you i'm sorry i'm sorry i was referring to them they are the frightening one no no they are i they are the scary one they are hugely influential and a giant among giants. Ah, giants! Sorry, I'm sorry. Ah, ah, ah!

Who are you, Jack and the Beanstalk? Ah! Ah, wait, that scares you? I'm afraid of beans. The musical fruit? Makes you toot. The more you eat, of course. Yeah.

We're going to be talking about... Van... I have my notes here. Doobie. Was it Doobie Brothers? It wasn't the Doobie Brothers. Papers. Papers. A lot of good paperwork.

R.E.M. Talking about R.E.M. R.E.M. Harry M. Talking about Harry M. And we're talking about their, we talked last week a lot about how Daryl Strawberry left the band. Big turning point for the band. And this album, did you watch the documentary, by the way? What documentary?

The one I told you you had to watch before Up. Oh, shit. Really? What was it? Did you send it to me? It's called Falls to Climb, shit. Really? What was it? Did you send it to me? It's called Falls to Climb, yes. I've sent it to you. You sent it to me?

I mean, a while back. I said, you have to watch this before Up. Well, this is the problem with our scheduling is, like, we're just about to record the Up album, and then three weeks go by, and I forget. I watched a lot. I watched the MTV thing. I read the book.

So you didn't see, like, their Tibetan Freedom Concert experience. We talked about it last week a little bit, and I read a lot. I watched the MTV thing. I read the book. So you didn't see like their Tibetan Freedom Concert experience. We talked about it last week a little bit and I read about it. And yes, so I know a good deal about it. So we talked last week about how Daryl Strawberry quit and is no longer in the band. And let's talk about – What did you say? What did you call me let's talk. Bill Barry. Let's talk about, what'd you say? What'd you call me? Bill, I called you Bill Barry, bro.

Fuck you. Let's talk about, let's see. This album up comes out October 26, 1998. Yep. Yep. 20 years ago. 20 years ago. 20 years ago. Isn't that crazy?

It is crazy. I can't believe this is 20 years ago. 20 years ago. Let's talk about what last we spoke about our personal lives was 96. Yeah. When New Adventures in Hi-Fi came out. Hi-Fi. New Adventures in Hi-Fi came out.

Hi-fi. What's going on in Adam Scott's personal life in between Hi-Fi and Up? Well, this is 1998, fall of 1998. I had just met and started hanging out with my lady. Really? Yeah. Where did you meet? We met in Los Angeles. You got to be a little more specific than that.

Well, I was in a play, and she- What play? What play? It was called Dealer's Choice. What are you laughing at? What are you laughing at? That's just the quintessential- No, it was a legit-

No, I'm sure it is. It was a paper, patrick marber wrote it it's the guy that wrote closer okay i'm just saying yes it's the quintessential like play title i know i know it's got it's got energy it's a metaphor it's a poker and believe me there's a lot a lot of that going on and these long poker scenes uh that just go on Who? These long poker scenes that just go on for so long. Wait, so it was at the Taper.

It was at the Taper. Which I, the, you know, I used to work there. I don't know if I ever told you that. At the Taper? Yeah.

Really? In their warehouse. Doing what? Like in their prop warehouse. Were you just like giving blowjobs? It was basically, you'd give out the address

and I was open from pretty much 10 a.m to you know just past midnight a lot of happy people shiny happy people um no back in 90 remember when i lived in azusa in that weird condo my roommate and i we worked at the Taper. They were moving their prop warehouse from one place to another, and they wanted to also sort of get rid of a lot of stuff in it. So it was basically just like a lot of sweeping, putting stuff on trucks, throwing stuff away.

And were you guys like, man, one day, the Taper. Because, no, but I'm serious. Like, as theater students, the Taper, it's like in Los Angeles, like one of the almost like Broadway-ish houses. Yeah, it's really the one. Yeah, really the Pantages is now where a lot of touring places go, like Hamilton. But at the time, it was the place to go see theater.

Yeah. And the Amundsen next door, is that the other one? The Amundsen is where the big, big shows go. Big musicals. Like I saw Spamalot there. Sure. But my friend, my roommate, he worked for the Taper and he brought us in for this like summer long job.

Yeah. like summer long job. But he, interestingly enough, back in 1990, I believe, he was working for the Taper and he was like, hey, you know, I'm working behind the scenes of this play where I'm like the stagehand, but I'm also in it because they need an extra body because, you know, like some of the actors aren't available. So, like, I dress up as an Eskimo at one point. You can't see my face really, but I'm in it occasionally.

But you should come see it. It's, like, a really good play. I was like, oh, okay, I'll come see it. And it was at what they called the Taper 2, which was right, you know, that little tiny space. I did shows there as well. Okay, so I go see the show. This is in the summer of 90, I believe. I go see the show this is in the summer of 90

I believe I go see the show at the Taper 2 that my friend is in he says it's really good and it's the literally the best play I had ever seen

it's three hours long and it's called Angels in America oh my gosh and I was like holy fucking shit this is the best thing and I went to see it three times over the summer.

He just kept getting me in. And this was at Taper 2? 99 seats. So they were just throwing it together? It was the first production of it, I think, and they were just throwing it up. And it had these amazing actors. And he was the Eskimo when Harper feels like he's hallucinating. Yeah, and he's the eskimo like you know playing joe yeah

he's supposed to be joe but he's about this my friend is about the same size as joe anyway it was just like and i was going around to everyone saying you got to see yeah angels in america and i went up to acting school that was right before i went up to acting school and i was like angels in america is like the best play and they're like all right all right sure amazing so good yeah i did you go see the kentuckycle when it was at the paper? That was also like a two-night thing, like you go for three hours one night and three hours the next night. It was pretty incredible, too. I remember Tom Hulse directed that, and I think they were rehearsing it while we were putting up dealers so how do you how do you because the last we talked you're like

in some apartment with a bed sheet covering the window right how do you move to la and then become an actor who's appearing at the taper and the taper two and all that um i think that's not a word. Yeah. Try again. Try again. You know, while I was, like, going and doing, you know, guest spots on Boy Meets World and doing all that stuff and living in a shitty apartment, while I was doing that, I was also keeping busy doing these little readings down at the Taper 2, where you would go and read a play for like five days, and then put it up on its feet while you're all holding scripts. But there's sets and wardrobe.

And you're holding each other's scripts sometimes. It's like, hey, can I hold yours? And you're like, basically, it's a game. If you ever go see one of those, it's a game to see who can hold the most scripts. And sometimes you're standing there, and you've got three scripts on each hand. Yeah, and sometimes it's like a stack of 20 that you're just in your arms, and if you can collect all of the scripts by the end of the show, the show ends, and you win. Yeah. So I have a couple of those trophies from holding the most scripts.

Right. But doing that for a while, I kind of was around, and so when the auditions for dealer's choice came, I had kind of gotten to know. Do you remember the audition, like what the audition was like? Was it just doing a scene from the show? Yeah, yeah. Or doing a monologue? Would you ever do a monologue or anything like that?

No, no, no. It was a scene from the play, the Dealer's Choice. But getting a part at the tape was a big deal um at the time i used to go see like i remember i saw uh actually i had season tickets with my mom and my mom and i would go and half the time i would we would walk out uh at intermission because the shows were like not that great yeah i remember there was a christ Lottie show that I saw there, like an Al Pacino show. Oh, yeah.

Huey? Yeah. I saw Huey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a one-man show. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes they were great. Yeah.

I loved that, that Eugene O'Neill play. Right. And then sometimes you'd go and it would be like, oh, my God, this play is – Sure. I mean, plays in general, they're not all good. Hit and miss. Yeah.

A lot like baseball games in Los Angeles. Sure sure you miss some you hit some sure um i was not particularly great in in the play and i'm not just saying that like false modesty it i really wasn't i was not really ready for it but it was good for me to have that experience. Right, right. Yes, and how did Naomi figure? She came to see the show. Got all hot and bothered. And she's like, wow, this guy's really mediocre. I need to talk to him. And then we'd like chat at the party afterwards.

How did she get into the party? Yeah, what is her connection to the show? She was a friend of a friend of someone else in the play. A friend of a friend of someone else? Another play. A friend of a friend of someone else? Another actor in the show. I see, okay. And so then we kind of, so that was like the spring of 98, and then so by the time Up came out, it was like,

like the new REM album coming out with the new version of REM was a huge deal for me. And so I was really like sweating the details. You're nervous. When this thing comes out. And I remember I had to go do a – You're sweating right now. You just wiped, literally wiped sweat from your brow.

Do you have a towel? Here, let me see what I got. Oh, is that a paper towel? Yeah, it's just paper towel. But like printer paper we're using as a towel. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. There, it's gone.

So yeah, so I remember like I had to go, I went and did an indie movie in like Missouri. Yeah, and on the plane, I got to listen to Up Full Through for the first time because it came out the night before. I went and got it at midnight and then I had to get on a flight in the morning. On a Discman or how were you listening to it? A Discman, yeah. Okay.

And I remember listening to it on the flight and just going like, what the fuck? This is crazy. Because it's so different. And does Naomi, did you, I bought her a copy as well, so she would have one while I'm off on location. I'm serious, I did that. She was like, thanks? Okay, you're going to want to listen to this a lot while I'm on location.

Listen to what I did. At midnight, I went to Virgin. Points! I bought two copies of Up, one for for me one for naomi then i bought the special edition with the like special box and packaging you know how it's sometimes yeah yeah why don't you give her that one because i wanted that for myself but i wanted her to have a copy and i also wanted the copy that everyone else would be like i was into it. That's like Kulop and I used to go buy the Harry Potter books. We would each buy a copy because we wanted to read.

And we would buy Midnight at the same time. And we would be in bed literally reading them at the same time. How long would it take you to read an entire book? Of Harry Potter? Excuse me. I'm actually a pretty quick reader. I could read it in a day usually. One of those big –

Yeah, one of those big – Like 700 pages. Yeah, yeah. Because I can – So wait, this whole time that we've had this like Harry Potter runner for like four years, you've read all of these books. Yeah. I used to be really into them. Basically, when the third one was out, I read about them. And I got the first one and loved it so much and read those first three in a couple of weeks.

Yeah. And gave them to Kulop and said, these are amazing. She read them, loved them. Yeah. So when that fourth one came out, we went to get it at midnight and stood in line and all that. And then basically did that for each subsequent release. And I remember one of them, it must have been like five or six, they sold out before we could get it at midnight. Oh, fuck.

And then I just went to Tower Records at 9 a.m. Yeah. And like right when they opened and bought it, and they had a million of them. Oh, that's – I had no idea that you were actually like – Oh, yeah, yeah. We were super into it. They are great.

I just have only read like the first three. You almost said Voldemort and I was very scared. I would never. So Naomi gets her own copy. How long are you gone? It was like a month, I think, or something. By the way, when did you first – do you remember the date that you first started seeing Naomi? Or the month?

Yeah, I do, because, well, I know the date that we really met, which was May 31st, which is the closing night of this play. That's how I know that it was. We always knew the night. May 31st of 1998 was when you met, and then you, how did you, do you mind talking about it? How did you say, hey, we should hang out again? Yeah, I think we just – boy.

You're both drunk. I don't totally remember. You're both like almost barely conscious. No, we really weren't. We just like chatted at this party in like someone's backyard. I think like we went out like a couple weeks later or something. So it was like that summer really is when we started like hanging out. And so at – and I have to ask this.

Yeah. Please, if I'm getting too personal, please let me know. Are you exclusive by the time of October 26, 1998? Are you – you guys are together? For sure. For sure. Great. Oh, we are in like Flint.

I mean, I, and I was also doing Party of Five at this, like, I think in like August, I started doing Party of Five. I did like some episodes of that. And we've talked about your Party of Five experience. We did. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The take that you ruined.

Fired essentially for being terrible. So at this point in 1998, Adam Scott is still a terrible actor. Yep. But Naomi sees some promise in him, and they become exclusive. And what a wonderful—and how long you gone on location at that point? Like a month. You're gone a month, and so she has this album a month.

How many times would you estimate she listened to it? Oh, God, I have no clue. Half a time? Like maybe once, maybe. Did you keep checking in with her? I do remember talking to her on the phone and being like, I just, I can't believe this. It's like Pat McCarthy.

I remember saying to her once, I'll bet you anything you two is like, we got to get Pat McCarthy in here. And she was like, yeah, yeah. The patience. The patience she has for you. Oh, my God. I love it. Yeah. I love it so much um all right so then then my story what's going on with scott ackerman 1998 in october are you guys doing mr show yet

yes okay so that's that's what uh since 96 the last last we left off i'm i, I just started my – This is exciting. We're both like starting our careers for reals. In 1996 when we left off, I had started doing comedy and I was in a relationship with my previous relationship. It had just broken up and was – It was a real bummer. Started a friendship with her that would last approximately three to six months or something until it was like, this is too hard. Really toxic friendship.

Let me get the fuck out of here. And then I had dated around a little bit. Actually, I sort of had a girlfriend in 97 that I was sort of on and off with. And then in 98, very similarly, okay, so in 98, I, in 97, I had been doing a comedy job for msn.com, where it was like a daily topical news show that I had to get up at five in the morning, drive out to Santa Monica, be there at like six in the morning, read all the newspapers, read the news stories of the day, and then write jokes about them. And then we would record at like 11 a.m. and put it out around noon.

Wait, record audio and put it out? Audio. Streaming? It was a weird show where they – animation on the web at the time was very simple. So you could do slight movements. So they would put it to our character designs. Like I was the sports guy. I would record the sports jokes we did

and put it on these rudimentary character designs. And so it was sort of streaming, but very, you know, simple movements. Yeah. But it was mainly audio, you know. So it was almost like podcast-ish. Yeah. It was basically podcast with a little bit of visual,

but it should have just been podcast. Yeah, yeah. So I was doing that with like Karen Kilgariff and Bill Dwyer and people. So that ended – the show got canceled around I would say September of 97. And then I went on unemployment, which is the greatest thing of all time. I mean unemployment, if you can get it, is so good. Right. And then around, I would say, February of 1998.

And by the way, Bob Odenkirk kept saying like, hey, buddy, we're doing another season of Mr. Show and I want you to be a writer on it. And like, it's going to start. You know how like when you're in charge of a show, it's going to start, but you don't know when. And you think it's at a certain point and then it ends up being months and months later. He just kept saying like, yeah, I should know this week. And then it would never happen. February, I believe, of 98, the week my unemployment ran out, Bob finally called and said, hey, so we got it. You're going to start next week.

And was this the second fourth season fourth season fourth season already yeah yeah yeah wait when did it start so it started 95

or 96 no it started well I mean they sold it in 95 because I saw the shows yeah where they sold it to HBO

so then they they filmed they filmed the first season in 95 wow so and then I was on it. I feel like it was later than that.

I was on it off and on, like for the, I was in the second season. I did the Jeepers Creepers thing. And then I almost wrote on it in the third season. And then they ended up, I remember I was hanging out with Doug Benson and Brian Posain at Brian Posain and Dave Rath's house all the time in the summer of 97. Yeah. And Brian was working as a writer on the third season. And he kept like on a Sunday, we would be swimming in the pool and he would get a call. Hey, you got to come into the office and write sketches.

On Sunday. Yeah, on a Sunday. Like they were under the gun. And so they were like calling me saying like, hey, we may need you to write some stuff. But then they ended up working it out. But for the next season, they definitely needed people. Like they were under the gun. And so they were like calling me saying like, hey, we may need you to write some stuff. But then they ended up working it out. But for the next season, they definitely needed people. That must have been exciting. Very exciting.

The whole reason that I wanted to do comedy was that and Andy Kaufman, was Mr. Show and Andy Kaufman. So to finally, you know, and Bob had been sort of sponsoring me as a performer, he would come do all of our shows. He'd do a part in them or he would introduce them. He would like – if he was just coming to see you, he'd go, hey, can I come up and introduce the show? He's so great that way. Very generous. Generous with his time with young talent. Like, so amazing.

So he was doing that and really fostering me as young talent and then finally decided to take the shot. I remember David did not want me to be a writer on the show. Really? And told me that. Yeah. Like halfway through the season, we had a check – like all the writers had a check-in about how they were doing. And he was like – David was like, well, obviously, I knew you were going to be amazing. And he's like, ha, no, I'm just kidding i i did not want you here but thank god you're here so it was um like david and i became close uh after that but um yeah so so like pretty

much february or march started doing mr show um and then was taping in the summer of 98, and concurrently with you met my lady. In the summer of 98? In the summer of 98. No shit. Mm-hmm. That's crazy. Just met.

We didn't start dating. Yeah, yeah. But she came to a taping of episode 404, which had the episode or the sketch the burgundy loaf which I wrote and I was in it I was a waiter in it and she saw me in it

and was like oh who's that and then I talked to her at the Cat and the Fiddle afterwards the whole cast and everyone went to

the Cat and the Fiddle and I ended up talking to her yes you were there or what my story was augmented for simplicity to tell it simpler, easier to tell.

But before she came to see me in the show, the play, we had met briefly a few nights earlier at the Cat and the Fiddle. Really? And I said to my friend who was also in the show, I said, ooh, I want to talk to that girl. I want that girl. And he said, oh, I know her friend. And I was like, no way. And we walked over, and they introduced us,

and then Naomi immediately was like, I'm going home. And she just bailed. Hi, I'm Ada. I'm going home. Yeah, essentially. So her coming to the play was because of that meeting she was like oh we'll just i'll bring her to see you guys in your play so cat and the fiddle connection here yeah in 98 right around the same time yeah that was like the place yeah that was the place everyone went yeah yeah yeah so we we she – excuse me.

Kulop had just moved here from Minnesota in 98. And I had a tangential connection to her roommate, which is why she came to see a Taping a Mister show. So we just met. Yeah. Saw each other a couple of times just purely like, oh, hi. And I remember going like, oh, she's cool. But we didn't start dating for another until 99. But yeah, interesting.

So we both met our future wives. So did you guys like slowly become like best friends? Did it happen that way? No, no, no, no, no. We didn't become like good friends. Like I remember, actually, I want to look this up. Ryan, can you look up when the movie Blade came out? Oh, no, no, no. We didn't become like good. Like I remember, actually I want to look this up. Ryan, can you look up when the movie Blade came out? Oh yeah, that was 98.

We went to see the movie Blade on opening night at Universal. Why wouldn't you? And interestingly enough, like I find out much later she's terrified of scary movies and was sitting there frightened out of her wits. Yeah.

But do you have the date here? Yeah, it was August 21st. Okay, August 21st, we go see Blade together with another person. In 98. In 98. And I'm convinced that she is interested in me. Sure. And I don't think she is.

She was not yet. I don't think so. Yeah. I think that she was into some dude that she knew once she moved to California. She was like really into this dude. Yeah, who knows who this guy is. We did not start dating

until she called for my roommate to invite him to her birthday party. And I was there. I was the only one there. And I ended up talking to her for like two hours on the phone about stuff. And I was like, hey, I think we should go out on a date. And she was very confused by that. She like hung up the phone saying like, I think I got asked out on a date.

I was very clear about it. Yeah. I am asking you on a date. But she was not used to that sort of forward. I think she was used to everyone kind of trying to come at it from a side. Go out with a group of 15 people and try to bump into each other. Yeah, it's like, no, just be very direct and say, hey, I think we should go out on a date.

So pretty much in 99, that's when we started dating. So you went to see, like, The Phantom Menace and The Matrix in, like, the spring of 99? I think we did. I'm sure you did. Remember that? Remember going to see The Matrix and just being like, this changes everything. This is incredible. And then, like, two weeks later, Star Wars comes out out and you're way more excited about Star Wars.

And then it turns out that Star Wars is terrible and The Matrix is bad. And The Matrix is good. Yeah. I saw that Star Wars Phantom Menace like I was on the phone. I remember I was working at Mr. Show because I think we were doing the movie in 99. Yeah. And I – or we were editing. I can't remember.

And I was on the phone like redialing trying to get tickets to opening night. From Moviefone. Yeah. From Moviefone. Hello. Welcome to Moviefone. Hello and welcome to Moviefone. So calling Moviefone over and over trying to get tickets.

And finally I got some tickets for opening night. And then I ended up getting tickets for the following morning just in case I couldn't get the tickets for opening night, and then I ended up getting tickets for the following morning just in case I couldn't get the ones for opening night. And so I saw it two times within the space of 12 hours. So did I. And the first time I saw it, I was like, this is good. This is really good. Yeah.

A great sequel. Yeah. And then in the morning I was like, yeah, I mean, I still think this is really good. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple things, but you know what? And then I saw it a few days later, I was like think this is really good. I mean, there's a couple things, but you know what? And then I saw it a few days later. I was like, this is fucking garbage. The first time I saw it, it was at Skywalker Ranch for an MTV special screening two weeks before it came out.

How did you get to do that? Rudd invited me to go because he got invited. And so we went up there. The Ant-Man himself? Yeah. So it was like all the young stars of the time were there. Like who? Who was it?

It was like, I remember Seth Green, Katie Holmes, because it was like Dawson's Creek. Breckenmire. Yeah, I'm sure Brecken was there. Ryan Reynolds, I think, was there. Ryan Reynolds? But he was on Two Guys and a Pizza Place at the time. Right, right, right. That kind of, Schwarzman was there, I think, was there. Ryan Reynolds? But he was on Two Guys and a Pizza Place at the time. Right, right, right. That kind of – Schwarzman was there, I remember.

Really? But he was like 16 or something. Yeah, because Rushmore – Rushmore had just come out. Just come out. Oh, wow. The Christmas before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I remember meeting him and he was with his mom. Talia Shar? Yeah. I don't – I'm friends with him now. Yeah, yeah. I don't think he remembers that. You know what else I don't think he remembers is when he and I met, which was Bob Odenkirk and I went to go see Built to Spill play at the Virgin Megastore.

Yeah. And I suddenly noticed that Jason Schwartzman was standing next to me and I just started talking to him about it. I was like, these guys are fucking great. And he's like, yeah, man, these guys are amazing. And I think he

I got the sense he was a Mr. Show fan because I think he was talking to Bob or something. And he was like, you know what? I have tickets for them at the Roxy tonight, but I can't go. Do you want them? Oh, that's cool. And I was like, yeah.

And so I took his tickets. He was like 17 or 18, and it must have been weird because Rushmore came out, and then suddenly every person who thought they were cool in the world wants to talk to this 17-year-old kid. Right, yeah. It must fuck you up. Yeah. But I guess it didn't because he's –

Because he's like the most normal dude. But anyway, so it was – and it was two weeks before it was coming out. So we were the first people in the world to see this. Wow. No review – nothing had been out about it. Right. And so this is the audience who is going to be more excited than any of us. Than any, yeah, yeah.

And we go to this big, beautiful screening room at Skywalker Ranch. I've never been there. Sounds amazing. We are the first people to see this movie. And after the opening crawl, it's confusing, but everyone's cheering and freaking out. And after that first wait what is this about trade wars

yeah what is happening after the first like scene it was the same thing like everyone's like alright yeah yeah yeah yeah and little by little

you could feel a sense of but no there was not one person saying this was not a good movie afterwards at like the party right but there was this sense person saying this was not a good movie afterwards at the party. Right.

But there was this sense of sort of— Unease. Yeah. It was weird. Yeah. It was a weird vibe. I like the Darth Maul fight, I guess. Yeah, but you never—why is Darth Maul back?

I don't know. You never quite—nothing new. I don't know. We could talk—you know what? I mean, like people—I started thinking about this the other day because there are people upset about the Solo movie and people upset about the last one. And it's like now that I'm the age I am, I was so upset about the prequels when they came out. Yeah, me too. But now I can't imagine being upset about a Star Wars movie for more than five minutes.

Right. But also it's like you want to be upset about the last jedi try watching phantom menace again last jedi is a awesome movie i don't i i don't understand what how star wars can be so important to people and uh and and they and i don't even know what i'm trying to say yet uh by the time this comes out, yes. Oh, okay. Okay, so that's what we were up to in 98. So you were prime REM listener. I was not aware of it at all. You were completely out by this point.

I believe Ebo the Letter had made me go, oh, okay, REM is boring now. I had not listened to Hi-Fi. When we come back, we're going to get into Up, and we're going to go track by track and see what we think of it. See, first of all, what Adam thinks of it back then, what he thinks of it now, and what I think of it now. We will be right back with more Are You Talking R.E.M. Remy after this. Hey, everyone.

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are you talking REM Remy I also wanted to shout out Athens native Tim Kelly who's been writing reviews of this show

on I believe I think I've been seeing him on Facebook but rem the band harry m has uh tweeted about them but uh they're pretty funny reviews and also um had uh the last couple uh were uh very touching i felt very very touching reviews um okay we're talking about the band i need to read those there about the band. I need to read those. They're sounds like. Yeah, you do need to read those.

I just I need to learn how to read. You don't know how to read. Let me test. Not in the traditional sense. Let me test you. Okay. A. B.

C. What's next? D. Correct. Thanks. Very good. Very good. Okay okay so i know how to read you know how to read yeah yeah exactly yeah you're good cool cool cool um we're talking about the band harry m and we're talking about the record up their first of five albums as a trio. As a trio. Would this record have been better if it had been called What Up? That's a really great question.

What Up? REM, What Up? Well, you know what I think. I think if it was called What Up, Bro? What Up, Bro? What if REM, what up? Well, you know what I think. I think if it was called What Up, Bro? Mm-hmm. What up, bro? What if REM comes back? Like, okay, we're a trio now?

Our new album is called What Up, Bro? Would anyone? I mean, mass confusion, I'm sure. Mass confusion. So would they think like, so Bill Barry is the one who like is the good – Yeah. Like the person – He kept it all together title-wise because this is weird.

It is crazy that New Adventures comes out in 1996, fall of 96. Two years – he leaves the band. Two years later, they have a new album. Two years is a long time, though. You're right. Compared to people like us who put out millions of episodes of TV shows. Come on. For my money, I think people should put out albums every two months.

Talking about how often bands put out albums now, like every four years. Oh, I know. It's ridiculous, though. Look at Prince, though. But this is also the band essentially breaking up and reforming, and they have a new album in two years. In two years. It shows that they were really determined not to let this thing fall apart.

Yes. Now, should they have let it fall apart? We don't know yet. not to let this thing fall apart. Yes. Now, should they have let it fall apart? We don't know yet. We will be getting to the record very, very soon.

Do you – obviously you are listening to it on your Discman on a plane to – where were you going again? Missouri. Missouri. And what were you filming? A movie called Winding Roads so people can watch Winding Roads I'm not sure

if they can or not so it was never released? I actually I'm not sure interesting really not sure okay do you remember

what character you were playing? what was the name? the character I don't remember you don't remember like what you were doing do you remember the plot

or yeah it was a group of friends and like romantic entanglements and do you have any I mean great really great

writer director named Ted Melfi any smooch scenes yeah who you smooching on it was Katrina Brunson I don't know who that is but she's terrific that's your kiss style by the way is this an episode of what's your kiss style yeah

hey everyone welcome to what's Your Kiss Style? This is Scott. And this is Scott. And we're just talking about kiss styles right now. Scott, I was just talking about mine. What's your kiss style? What's mine? Okay, here's mine, okay?

That's nice. It's a nice one. That's nice. It's a nice one. That's nice. Feels good. I bet it does for the other person. For me, it's a lot. And for me, it's the aforementioned muah. Almost as if you're an Italian chef blessing a meal.

Muah. Pizza ravioli. So when you kiss someone, you say pizza ravioli? Every time. Muah. Pizza ravioli. So when you kiss someone, you say pizza ravioli? Every time. Pizza ravioli. All right, this has been What's Your Kiss Style?

Bye. Good app. Yeah. Maybe one of the best of that particular podcast, which is not a good podcast. Top five of that terrible show. Of that terrible, terrible show.

Okay, so if people watch that movie, if they can, they can just imagine Adam at the conclusion of every scene. At every edit point, you can imagine Adam rushing over to his Discman to try to make sense of this record. That's right. Discman. Discman. To try to make sense of this record. That's right. I personally was very excited to listen to this because I think we mentioned for New Adventures,

we're entering a stretch of albums that I have no connection to. That I don't know anything about. New Adventures being the first. New Adventures being the first. I had at least listened to several of the songs off Monster, several of the songs off Out of Time, several of the songs off Automatic. But these are albums that I don't know anything about. And so I'm very excited to listen to this record because very pleasantly surprised by New Adventures and Hi-Fi how much I liked a lot of the songs. Similarly long to New Adventures, this album is 64 and a half minutes long.

14 songs. 14 songs. But going into it, I'm excited because that was similar to Hi-Fi, and I figured... Now, is this like a few minutes shorter than Hi-Fi? Yeah, I believe Hi-Fi is the longest album. So it's like somewhere around, yeah.

Okay, all right. So this is the first real evidence we have of, as they call it, the three-legged dog, which comes from a quote I believe Michael Stipe said where it's like, even if you cut off one of, or a dog has one of its legs amputated, it's still a dog. And it needs to learn to walk again. Yes. This is the first evidence we have

of the three-legged dog now known as REM. This is the first song on the album. This is Airport Man. Or Air Portman, I guess. Air Portman. Air Portman. The uncertainty The great opportunity I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin

I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin

I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin

I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin

I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin

I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin

I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm being born through a sin I'm born through a sin I'm born through a sin I'm born through a sin I'm born through a sin Kick it! Starting it off with a bang.

So more of a statement. Yeah, this is what we call a table setter. Yes. The lyrics, he moves efficiently beyond security. Great opportunity awaits. Airport fluorescence, creature of habit, labored breathing and shallow skin, recycled air, moving sidewalks. Great opportunity blinks. of habit labored breathing and shallow skin recycled air moving sidewalks great opportunity blinks um yeah more of a uh this this seemed to me when i was listening to it like oh okay they're

trying to say hey we don't have bill barry anymore yeah it's a definitely a this is what's going on but i do remember listening to that just going like, whoa. Okay, here we go. Yeah, it's a little like it kind of feels like fitter, happier from OK Computer. And this is pre-Kid A too. Pre-Kid A, yeah. A lot of people, by the way, have said that this is sort of the link between OK Computer and Kid A. I don't know that I agree with that. Well, it's a lot of these sounds on here as we move on through the album.

At the time, it was like, whoa. Like people were not doing this yet. I can only imagine every single person who bought this album and played it on an airplane was just in unison and said, whoa. Yeah, it has this sort of like pre-programmed organ drums, you know, the ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. And a lot of like vintage Casio like keyboard sounds. Yeah, Casio kind of stuff. We should say that this is the first R.E.M. album where the lyrics are printed. The lyrics are printed.

Apparently Michael Stipe showed them to Mike Miller and he said, oh, wow, these are great. You should print them. And so it's the first time. And at this point, why not? You can tell what he's saying. It is crazy that you did not watch Falls to Climb before we recorded this. Why? I'll watch it later.

Because it is about the recording of this. Yeah, I know everything about it. No, you don't. Why? What did I say wrong? No, you didn't say anything wrong. I'm just saying for the overall – you're not getting anything wrong. I'm just saying for the overall vibe to understand the difficult birth of this album.

I read the book, and I read a lot about it. So I know a little lot about it. So I know a little bit about it. Basically, they had a very difficult time recording this album in the sense of they had all these songs written right when Daryl Strawberry left the band. They

had a whole bunch of demos and songs written so they didn't break up. And then they get into the studio and basically their recording process before bill leaves the band is that peter buck comes at 10 a.m with uh bill berry and they work on it until like the guys who like to get up a little later get there in the afternoon right now peter dollar bill is there as the only guy who's there at 10 a.m. And he has some of his buddies

from Tuatara there. Barrett Martin, Joey Warnicker came in to play some drums. This is a little later though. This is after the Tibetan Freedom Concert. That was the first time

he played with them was the Tibetan Freedom Concert, Joey Warnicker. No. That was his trial by fire. The Tibetan Freedom Concert. Well, they were all – okay. So in any case, they're all there, and basically Peter Buck just runs crazy with this record, and Mike Mills comes in, and everything's kind of already done a little bit, and it sounds like Tuatara.

a little bit and it sounds like to a tara and he's he feels uh apparently according to this book that peter buck kind of took over the record a little bit and turned it into something that he didn't really know if he was if if he was behind is that pretty much what we're talking about well i think generally from what i've gathered peter buck and and bill berry were more of the let's just lay it down and play it. And put a bunch of stuff in. And record it and put it out. And Mike Mills and Michael Stipe are more the, let's hang out in the studio and fiddle and get some different sounds in here. And so now that Bill Barry was gone, it was an imbalance in the band.

And so figuring out how to write and record, that's why a lot of these songs you'll notice are a bit longer. Yeah. They're trying to figure it out. They don't know what they are as a band without Bill Barry. And at certain points, Peter Buck seems to take over the record. And then at certain points, they say that Mike Stipe kind of shanghaised the record because he is sort of the final say. He puts down lyrics at the last minute, and months will go by where they say, okay, it needs to be done by July 3rd. You'll have it all done by July 3rd, right, Michael? And he's like, definitely July 3rd.

He had writer's block during this album. He had writer's block when they were in Athens. Basically, they recorded a lot in San Francisco. Everything seemed to be going okay. They take it to Athens. He gets writer's block. Yeah, and in the middle of making this album, which they are trying to figure out

how to make an album with this new configuration, they have to go do this Tibetan Freedom concert. This comes sort of in the middle of the process. They have scheduled the Tibetan Freedom concert. Well, they committed to it when they were a four piece

right couple years before so in but in the middle of the process of making this record it suddenly comes up which totally

takes them away from the making of the record for a while and so they go and they are under rehearsed this is where

Joey Warrunker gets the call to hey do you want to play drums with REM for this show? He's already going to be there with Beck. He's Beck's drummer, also the son of Lenny Warrunker and the brother, I believe, of the person in the band The Like, who was a great sort of power pop band.

He gets the call of like, okay, can you do this REM show at the Tibetan Freedom concert? They only give him two times to learn these songs. okay, can you do this REM show at the Tibetan Freedom concert? They only give him two times to learn these songs. They only run through them twice. They don't have time to rehearse. So they are under-rehearsed. And the reason you need to see this documentary is you see them go out on stage. And they bomb. Giant stadium.

And they decide to open up. They open with this song, Airportman. Yes. They decide to open their set as the new version of REM with Airportman. So this song that you just listened to starts up. They haven't put it out yet. No one knows it. No one knows what it is.

They walk out. They play Airportman. People are thinking it's like some reviews are like, did they open with a tibetan sort of dirt it's it is and it breaks my heart to say it it is more like the scene in spinal tap where they come out and do the jazz odyssey i hope you like our new direction right then then i would direction than I would ever care to see in real life. And watching it, it's painful, but it's also like these guys have big balls to walk out there to a stadium full of people and open with this song that no one's ever heard, no one cares about. It is not a stadium song. They haven't even worked worked it out yet.

Yeah, totally. Joey on the drums doesn't quite know it. Right. They play like, I think they play Losing My Religion eventually. Yeah, they eventually get to a couple of hits. It opened with like three up songs. Yeah, which End Up has not come out yet. And R.E.M. has not toured in like three, four years.

They've been away for a while. It was courageous, but ultimately- I thought you were going to say crazy. It was. It was. It was courageous. Didn't end up quite landing in the way they wanted. So I think it affected their confidence a bit

because then they had to go back to the studio. Then they go back to the studio and they don't. And basically what I read that Peter Buck feels in retrospect about the album is not quite finished. There were certain songs that he would play for people and everyone would say, this is going to be your best album ever. And then they just never finished them. And so that's where we are. So that was Airport Man, the opening to the record. I think it's interesting.

I don't know that it's a – it deserves to be four minutes. Yeah, I think it serves its purpose, which is this is what we're doing. As a song, it's, you know – Right. It's an interesting thing. I don't know that it's the best opener for me personally but but i would have to agree with you okay so let's go to track two then this is like after you've set the table hey here's your amuse bouche here we go uh this is the this is track two this is lotus Hey Hey Hey, hey!

I was hell Sar sarcastic silver swell. That day it rained, top spun, hard won. No ocean flower, aquarium. Bad land, give a hand. Batman Give a hand Honeydew Flam flam Hey hey

Hey hey Dad Cat can walk like a big Batman Here's the chorus So happy to show us I ain't the most so happy to show us okay lotus lotus uh and that's barrett martin playing drums on that song i believe who by the way Okay. Lotus. Lotus.

And that's Barrett Martin playing drums on that song, I believe. Who, by the way, Bill Barry, he ended up hanging out with R.E.M. guys in Seattle or somewhere or something. And everyone was like, are you back in the band? Right. And he was like, no, no, no, Barrett Martin's their new drummer. Oh, he is? Yeah, he was quoted as saying, Barrett Martin's the new drummer. Oh, I didn't hear that. And he wasn't, of course.

They never had an official drummer. But Joey Warnicker did the first couple tours. Yes, they ended up liking him so much on the Tibetan Freedom concert that they ended up using him and using him on the record. And he's on some songs here somewhere, yeah. They brought him in after that to play on the record.

Yeah. So Lotus, what do you think of Lotus? And what did you think then, and what do you think now? At the time, I loved it, but I was also like, wow, these are new sounds for these guys. What sound do you think is new? Well, there's obviously a lot of keyboards in there,

but also the vocals. Mike Mills, by the way, started because Peter Dollar Bill played most of the bass before Mike Mills could get there in the afternoon. So Mike Mills ended up just playing a lot of keyboards on the record. Yeah. I love the vocal sounds on this. It's very different for them. That's kind of my issue with this song.

It's the first rock. It's like the first real song. Yeah. And I was like okay good there okay here's some drums i have two i've i have two problems with it as like the first song song on the record yeah the double tracking of the vocals um he's doing it in two different uh he's doing an octave apart he's doing like low it kind of sounds like bob dylan when he fucked up his voice a little

bit i was like his voice sounds different it sounds a little more gravelly yeah the low end certainly the low end did my other issue is i kind of feel like the chorus is a pre-chorus and it needed a uh-huh a chorus that differentiated itself melodically from the verse a little more yeah went up a little higher, you know, because right now, most of the notes he's using on both the verse and the chorus are in the same sort of octave of da-da-da-da-da-da da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- um that said i don't i think the song's okay i just don't know whether it's the first it should

be the first right um yeah i think the vocal the thing that really struck me about the vocals on this episode was how soulful he was letting it get yeah the lyrics uh you know are very like they almost are like you too it's their first self-referential lyric with the dot, dot, dot, and I feel fine in there. Right, right, right. He's referencing it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. So interesting.

I don't know. Yeah. I've always, I've always liked Lotus. It's the second single. Second single. They would open their shows with it on this tour. It is muscular. Yeah.

Like these things. Yeah, muscles. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, so that's the kind of kicking it off there. All right. So track three then, we go to Suspicion, which is a five and a half minute song. Here we go.

Back to the organ sound. Now my suspicions are on the rise I have known, I have known your kind Please don't talk, don't make me think Order out another chain Let me let imagination drive can't you see I need nothing to be imagination To deep imagination

Come alive Suspicion Tonight I will dream tonight All right, that was the chorus. Interestingly enough. Suspicion. Suspicion. Pretty low-key song.

Pretty low-key. For number three. I gotta say, not my favorite sequenced record that they put out. Suspicion. Okay, so I had another one of my patented long car trips to Santa Monica over the past couple of days where I was like, okay, I'm going to stretch out and listen to Up on the way there, on the way back. First three songs are very difficult for me to get into.

I was feeling like Suspicion also has maybe my issue with the previous song, Lotus, where I feel the chorus is not a chorus. It's like maybe the pre-chorus leading to the chorus. You know how like the Cars or whoever, all sections of their songs, the verse, the pre-chorus, and the chorus, sometimes the bridge, they all could be their own hit single. You know what I mean? And that's not for every song.

That's fine. You know, if like your verse is kind of da-da-da or has more words in it. But you really want those choruses to be like big, hummable things. Yeah. And this one is a little, it's kind of Burt Bacharach-y in a way the chord progression the dun dun dun

I think the chorus is really it's pretty yeah I I loved this song at the time

I thought it was really pretty and really interesting it's interesting more than... Now it's not my favorite. I feel like it's too long, clearly.

But there's something, some third rail that's not quite there. Right. I think they're really... Feels a half-baked alone. I think they feel really confident in it, otherwise they wouldn't have put it, which shows you how different this song was for them. Right.

That they put it up top like this. You know what it almost feels like up top? It's there to be like, no, no, no, no, we didn't get another drummer. Yeah. It almost feels like this album sometimes is a statement. The way it's sequenced feels like them saying like, no, no, no, no, no, we're R.E.M. without Bill Barry.

See, I thought it was weird. I always thought it was weird that airport man is this statement and then they kick into Lotus, which is, and then they don't just keep going. Right. Um, so suspicion is weirdly placed. I think it's a pretty song and, and always liked it. I remember seeing it live at the, uh, Neil Young bridge school benefit before Up came out and they played it

and was like, wow, this is a cool melody. And so I always liked it. I think it's fine on the album. I would not have put it so close to the beginning. To the beginning, yeah. All right, let's go to track four. This is Hope. Sort of like that self thing that I was You know that it sounds childish

That you've dreamt of alligators You hope that we are with you And you hope you're recognized You want to go forever You see it in my eyes. I'm lost in the confusion and it doesn't seem to matter. You really can't believe it and you hope it's getting better. You want to trust the doctors, their procedure is the best.

But the last try was a failure and the intern was a mess. And they did the same to Matthew and he bled till Sunday night. They're saying don't be frightened but you're weakened by the sight of it You lock into a pattern and you know that it's the last ditch You're trying to see through it and it doesn't make sense But they're saying don't be frightened And they're killing alligators And they're hard-tied and accepting of struggle Okay.

So interestingly enough, this song does not have a chorus. Right, no chorus. This is four verses, and it's all written in the second person, meaning you, you, you, mainly in the second person. At one point he says, I did something. So it's mainly second person. I thought this song was really interesting. This is one where I'm like, I think the lyrics are very interesting.

I think the idea of using a like using these sort of kind of really primitive instrumentation and it builds really cool like I think it's a cool song I will say like in the sequencing of this it's now been four songs that I'm like oh god it's not exactly

what I'm looking for in an R.E.M. album but this is the first one where I was like, oh, this is interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I love this song. Always, always have. Like this is, like you said, this is really interesting. It feels vital and it feels like they're really trying to say something. I would have put it closer to the beginning well it's interesting we'll talk about this on my re-sequencing of

the album i re-sequenced it too you did too oh this is awesome okay did you bring yours i sure did okay oh i love that okay good all right um let's now go to track five. This is At My Most Beautiful. Oh, we should say hope. They had to give Leonard Cohen a writing credit. Because it sounds similar to Suzanne. Yeah. They didn't have to. They did. I found a way to make it

I found a way to make you smile. I found a way, a way to make you smile. This reminds me of Mouthful of Sores from Mr. Show. I don't know if you remember that. Yeah. So, wait, you want to listen to the verse or no okay because it kind of started with the chorus right right You always say your name Like I wouldn't know it's you

And you're most beautiful cut so for me it's a little early in the record for a Beach Boys pastiche you know like a lot of bands do Beach Boys pastiches

like Jellyfish Ghosted No. 1 or Dukes of Stratosphere Pale and Precious or like Tears for Fears. Brian Wilson said, you know, but they're usually a little later in the record. Like, I mean, if you're jacking someone's style so hard, I don't know why it's like the fifth song on the record, but, you know, it's pretty. I feel like it's, yeah, it's definitely a Beach Boys, a nod to the Beach Boys,

but I mean, it's more than a nod. It's like literally taking all of their instrumentation and vocal style and doing what they did. I don't know about what he's, what Michael Stipe is doing. Michael Stipe sounds different because he's Michael Stipe. Yeah.

And he's doing something. But listen to these. Absolutely. That's all very Beach Boys. Very like Barbershop Quartet-y kind of. Yeah. But I think it's infused enough

with REM's. Yes. No, I mean. REM-ness that it's a new thing. Anytime anyone does these with maybe the exception of like Weird Al when he did the Beach Boys

thing from Off the Deep End. I can't remember the name of it. Like they're doing it in their style like jellyfish goes to number one i love that song and it's got beach boys harmonies and stuff but it sounds like them so rem it sounds like rem i just i don't know why it's like track five yeah you know but but a pretty song yeah i i really like it and that's how it ends. This is the song they were playing on Party of Five. Did I tell the Party of Five story yet? Which one? Oh, no, I haven't done that yet.

Where you were fired? No, tell it. I'll do it after we talk about the album. Oh, okay. This is track six, The Apologist. The Apologist. They call me the apologist And now that I'm at peace You know at first it really hurt

We'd joke about these things I've skirted all my differences I'm sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. Did you understand me right? Okay, so, excuse me. So that was the chorus, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. Kind of cool. Yeah.

Maybe needs... It feels like it's missing an element. Yeah. I don't know. It's kind of interesting here. It's only four and a half minutes long. That's a step in the right direction. I always, this is a catchy song and stuff.

I always, it's one of the songs I felt like, I was like, what exactly are they even saying? Yeah, you know what I noticed was, it seems like Mike Stipe was influenced by Radiohead. You know, OK Computer comes out and is like basically looking at the modern world and technology and making a big statement and doing so sort of in character. A lot of these songs are in character. We've talked about them being in character before. These are like songs in character of like I am the apologist.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I am a day sleeper. I sleep during the day. I am an apologist. Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I am a day sleeper. I sleep during the day. Yeah. I am an airport man. I go around the airport, you know? Like, these are very much like-

Yeah, but this one, I was always like, so is it a sociopath? And if so, are you apologizing? I just wasn't sure. So the lyrics are, they call me the apologist, and now that I'm at peak, you know at first it really hurt. We joke about these things. I've skirted all myologist, and now that I'm at peak, you know at first it really hurt. We joke about these things. I've skirted all my differences, but now I'm facing up. I wanted to apologize for everything I was.

So I'm sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. Yeah, not sure quite what he's saying. Did you understand me right? The people here are good. They tell me what I should have done and offer what I could. I'm good. All is good. All's well.

No complaints. When I feel regret, I get down on my knees and pray. It always struck me as a very melodramatic, like, big statement. I just wasn't sure. Because it is. It's really broad. I get down on my knees and pray all that. Is he saying that apologies are good or are they bad? Have you ever said you're sorry?

Never. Maybe that's why I don't like it. It was never a favorite song. I can actually believe that. Okay, this is the next track. Two more tracks on the first side. This is Sad Professor. If we're talking about

love If we're talking about love, then I have to tell you, dear readers, I'm not sure where I'm headed. I've gotten lost before. I've woke up stone drunk face down in the floor. Late afternoon, the house is open. I started, I jumped up. Everyone hates the noise. Everybody hates the drum. Then back to the verse. This was the first song on my long car trip where I was like,

oh, wow, he finally starts singing in his upper register like da-da-da-da-da-da. Yeah, you can see this live with everyone with their lighters or phones up or whatever. He's a sad professor in this song. I read that it might be the professor who created Flubber. Yeah, I mean, he'd have to be sad. He would have to be sad about it. So it was a disaster. It really was. I mean, sure they put

it on the bottom of their basketball shoes. Oh yeah, well that was a success. That was happy. That was the one moment he was happy. But they were getting greedy. I love Sad Professor. I also really like the live in studio version without the electric guitar.

We can play that a little later if you like. Yeah. It was the first one that made me go, oh, that's something. Like everything before this I was like,

I don't know if this is a thing yet. Even Hope? Hope you weren't like No, Hope I liked but because there wasn't a chorus yet I was a little like trying to find

I'm just talking about first listening. Yeah. Trying to find my footing with this record. This is the first one See, I was a little like trying to find – I'm just talking about first listening. Yeah. Trying to find my footing with this record. This is the first one I have. See, I have a whole theory about this record, which is it needs a re-sequencing and it would all – Make sense. Yes.

Make more sense. I agree because after the three times I listened to it, I was like, I got to re-sequence this thing. And I did, and then I get it. Yep. A little more. Yep. Anyway, we'll talk about that later. What if our resequencing is exactly the same?

Is almost exactly the same. What if it's exactly the same? Well, I took out two of the songs. So did I. What? This is exciting. Three. I took out three songs.

I might have done that, too. I can't remember. Okay. All right. This is the final song on track one before we take a break. This is You're in the Air. You were in the air. Wanted a challenge That's calling you higher

I landed on my feet crawling I remember standing alone trying to forget you idling I hate to admit it, that's my reference point But there it is, you say you want me Found I'm upside down, you're in the air You're in the air, you're in the air now. I'm breathing. That was the chorus. I'm what you found. I'm upside down.

You're in the air, you're in the air, and I am breathing. Kind of a euphoric sounding chorus. Uh-huh. What do we think? Not my favorite R.E.M. song. Not your favorite R.E not your favorite rem song what is your favorite rem we'll talk about that on our final episode okay um okay how about you how about you i i like the chorus it it again it feels like one of these half-baked songs a little that where spend a little more time and come up with a real chorus the chorus seems like a pre-chorus to me again um you know but uh i like the instrumentation when there are 14 songs on an album when it's not fully realized like how i feel new adventures is

fully realized 14 songs means everyone had favorites people everyone voted weren't quite getting along yeah and didn't want to have the confrontation of cutting cutting a song so-and-so's favorite or i mean like like the guitar sounds great maybe it's peter buck's favorite because he's like listen i mean the and the instrumentation and the strings it sounds yeah it's just but the but the melody is not there i feel like it i feel like the whole thing is just it feels like separate parts not quite getting together. Yeah. I wouldn't have put it on there. Well, we're going to go to a break.

All right. When we come back, we're going to hear the downside. Does the downside offer redemption? We will find out after this on Are You Talking R.E.M. Is redemption even needed? Hey everyone, today's episode, this is pretty cool. I've been doing this over the past couple of weeks. It's brought to you by The Sound of Vinyl. The Sound of Vinyl. Now, people listening to this show, I would assume, since we play so much music on it, you have to be music lovers. And this is a great new way to collect vinyl records. Okay? Check this out. The sound of vinyl, it's not just a record store. All right? It's not just a record store. Anything can be a record store. You know what I mean? All right.

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Here's what happens. And I did this, I signed up for it. It works over text message. What they do is they text you with a vinyl offer, an offer for a vinyl record. And if you want to buy it, all you do is you just reply Y-E-S, yes. Now, it gets confusing when they offer you a text about the band, yes. That's the only time it's confusing, really.

And they never do that. I have not received one offer for the band, yes. So it seems like they've taken care of this problem already. You can even text back to chat with a real live human being who can help you find the perfect record. I did this the other day. They sent me a bunch that I already had and I kept saying, no, no, no. And I personalized it and they finally sent me something that I didn't have. John Coltrane record that I was really interested in. All I had to do is I just went back, Y-E-S-E-S, boom, they sent it to me. It's great. And then I went on their website and they have, like I said, they have thousands and thousands of 20,000 titles for sale. I got a Tribe Called Quest thing that I really liked. It's really easy. They

also have exclusive limited edition color vinyl to add to your collection, which I was looking at the website. There's like, uh, Beck's new colors record and all sorts of different colors. Get special edition records from REM, huh? Weezer, the Beach Boys, Kiss, and more. There is no subscription fees, no commitments. Give it a try. Go to soundofvinyl.com slash REM. All right. Soundofvinyl.com slash REM to sign up for the text service and get $5 off your first record. It is fun. It's fun

getting texts about records you want. Why bother going to the post office to do this, to look for records? It doesn't make any sense. Again, that's thesoundofvinyl.com slash REM for five bucks off your first record. Try it out. It's really fun. I think you'll like it. Are you talking to REM Remy? This is the first song on side two. This is Walk Unafraid.

Walk Unafraid. As the sun comes up, as the moon goes down As heavy notions creep around It makes me think long ago I was brought into this life A little lamb, my little lamb Courageous, stumbling Fearless was my middle name

But somewhere there I lost my way Everyone walks the same Expecting me to step the narrow path they laid. They claim to walk unafraid, but I'll be clumsy instead. Hope you might love me, I'll make it fine. Oh, my love, we are leaving. Bye. All right. Walk Unafraid.

First song with a pre-chorus and a chorus. And all the better for it, I think. I love this song. This is a good song. I mean, it feels something about it. Something about the chorus seems maybe of the time or a little dated, the do-ka-do-ka-do-ka, something about it, but I really like it. I like how there is drumming happening,

but it feels like you can't quite place if it's electronic or if there's someone. Yeah, it doesn't feel like Bill Barry. It feels like this is a new version of. And it sounds like an arena rock song put through this new weird electronic filter. Right. I really love it. It's a, you know, obviously they played it every show since until the end.

I will say that in my long car trip, I was like, why is basically all of side two, side two? What do you mean? Most of side two, I was like, most of side two should be side one. Right.

Anyway, we'll get to our resequencing. Next track is Why Not Smile? By the way, no question mark at the end of this. Why not? Why no question mark? It's to be read, why not smile? Instead of why not smile? By the way, no question mark at the end of this. Why not? Why no question mark? It's to be read, why not smile? Instead of, why not smile?

Why not smile? Why not smile? This is Why Not Smile? Why not smile? The concrete broke your phone To hear you speak of it I'd have done anything I would do anything I feel like a cartoon brick wall

To hear you speak of it You've been so sad It makes me worry Why not smile? You've been sad for a while Why not smile? Smile I will tell you Alright, so... Why not smile?

Why not smile? What do we think of? I think it's a pretty song. I prefer the Oxford American version. Yes, so much better, I think. I agree. Although I think this version is fun in that they just start dumping all this instrumentation on it, like really piling it on.

It's a lot like taking a dump, in a way. It's like... And I like the... What is that first instrument that comes on? Is that a harpsichord? It sounds a little harpsichord-y. I love that. It's a lot like 60 songs that use the harpsichord a lot.

Yeah. It pulls on my heartstrings for some REM reasons, and then I like when it kind of breaks down right where we kind of turned it off there. It starts to build, whereas the Oxford American version, it sounds like a song all the way through. Yeah. This sounds like it's not quite getting going, not quite getting going, and it's a build song.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's pretty, but I do prefer the – All right. This is the next track. This is the first single off the album. Buried at track 11, this is Day Sleeper. Mixed by Nigel Godrich of Radiohead Producing Fame. Everywhere is calm Hong Kong is present Tightly awakes all

The talk of circadian rhythm I see today with a loose print Pray my night is covered Had a great day sleeper Day sleeper. Day sleeper. Day sleeper. Yeah. The classic REM sound, sort of.

Yeah. The classic REM sound from two cycles ago. Right. Sounds, the acoustic especially sounds to me like Radiohead a lot. Really? From like Ben's era, Radiohead. Which they got from R.E.M. Okay.

You're stewing here. I'm really upset. I love Day Sleeper. First sleeper first single you think uh i it definitely was the first track where i was like oh thank god some melody yeah um it um the the only thing i think about okay so like musically one of my probably my favorite song on the record. Lyrically, I sort of wish that Michael Stipe wasn't in his I'm going to sing songs in character kind of thing because I think it could be slightly more universal. He's basically singing a song. I read he was delivering a book of haikus to his friend in his friend's apartment or something. And he passed by another apartment

that had a note outside saying, day sleeper, please be quiet. And he was like, oh, this is a guy who works at night. And he felt really bad. He was wearing boots, like heavy boots. He's like, I'm probably waking this guy up. And so he decided to write a song in character of a guy who works at night at a security job

and sleeps during the day. I think if it were about a more universal theme it could have opened it up something akin to everybody hurts where it's a little more about something more universal but uh i really i really love it musically i like the fables of the reconstruction-y-ness of it that it's about a weird subject matter and you're not quite sure what the hell he's talking right if the lyrics like if it were a little more like fables era mumbly vocals you probably wouldn't be able to tell what he was saying and you would be like

what's that's about me yeah but i like it yeah i love this and it was the first single. Failed. Like sunk. Like a stone. After a week. I listened to it over and over. Over and over. Waiting for the album to come out. Probably talked to Naomi. What do you think about Day Slipper?

Day Slipper is really about us, isn't it? Next track is called Diminished. And this is a six minute song. And this is next. Well well it's six minutes because there's another song but still five minutes i watched you fall I think I pushed Maybe I'm crazy Maybe diminished

Maybe I'm innocent Maybe I'm finished Maybe I blacked out How do I play this? I will give my best today I will give myself away I have never heard anything Is the jury wavering?

Do they know I'll sing? Holding off on the chorus. That was the chorus. No, it wasn't. Well, the lyrics say it's the chorus. No. What do you think the chorus is? That was the pre-chorus, and the chorus is coming up. Tell me when the chorus starts, because I'm interested.

We'll mention two oblique strategies. Our old friend Brian Eno right there, our old sourpuss. Mm-hmm. I will give my best today. I will give myself away. I have never heard anything. It's the justice slavery. Does she never say? This must be the chorus right here, right? Sing along Sing along

Maybe splitting hairs, but I don't consider that a chorus as much as a variation of the chorus. It absolutely is the chorus. Oh my God. The pre-chorus is exactly the same both times, and then it goes to that on the second time. I would consider that to be just a variation on the chorus. Okay. It's a different. All right.

It's a different melody. All right. I'll agree with you. Just please don't hit me. Oh, stop it. Please don't hit me. Stop it. Please don't.

Put your fist away. You are pretending that I'm far more upset than I am. Like retreating when I'm doing nothing. People love the fights on this show, Adam, and that's, you know, I mean, that's why people listen to things is for the drama. That is not a fight. It's our first fight, and it's adorable. Or like in The African Queen, our first quarrel.

Oh, I guess I haven't seen The African Queen african queen our first quarrel oh i guess i haven't seen the african katherine hepburn and uh good squirrel do you do a bogey impression by the way i've always meant to ask oh i mean when am i not doing it you put your glasses on behind your neck it all i was like what is is that like some sort of telemarketer microphone? You know when dudes with no hair put their sunglasses on behind their head like this? Have you ever noticed that? Well, I read a tweet the other day that someone thought they were being stared at on a plane for like 10 minutes until they realized it was a bald guy who had put his sunglasses behind his head. What if it was not a bald guy with sunglasses on the back of his head? It was just a bald guy who would put his like sunglasses behind his head what if it was not a bald guy with sunglasses on the back of his head it was just a bald guy with no nose or mouth uh what do we think of diminished uh well you clearly don't like it i think it's maybe the

best song on the album oh i think it's, it is slow. It is low-key. And there may be too many low-key songs on this record, but this, as far as the, like, chamber pop thing goes that they're doing on this album, I think this is the best of it. It's beautiful. It's a truly beautiful chorus that they had never really – not the kind of thing they had done before.

I think it's a great song. Excuse me. I might like it if it were in a tighter record. Like if it was the – what's that song on At A Time that they all love? I want to say Cowboy something. Oh, what is it? Country Feedback. Country Feedback. Country Feedback.

Like, it's kind of the country feedback. If it was surrounded by... More poppy stuff or something, I would be like, oh, interesting. Yeah. My Patience is a little worn thin. When it's song number 12. 12.

By the way, it's six minutes, but that's because there's a hidden song at five minutes called I'm Not Over You, which we'll play here. I feel great, I lied to save your feelings. Truth convened, my head smashed through the ceiling. I lost an arm no one

harmed you so this is a stipe with an acoustic guitar yeah first time he's played on a record or something

acoustic guitar I guess so but just to like a little almost like a palate cleanser of like hey here's a little

yeah not fuck around necessarily but a little like here's something here's a little, not fuck around necessarily, but a little like, hey, here's something. Hey, here's something.

Here's something. Hey, take this. Here's something. Let's get to the last couple of songs. So Diminished, your verdict on Diminished is? I can't get into it,

but. I feel like you haven't listened to this record that much. I feel like I have. Yeah. Like how many times do you feel you've listened to this record? Probably

340. Okay. Yeah, I don't think you've really listened to this. Yeah, okay. I'll try to do a little more. Okay, this is Fails to Climb.

No, this is Parakeet. Sorry, I forgot Parakeet. This is Parakeet. You wake up and Fails to Climb. Oops, sorry. I forgot parakeet. This is parakeet. Falls to climb. Oops, sorry. Falls to climb is what I meant.

I'm not wearing my glasses, and you're making fun of me. This is what I don't like. I've listened to the album 340 times, and I still don't know it's falls to climb. I'm sorry. No, but this is parakeet. This is parakeet, I know. Ryan Adams really upset at me.

Fuck. Fuck. Open the window to lift into your dreams, baby, baby. You can barely breathe. Broken wrist and I can't breathe. This is Parakeet. This is about a parakeet that Michael Stipe owns that died one day, I'm presuming. It died from flying out a window. Open the window. Into your dreams. You got that keyboard sound that's kind of jellyfish-ish to me.

A lot of jellyfish references today. You know? When you're using this kind of like harpsichord-y. I mean, this was prime like Beck was using jellyfish members. This is like, anyway. Yeah, what do you think of Parakeet? I mean I love Parakeet

I do not know why they would put it right after Diminished which is a really slow chamber pop song

yeah yeah but as a song I think it's really great I it didn't make my resequencing. Oh, it didn't.

Okay. But not because I don't necessarily like it. I just didn't think it fit in with my resequencing. But I think it's okay. Yeah. It is, again, chamber poppy like, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

It's like Sesame Street. This is Sesame Street music. By the way, they appeared on Sesame Street to promote this record. They did. Singing Shiny Happy Monsters. Yep. So that's interesting. All right.

This is a song called Falls to Climb. And I thought it was Fails to Climb because I'm not reading it right. And I have it right in the zone where I can read it, which is about approximately two feet away from my face. And unfortunately, I had it too close, and the eye looked like an L. Or the L looked like an I. It's ironical that earlier we were admittedly ribbing about me not being able to read, and then you make a mistake. And then I make a terrible mistake. about me not being able to read,

and then you make a mistake. And then I make a terrible mistake. But you have to admit, fails to climb makes sense. Like, I failed to climb that thing, and I strived for something, and I failed to do it. Falls to climb... Makes no sense.

It's ridiculous! It makes no sense, guys. It makes no sense. So you're not going to understand this song, but we're going to play it anyway. It makes no sense. This is no sense. So you're not going to understand this song, but we're going to play it anyway. It makes no sense. This is Falls to Climb. You worked by committee You had me pegged from the start I'll be pounced pony

Pony Maroney Pony before the car I'll be pounced pony This ceremony only fills my heart Who cast the final stone? Who threw the crushing blow Someone has to take the fall Why not me?

A punch toy violence Mm-hmm. Again, no drums. Yep. Kind of the interesting keyboards. Some drums come in at the end very subtly, but they do. And this is the album closer. Album closer.

I think it's a great closer because it's anthemic. It's a lot like Curious Hedwig. It's anthemic. No, a great closer. It's a lot like Curious Hedwig. It's anthemic. No, a great closer. It's a great closer. Or Tom Selleck. Was he a closer? From the canceled...

That you were in? Yeah, that we've mentioned. That I've told the same story about twice on our show. Tell it again. I'd love to hear it. God. Come on. Daddy, tell us about the closer.

It kind of picks up a little bit. Why not me? Why not me? All right. Okay. Yeah, I love Falls to Climb. I think it's a... Fails to Climb. Fails to Climb.

I think it's a beautiful song, a great album closer. You know, it sounds like he might be talking a little bit about the band and Bill Barry leaving and them kind of turning on each other a little bit, but maybe not. Maybe it's just as a character, but I think it's an emotionally rich song. It feels like it could. It's kind of one of their anthemic songs from yesteryear kind of put through the electronic filter a bit. I love it. What do you think? I like it could it's uh kind of an anth one of their anthemic songs from yesteryear kind of put through the electronic filter a bit i love it what do you think i like it i like most of the songs on

here i they're not ever going to be my favorite rem songs they're songs i like i uh this album maybe would have worked for me a little more if they had had more stuff like day sleeper on it and half that half the chamber pop stuff. But I do feel like they were trying to say like, no, no, no, we're different. We're different. We're not Bill Barry, REM. We're doing something different. So most of the album feels like album tracks, not singles to me.

But I like it. I definitely – I like it. Let's rush through a couple of these B-sides. These B-sides are just, they're instrumentals. This is Emphysema. Is this the stuff Peter Buck came in at 10 a.m. and did?

Yeah, I think so. This really sounds like Tuatara. Yeah, it does. All right, that's all we need of that. And then this is surfing the ganjas again more of the kind of maybe

yep that's all we need to hear of those alright we've gone through them alright well tell you so

should we hear that sad professor live in the studio? I was going to play it in my album sequencing. Oh, okay. Do you want to do that? Yeah. How do you want to do it? Do you want to do it track by track each separately

or do you want to do it concurrently? Concurrently. Concurrently. Okay. So should I go first because I have them queued up. And do you have yours queued up? Or you could just say what they are and I can play them. Okay, so for me, what I wanted to do was kind of make the album flow a little more melodically to my ear,

going back and forth from the dirgy kind of stuff to the pretty stuff. And I also wanted to sort of start the album off with an interesting statement. So my track one is Hope. It's a good choice. Because I think because without a chorus, it starts, wow, this is an REM.

Right. And it doesn't have a chorus, and it's saying something. Yeah. And I feel like it's a great setting the table. It's making a statement. But it has a lot of energy. Right. I think that's a good idea.

What did you do for your first track? My first song, because I felt like part of having Airport Man open up the album, it is a statement, but in a way, looking back 20 years, I feel like it's almost a little playing it a little safe in that it's a statement without pushing out like a real song song. Right. Agreed. It's not like How the West Has Won where it was like, wow, this sounds really different and the song is good. Right. So I, looking back, feel like I wish they would have just been super confident and just said, this is us now. Check this out, and opened it with Walk Unafraid. Walk Unafraid, which is a good song, so let's hear.

Like, if the album opened like this. Holy shit. I'm in a guitar hole. What's going on wait what is that is that electronic cymbals what is that by the way one thing i wanted to say about this song is the bass does does a i've fallen on my bottom sound in the middle of it oh the boom yeah it's like oh i fell on my bottom like i think both thematically it's significant to start the album and the drums don't sound like real drums right and it's a big anthemic catchy song right start the album with it i like it don't bury it don't bill bury it don't bill

bury it interesting i like it okay um number two number two for me after hope because uh if you remember hope i'm gonna actually play the end of hope because it ends very like yes in a cacophony oh how me creating this playlist i i listen yeah i had to listen to the end of the last song so many times okay so this is how hope ends yeah and be filled. Then you'll hear how it goes into the next song. that's cool okay so this is song number two this is song number two. This is song number two for me. Daysleeper goes into now like, okay, we've done a grand statement. It's ended on a cacophonous note. But we're still R.E.M.

We're still R.E.M., yeah. Okay. What do you think? Can I see the thing? Because I want to do the same thing with my second song. I want to play the end of the song before it. Yes, you want to see? You want the chord?

Yeah. Okay, let me plug it in. All right, here we go fuck off there you go i know it's coming but still it's frustrating isn't it um okay so we okay so walk on afraid opens the record and we're gonna hear the end of walk on afraid this is like this is what we enjoy. Adam and I enjoy putting together playlists. Yeah.

I still do it. By the way, after we talked about American Music Club last week, I put together a two-disc best of American Music Club, Mark Ixell, and I was figuring out the... It's so fun. Yeah, it's so fun to do. Okay, here's the end of Walk Unafraid. Big statement, opening the record.

That's interesting. It's electronic, but it's still like a do. Okay, here's the end of Walk on Afraid. Big statement, opening the record. That's interesting. It's electronic, but it's still like a song song. Uh-huh. Hope. Hope is number two. Okay. So it's like, yeah, this is different. This is still different, still not drums.

Yeah, but it sounds like it could be an arena rock song, and then hit them with this. It's like, yeah, we are. Like, really lead with the differences. I get it. I get it. Confidence. Confidence. Interesting. I like it could be an arena rock song and then hit them with this. It's like, yeah, we are. Like, really lead with the differences. I get it. I get it. Confidence. Interesting.

I like it. All right. I like it. Nope. I got it. I was able to snag it. I feel like I'm playing with my dog where I'm, like, trying to pull the thing and they're trying to get it away from me.

Okay, so after Day Sleeper, which really pretty and uh ends on a pretty note do it do i want to do the same thing i don't know this is gonna take no this is gonna take forever so i'm just gonna i'm gonna go into track three okay the apologist so it goes into minor key uh okay the apologist all right what uh what do you think of that i like it i did not Okay, The Apologist. All right, what do you think of that? I like it. I did not keep Apologist. You didn't keep Apologist, but yeah, I think it's interesting.

Okay, what's track three for you? For me, After Hope, which is after Walk on Afraid and Hope, which are both lots of energy. Number three, I feel like it's appropriate to take it down. But the song I feel is like the best one that gets really buried on the album is Diminished. Diminished. So that's number three for me. Diminished is number three for you.

So after that, it ends on that big, long, cacophonous thing, and then we go into Diminished. Yeah. After all of that chaos, you get this stark, slow, stark, Tony Stark almost. But I would not keep I'm Not Over You at the end of it. I would put it somewhere else on the album. I have done that already.

You have? Okay. Okay, interesting. Maybe for me, not peppy enough for track three but but interesting okay uh you are the everything is number three on green and it's perfect yeah that's true okay i'm you listen to mine and i'll listen to yours by the way um and we want the listeners to also listen to both of these and let us know what you like for sure okay so for me then after the ap Apologist, which is Minor Key, I then have done track four is...

Okay. Lotus, upbeat. Uh-huh. Not like the best rock song, like Day Sleeper to me, but like good enough to put it up near the top. I like this.

I am concerned for your playlist. Why is that? I'm concerned that you're using up all the energetic songs up top. Okay, yeah, I get it. What do you have for number four? Number four, After Diminished, which is this slow, introspective song, At My Most Beautiful is next.

At My Most Beautiful is next for Adam. Some sunlight and happiness. Some daylight, some happiness. Oh, cool. All right. Still a little early in the record for me for the Beach Boys. I disagree. I think it's its own thing enough.

Okay. But I think also after that opening, it's nice to have, because this is the first song that's analog, really. Right. After those three albums. I said right, but I don't know what you mean. Like, not electronic. Oh, got it.

Okay, for my next one, after Lotus, I'm going with You're in the Air. You're in the Air. So we've heard an upbeat, poppy. Now I'm going for a minor key but pretty chorus you may not have used this one i did not use you did not use this okay what is your next one after after at my most beautiful another um slower song i'm keep i'm putting in Why Not Smile Oxford American Version which is my next track uh huh

so let's hear it so it's like At My Most Beautiful and that together are like old school REM yes coupling

let's hear this because we didn't play it and I consider this to be the end of Side 1 as do I but I put it next okay

yeah cause I used 12 songs. I'd have done anything. I used 11. Okay. So this is the end of both of our side ones. Yeah.

It's a great side one ender. Yes. I feel like a cartoon brick wall Okay. Okay. Side two opens on yours. Side two opens for me with... Okay. Walk Unafraid.

Okay. Which I think sounds... I still feel like this is getting too buried for as good a song as it is. I feel like it's, I mean, I'm looking at it as more of like typical vinyl side one and side two where you put a really strong song. Just kicks off. Yeah, it kicks off side two.

Yeah. What is the opening of your side two? Lotus. Lotus is the opening of a very similar, we're doing a very similar thing where we're starting it off with something interesting. Sure.

All right, for me then, after Walk Unafraid, I then am going to Sure. Suspicion. This is my next song too. This is your next song too? Wow, so our side twos

are very, very similar. This has to come after an an energetic yes song agreed but this is a perfect placement for suspicion yes like song number eight or whatever it is agreed like it needs to it needs to breathe and it it flourishes here this song this song succeeds it succeeds yes. It doesn't succeed as track three. No. Agreed. All right. I am then going, I wonder if it's going to be the same for you.

This is the third song on the second side for me. Yep. Sad Professor. Wow. But this is the live in studio? I didn't do the live in studio. Me neither. But I tried it with live in studio, and it was just too mellow.

It's a little too mellow. I agree. But this is great right after Suspicion because Suspicion is. Yeah, this sounds very melodic after Suspicion. Then I go to, this is my next one. I go to At My Most Beautiful Here. What did you pick? Next for me after Sad professor is parakeet parakeet which i did not

use but i appreciate it being here on yours i'm not i can't find it but um yep okay and then i go at after at my most beautiful i then go to i feel great oh i put i put I'm Not Over You right here. After Sad Professor. After At My Most Beautiful. At My Most Beautiful, okay. That's nice. It's just a little palate cleanser. You may have put it similar. You didn't even put it in, but you might.

If you rethink it, you might put it in somewhere. Okay, so what is After Sad Professor for you? Can we just play Parakeet real quick just to get the vibe? I'm sorry. I was trying to find it, but I got to go to a different playlist because I didn't put it on that one. So you left out Airport Man and Parakeet. No, I haven't left out Airport Man. Oh.

I left out Parakeet and Diminished. Got it. So this is actually very similar to the Beach Boys feel of Am I Most Beautiful? So I feel like we're on the same wavelength here for side two. And this being not being paired with diminished makes this song feel way more energetic than it was. So after Parakeet, the penultimate song for me is Day Sleeper. Got it. Got it. So you me is Day Sleeper. Got it. Got it.

So you go to Day Sleeper. Because I also think Falls to Climb can't have two low energy songs piled on top of it because it doesn't distinguish itself enough. Yeah, I get that. So having this rousing single. You go Day Sleeper and then you go Falls to Climb. Falls to Climb is next for me after the palette cleanser of i'm not over you okay so we both go right into falls to climb and is this where you end the

record yes i think this is life i was thinking of find the river find the river is a great album closer but what was the song before it it was night swimming it's one of the classic songs beautiful pretty so i thought Day Sleeper being the song to kind of clear the way for this big closer makes this shine a bit brighter. So I just about ended the record here, but then I thought, what if I tried this and I put Airport Man at the end?

Interesting. Saying like, goodbye. Goodbye, we've been Aria that's really interesting goodbye it's mellow it's like that's really interesting so interesting i think we're both on the same kind of wavelength. We've taken different choices. Yeah. But I feel like we have... You know what bums me out a little bit?

What's that? Is that the two songs you left off, Diminished and Parakeet... Are two of your favorites? Yeah, but I feel like they aren't... It was kind of given a disservice at the placement in the album and made you feel like they're again kind of it's all kind of a wash to you at diminished is maybe the one that i'm still not sold on parakeet i think is a good

song i just left it off because i was like i i wanted to keep it at 50 minutes or so yeah i think mine's even shorter than yours. Yours is shorter, yeah, yeah. 49 minutes. Yeah. So mine's at 49.57 or something like that because I put the Mike Stipe minute-long song in there. Well, mine's in there too.

I didn't take it off. It's after Diminished. I just didn't have it. Right, right, right, right. Yeah, yeah. But you would have put it somewhere else? Yeah, I don't know where. Okay.

But what's the – the oh you kept Airport Man I kept Airport Man because I took Airport Man You're in the Air and The Apologist Off so interesting I think we both I view yours as a success

yes as do I yours so these are both interesting listen to both of them out there and let us know which you think is more successful

or if you think the original album is more successful or if you think the original album is more successful yeah there are a lot of people that feel this I know at the time that it came out

some people think this is their best album yeah at the time that it came out I thought it was their best album I felt like this was music I had never

really heard but it was all new sounds for me right I loved it and I do love it i do think that there are uh there's masterpiece in there um it's difficult to get into yeah it rewards repeat listens it's a really complicated listen to it more than 340 times yes and you'll get it

and you'll get it um well i think i think this was an interesting one. Again, I don't know that I will return... I don't know. It's hard to say if I will, like, if any of these songs would end up on my top 40 R.E.M. songs. I don't know. I'll have to listen to it more. I mean, that's

the difference is I've been listening to it for 20 years, and you just kind of grabbed it. Just kind of grabbed it? What are we doing here? Well, I just mean like you just kind of started listening to it like, oh, two weeks ago. Yeah, exactly. Well, very interesting. I think we found some sort of consensus, which I'm happy about. I'm happy about that. You're not going to storm out of here. Upset at me for the next couple of weeks. I don't know. I'm happy about that you're not going to storm out of here upset at me for the next couple of weeks. I don't know what we're going to do next week, but it's going to be a hell of a ride.

Oh, man. Whatever it is. Should we say what we think we might do? Well, I don't know if that will be next week, next week, though. Got it. Yeah. So because we're recording in advance, we don't know what the release order of these is going to be. But I hope that you stick around for it because we've had fun doing this.

And I know the irony. Everyone talks about the irony of us saying these albums are too long. And then we're putting out like two and a half hour, three hour long podcast. We have no right. But we enjoy doing this. Yes, it's so fun. And Adam, it's always great to see you. You too, buddy.

And let's end it with a little bit of The Sad Professor live in the studio version. And we'll see you next time. And until then, we hope that you found what you're looking for. Bye. Bye. Bye. Then I have to tell you Dear me Hey Queeros, it's me, Cami Esposito,

and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, Queery. You can sit in on hour-long conversations between me, Cameron Esposito, and some of the brightest luminaries in the LGBTQ family. Queery explores individual stories of identity, personality, and the shifting cultural matrix around gender, sexuality, and civil rights. Plus, it is fun. We have had some incredible guests.

Emmy winner Lena Waithe? Yes, definitely. Congressman Mark Takano? You bet. L Word creator Eileen Shakin? Yes. President and CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis? We definitely have.

We've got celebs. People like Trixie Mattel, Evan Rachel Wood, Tegan and Sarah, the band, and the people, separately, on two different episodes. We also have activists and changemakers in our community. I think it's a one-of-a-kind show full of chats you have never heard before. It's identity,

it's community, it's query. You can find Query every Monday on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.