Nothing Dead About R.E.M. Live

By Mark Fisher

Rex has been widely praised
as one of the best musical acts of the
80s and 90s, and was also one of the
best selling acts in the world during
that time. But their albums in the new
millennium haven’t exactly garnered
them very many new fans. Their most
recent efforts, 2001’s Reveal and 2004’s
Around The Sun were both criticized for
being overproduced and un-engaging.
Fortunately, R.E.M. can still connect to
its audience live, as this triple disc Live
CD/DVD set demonstrates. Running
at one hour and 45 minutes, this is an
R.E.M. fan’s dream come true.

 

The recording is taken from a February
2005 show in Dublin Ireland, near the
end of R.E.M.’s world tour in support
of Around The Sun. By this point in
the tour, R.E.M. was in prime shape,
having played hundreds of shows in six
continents. It took a while for them to
master playing songs from Around The
Sun in a live setting; when I saw them
in November of 2004, the newer songs
seemed to be dragging their set down.
It’s tough for any band who’s been
around this long to introduce newer
songs into their hit-laden repertoire,
and they went through several setlist
experiments in order to find a way to

represent their new album and still
put on the best show they possibly
could (yes, I read all their set lists off
the internet, that’s how much I obsess
over this band). R.E.M. is a band that
would never release an album just for
the sake of having a tour, and thus
any setlist from their 04-05 jaunt has
almost half the songs from Around
The Sun somewhere on it. This concert
has the best tracks from Around The
Sun, such as “Leaving New York,” “I
Wanted To Be Wrong,” and the rarely
played “Ascent of Man.” I’d highly
recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of
R.E.M. but who skipped out on their
latest albums, you get to experience the
best of what they’ve put out lately —
including “Imitation of Life,” by far the
best song on Reveal.

The set includes a live DVD of the
concert and two CDs of it as well. The

great into 15 minutes, and include
fantastic performances of “What’s The
Frequency, Kenneth?” “Drive,” and
“Rockville.” The highlight of the entire
concert, at least in my opinion, is “The
One I Love.” The performance is the
best take of the classic song that I’ve
ever heard.

The DVD is filmed more like a
collection of music videos than a
regular concert DVD, and for the most
part it works well. Considering how
diverse the band’s selection of songs is,
it makes sense to vary the filming style
to match them. A song like “Everybody
Hurts” is done nearly entirely as a
close-up on lead singer Michael Stipe,
while hard rocking songs like “Bad
Day” are edited with super quick shots
to present all the madness that happens
on stage and in the crowd. While the
differences can be a bit jarring, it really

“I'd highly recommend it to anyone
who’s a fan of R.E.M. but who
skipped out on their latest albums”

CDs split the main act onto the first

CD and the encore onto the second. At
first this seemed an odd way to split

the content, but listening to the encore
by itself is something I’d strongly
encourage, especially if you just want a
quick dose of R.E.M. The five tracks on
it pack everything that makes R.E.M.

helps to capture the live energy of the
band. Hopefully R.E.M. will make
everyone happy by capturing a little of
that energy on their next album.

 

The Appeal of Dr. House

By Laura Kelsey

D r. Gregory House is considered
unconventional.

Besides the fact that he is addicted
to painkillers and sometimes gets his
patients drunk, the moody doctor does
whatever it takes to get to the bottom
of a patient’s problem; the dramatic TV
show House revolves around his need
to solve mysterious
ailments. The
show is a hit, but I
reckon it’s not just
because viewers
enjoy watching
the disabled
doctor harass his
subordinates—it’s a
deeper illustration of
the state of Western
healthcare.

Those watching
House get to indulge
themselves in a medical fantasy where
doctors will do anything to find the
cause of their illness—not just treat
their symptoms.

Western medicine has long been
accused of bandaging surface problems
and not healing the whole self. Whether
it is an issue of money or a lack of
patience, the quick fix is the way to go

“So, how has a
drug-addicted, rude
man has become
the epitome of
dashing medical
professional?”

for doctors on our continent. It doesn’t
matter if you fully believe in the folk-
practicing ways of Eastern and Chinese

traditional medicine —you have to admit

that focusing on the broader picture
in terms of your whole body and your
health instead of a specific warning sign
seems only logical.

And if you are unlucky enough to
be in the 18 percent
of Canadians that
do not have a
general practitioner,
then you know
full well the sad
state of walk-in
clinics. Although
clinics admittedly
exist to relieve
emergency room
wait times, and
not to continually
treat full-time
patients, much of
the population relies on this fast-food
version of healthcare because of a
lack of family doctors. But seeing a
different doctor every visit not only
adds inconsistencies to your treatment,
it can also invite medical mistakes
since patient records may be scattered
throughout various clinics.

But, recently, a study was published

in Archives of Internal Medicine that
noted the unproductive, and sometimes
uncomfortable, nature of physician
check up chitchat—so even those with
regular GPs do not escape doctor-
related difficulties.

So, how come a drug-addicted, rude
man has become the epitome of dashing
medical professional?

Because, although his efforts may

 

seem irregular, a doctor who puts more
thought into how he is going to cure his
patients rather than what he is going to
say to them is what we need more of —
patients want to know honest answers
from their doctors, not what the doctors
had for lunch. Perhaps, if every doctor
were as much of a detective as Dr.
House is, we'd all be in better shape.