Search - R.E.M. :: Everybody Hurts (Fade) / Star Me Kitten (Demo)

Everybody Hurts, Most people won't after buying this

donaldggray | Rockville, MD USA | 03/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this single a few days ago and its made a very nice addition to my collection. I have all the REM albums besides Dead Letter Office and just recently I've been getting into the singles, they're cheap, usually around 3 or 4 tracks, about 18 minutes long (perfect for short car rides)and they contain b-sides and live tracks and demos. Its nice to hear Star Me Kitten as a demo and compare it to the version that appeared on Automatic. Currently, I have two live recordings of Losing My Religion (one off of this single and the other off of the Bang and Blame single) both are very different and interesting. Now to the subject at hand. When I first heard Everybody Hurts, I didn't like it, seeing it as a very morbid song that served to do nothing but depress me. The song remained largely unlistened to, stuck inside the yellow CD of Automatic. Then just recently, I broke up with my girlfriend and I figured, what the heck, why not give it a listen, I can't get more depressed. I listened to it and the words actually uplifted me instead of making me horribly depressed. I totally think that this is one of the most uplifting songs I have ever heard. When I saw the single, I had to buy it. And I did. and I love it. And I think its worth buying. Not only for the shear value of Everybody Hurts, but for the demo of Star Me Kitten, which is an interesting (although hard to understand) early recording of the song. There's also a track not released anywhere else called Organ Song, which is weird to say the least. They also opted to put a Losing My Religion (live) track on this, I see it as more of a minimalist effort than anything else. Its REM so its still good. Buy this, its worth ten times the pittance it costs."