"House in order..."

I've considered doing an R.E.M. series for some time. I have lots of bootlegs I collected during the 90s with all kinds of unreleased gems on them. Some are on vinyl which I can't rip currently, but there's some interesting things I can share. So to test the water (and also because I've not got anything else lined up for today), I thought I'd give you this as a taster.

Around late 1981/early '82, the band recorded some demos at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, NC. Among the songs they recorded was this take of Wolves, Lower a song that was destined to feature on the 'Chronic Town' EP. It's slightly faster than the released version and sounds a little rough around the edges, but it was far from a work in progress. I really like the sound of the backing vocals in the chorus on this. There seems to be more emphasis on Bill Berry's lower tone than the later version.

If you want more of this sort of thing, just say the word. I might make it a regular(ish) feature. Maybe.

• Wolves, Lower [demo] - R.E.M. (officially unreleased)

And here's the original video for the 'Chronic Town' version. Granted, it was low-budget, but even so, the production skills are still somewhat... questionable...