31 Days of Vinyl - Day #2 - REM - Chronic Town EP

The month of March marks a 31 day fasting.  The fasting on any purchases of new records.  I am shaking as I type this...for 31 days, I will refrain from buying any new/used records.  This fasting will act as a cost saver and as a mind-expander, hopefully getting my fingers onto some dusty grooves in the far reaches of my vinyl collection.  I hope to pull something from the crates on a daily basis that I have not listened to in a long time or at all for that matter.  Then upon listening, I plan to blather on about the hopeful musical awakenings.


Day #2 is a safe pick as it has only been about 6 months since it's last spin, but it sure is easy to write about.  I pulled my copy of REM's first EP release 'Chronic Town'. 






Original Source - Vinyl Destination, Burlington, VT - Summer 1994.

Price - given the time period, most likely $8.00 or under. 

After having been heavily armed with a love of REM for a couple of years I came across Chronic Town and it blew the doors off my tiny little world.  Up to this point I had been a fan of the radio songs from 'Out of Time' and was recently baptized to the wonder of their slice of perfection 'Automatic for the People'.  I had a copy of their MTV Unplugged session on a dubbed VHS that I would religiously watch.  Upon their massive popularity surge of these years, VH1 and MTV cobbled together a TV special about their career.  That TV special opened my eyes and ears to albums prior to Automatic for the People, Out of Time, Green, and Document.  The show made special mention of their first EP called Chronic Town.  It served as their jumping off point prior to their first official full length 'Murmur'.  I had to have it.  I memorized the name and within a few days I was riding my bike to downtown Burlington to find a copy.   

I found a very affordable copy (it had to be as I was on a very limited budget at the time) along with a copy of Elvis Costello's debut 'My Aim is True' and raced back to my room and threw it on.  I seem to recall riding my bike along the Burlington Bike Path stressing about the misting rain and the fact that my albums could get wet.  Time escapes this detail.  The opening jangle of "Wolves, Lower" started a million bands on its own and stripped the bong resin off my tiny brain.  Stipe's dramatic exhale sounded as if it sucked all the air out of the room as I first heard it and still does.  It was so earnest, so vital.  These notes were the first REM would commit to recording and it would define their every fiber from then on.  It held a total of 20 minutes of music would pave the way for their debut masterpiece 'Murmur' the following year.  I felt like I had arrived at something special.  Sure, the radio songs were great, so was the new stuff.  But that day, when I placed the needle on my newly acquired copy of their 1982 Chronic Town EP, I felt COOL. Hence why there was a huge backlash when REM went Top 40.  The one time band for COOL people to feel COOL listening to is now the people's band.   I had found the source, the original code, the stripped down no frills Athens, GA quartet of oddballs who would shape my musical obsessions for the next 20+ years. 

I purchased a second copy in the past couple of years.  The new fancy version on blue heavyweight vinyl for $20.  It may be heavier and more colorful than my original but I have listened to that copy all of once.  It doesn't have the history, the love, the pop right before 'Carnival of Sorts', or the importance of my original copy.  I swear, if my house were burning down and time allowed, I would save this album.  This one needs to go in the rotation a lot more often. 
I cannot recommend this one enough, it's a palette cleanser if you are sick of their pop songs.  It's a breath of fresh air if you are in a musical rut.  Put it on, listen for the jangle, find your youth. 


All the best,
Bandy