R.E.M. said adios a few weeks ago, but they have a tiny bit of business to attend to before they go gently into that good night.
The band has a definitive compilation album called Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage coming out on November 15, and with that they have their last-ever single: A newly-recorded track called “We All Go Back to Where We Belong.”
The song itself is a reasonably catchy acoustic-and-strings number, but the real attention-grabber is the video that accompanies it. There are two versions of the video, actually. One stars poet, filmmaker, and activist John Giorno, but the other stars radiant Melancholia star Kirsten Dunst.
It’s a pretty simple premise: a static shot of Dunst staring right back at you, occasionally laughing suddenly or looking as though she might weep uncontrollably.
Give the Dunst version a spin below, and go ahead and pretend like you’re having a conversation with her, and that she’s laughing at your jokes and finding you fascinating and charming. We won’t tell anybody. (We’re totally going to tell everybody.)
It’s a little sad to see R.E.M. go out with such a whimper, though they’re certainly doing it on their own terms.
As for Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, it’s being touted as the first definitive R.E.M. greatest hits album, even though they’ve put out several compilations before (true, nothing has ever bridged the gap between the IRS records years and their latter Warner Bros. output).
The lineup is strong, but it seems vaguely criminal to include only a single song from Monster (“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”) while there are three songs from their ho-hum swan song Collapse Into Now. What’s the matter, guys? No love for “Bang and Blame,” “Strange Currencies,” or “Let Me In,” the latter of which became a tremendous acoustic torch song live?
What do you think of R.E.M.’s video for “We All Go Back to Where We Belong”? And what’s missing from their forthcoming greatest hits? Stand in the place where you are, as long as it’s in the comments.
Read more on EW.com:
R.E.M. officially disband after 30 years
Our Farewell to R.E.M. Playlist
Coldplay pay tribute to R.E.M. with cover of ‘Everybody Hurts’: Watch it here
Review: R.E.M., Monster
Disband, then promote.
Hmmmmm…..
Nice song — the sound of it strikes me as a cross between ‘Automatic for the People’ and ‘Reveal’ — though I wish the backing vocals were more audible… I think the two videos (both the Kirsten and the John) are beautiful — better than any of the ones I’ve seen from the ‘Collapse Into Now’ project!
As for the greatest-hits thing, I plan on getting it, though I agree that ‘Monster’ is under-represented (I always liked WTF,K?, but I’ve grown to especially love “Crush With Eyeliner” and “Tongue”).
And what about “King of Comedy”? In my opinion it is an all-time masterwork that is strangely over-looked.
Another good one. “I’m not commodity!”
Lately I’ve also been partial to “I Took Your Name” and “Star *69″ — they just rock…
How about Margaret O’brien in “The Secret Garden” dealing with the spleiod brat “invalid” child, or a young Elizabeth Taylor riding the Pie in “National Velvet”. Or maybe Abigail Breslin in “The Ultimate Gift”?
This is exactly like that Andy Warhole exhibit that was at Moma recently.. i’m sure they were intentionally trying to recreate that.
I believe the exhibit was called Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures
r.e.m.s last album was anything but h-hum. it was one of their best in years. i have been stunned by the cluelessnes of the music writers on this site lately. where do these kids come from?
I agree Richard. As an REM fan from the beginning I thought Collapse Into Now was a fine album. Hardly ho-hum.
Beautiful.
Great song, but Kirsten Dunst (???) of all people is not interesting enough on any level to watch for the duration of the song.
Nice song
Dumb…dumb…dumb…
Not buying one bit of this.
Not a bad R.E.M. song. But honestly, alternative music won’t be the same without them. Hopefully, Michael Stipe & company will have a better sense of meaning after the great music they’ve conjured over the past 3 decades.
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