The August 1982 launch of the Power City EP marked an vital milestone in R.E.M.’s historical past. It wasn’t the band’s first vinyl outing, nevertheless it proved to be the primary of many legend-building releases they might subject by means of Miles Copeland and Jay Boberg’s I.R.S. imprint over the subsequent 5 years.
“When I hired Jay as the vice-president of I.R.S, he fell in love with R.E.M.,” Copeland advised uDiscover Music in 2021. “So I let him concentrate on them. I’m very thankful to R.E.M… I look upon them as one of the label’s greatest achievements. And it wasn’t just me, either – they had everybody at the label fighting for their success.”
Take heed to R.E.M.’s Power City now.
The document firm’s unshakeable perception proved important to the band’s growth. When R.E.M. signed up in 1982, the label was an especially hip identify to drop; it had created a roster of sizzling alt-pop acts together with The Go-Go’s, Wall Of Voodoo, and The Cramps. However all these teams had monitor data, whereas R.E.M. – with simply 18 months of energetic service beneath their belt at that juncture – have been nonetheless comparatively embryonic. Certainly, previous to I.R.S’ involvement, R.E.M.’s unique plan for Power City was to subject the EP by means of Dasht: an unbiased imprint arrange by their first supervisor, Jefferson Holt, and his enterprise companion, David Healy.
The recording of Power City
With this plan in thoughts, R.E.M. returned to Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October 1981, to document the songs for Power City. The session was overseen by the studio’s proprietor, Mitch Easter, who had already engineered and co-produced the “Radio Free Europe” single. “We knew each other a little… so we did stretch out a bit artistically,” Mitch Easter stated in 2021. “It was nice enjoyable for me. I’ve higher reminiscences of Power City than ‘Radio Free Europe’ as a result of doing the only was only a whirlwind.
“On Chronic Town, we got to actually talk about stuff,” he added. “The record I’d been listening to right before I got the studio was Low by David Bowie. Which was kind of a crazy record and very sonic. You can’t always get rock bands to want to take those kind of chances. So on Chronic Town, I suggested a lot more weirdo stuff. Tape loops and doing stuff backwards. And they were totally into it. That was great fun.”
R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck additionally had vivid reminiscences of the two-day Power City session, recalling that the band “cut about seven or eight songs and we threw the kitchen sink in on everything” in a September 1984 interview with Trouser Press. “There were hundreds of guitars, backward guitars, backward vocals,” he added. “It might not sound like it, but Chronic Town is a busy record. We were looking for a claustrophobic effect, like you’re struggling into a world where you don’t know what’s going on, and you have to figure it out by using clues. It was a learning experience.”
R.E.M. should still have been discovering their toes within the studio after they recorded Power City, however the outcomes steered they have been already alchemizing one thing actually distinctive. Although brittle and generally barely ragged across the edges, the EP’s 5 jangly, guitar-driven songs fizzed with nervy, post-punk vitality and youthful idealism.
The strident “Gardening At Night” was arguably the decide of the fabric, although “1,000,000” and “Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)” have been equally seductive, with the latter additional elevated by an attractive name and response routine, whereby Michael Stipe’s mumbled lead vocal was pitted towards bassist Mike Mills and drummer Invoice Berry’s extra linear harmonies to startling impact.
Click on to load video
On reflection, the one factor which nonetheless appears arduous to fathom is why I.R.S. insisted on substituting “Ages Of You” for the (equally compelling) “Wolves, Lower.” The label had fallen in love with the latter, asking the band to return within the studio and document a slower model for the eventual launch.
Click on to load video
The legacy of Power City
Power City was finally launched on August 24, 1982. The collective important response to the EP proved extremely optimistic – at dwelling and overseas. Within the US, the document got here in at No. 2 within the year-end High 10 of the celebrated Village Voice’s EP ballot, whereas within the UK, a glowing overview with influential rock weekly NME stated the document consisted of “five songs that spring to life full of immediacy and action and healthy impatience.”
Regardless of the important consensus, Power City isn’t usually talked about within the band’s rise to fame, nevertheless it’s certainly one of their most pivotal releases. In making it, Michael Stipe and firm had begun to hone their enigmatic, but accessible jangly pop sound, which might quickly grant them a wider viewers. Certainly, simply months later they teamed up with Mitch Easter once more for the debut album correct, Murmur, and started to make an impression on the worldwide stage. From then on, the one manner was up, as R.E.M. slowly however absolutely transitioned from school rock outsiders to mainstream rock stars because the Nineteen Eighties wore on.
“It’s still amazing to me that I got to work with R.E.M.,” Mitch Easter stated in 2021. “The fact that we got along and we made things that people actually enjoyed. You really cannot plan on this stuff or force it to happen. The fact that it was so casual makes it even better. There was none of this having to follow up a big hit or any additional pressure. The expectations were all reasonable and we were all just hoping we could do something good. It was an ideal time for them and me.”
