Probably like not hearing Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry or even Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters until the 1970s. In the case of Chuck Berry, one of my first 45s was a copy of "My Ding-a-Ling" b/w "Johnny B. Goode" which I bought in the early 70s. It was the novelty of the A-Side ("My Ding-a-Ling") that drew me in, not "Johnny B. Goode", so it was years later before I started to appreciate music from the 50s and earlier. To bring this back to Led Zeppelin, it was their early records (as well as Lynyrd Skynyrd and others) that sent me in search of my first blues albums. When Plant cut the Honeydrippers EP in the 80s, that is what further piqued my interest in 50s music and sent me flipping through my parents' old Chubby Checker, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley albums.

I didn't really know anything about this movie prior to seeing it other than reading some favorable reviews about it from friends online. I'd have to put it up there with my favorites of 2011 right alongside Super 8 and The Tree of Life.

Thus is the life of a music freak. I can't own and listen to everything I'd like to as there's not enough hours in the day and believe it or not, I do have other interests. It is fun trying to hear it all though.

I don't have Caress of Steel but I do have Hemispheres and love it. I've heard cuts from Caress of Steel over the years but don't think I've ever heard the entire record. Way back in the day, I must have picked up the Rush Archives collection on vinyl dozens of times but I never purchased it. Believe it or not, I only recently (as in the last couple of years) purchased 2112. Back in high school, someone gave me a cassette with the first record on it but I've never actually purchased that album. Just for shits n' grins, here's a photo of the Rush Archives collection: I read something the other day about one of those Sector sets being recalled because the mix isn't correct. Very cool of Rush and everyone involved to actually listen to the fans and fix the problem. Not every band would do that. As for epic Rush vs. short and concise Rush, I'm a fan of both but I have no problem admitting I have a huge soft spot for stuff like "Cygnus X-1" and "Cygnus X-1: Book II". One of the funniest moments of their interview with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report a few years ago was his question about them thinking up new epic length songs during the performance of their epic length songs.

Believe it or not, I haven't heard them all, nor do I own them all so it would be hard to say. I have a great deal of their albums stretched out across a variety of formats (vinyl, cassette and compact disc) but I'm still missing several of them.

All the World's A Stage was my first Rush album back in the 70s. I believe I have all of the live records but that bonus disc that came with Different Stages is still my favorite. I also really love the R30 DVD.

My favorite of the live albums would have to be Different Stages, not for just how they mic'ed the audience on the newer recordings but for the vintage disc from the Farewell To Kings tour. I especially love that live version of "Xanadu".

A long sought after first pressing of R.E.M's "Radio Free Europe" single, of which only 1000 were made.

To clarify, I have I seen them live and have no doubt they can still pull off the old epics. What I'm wondering is how the new epic length songs will sound.

Strange movie full of all kinds of cool cinematography but with no real discernable plot. What little bit of plot there is folds in on itself towards the end and just adds to the confusion.

Which served as the inspiration to a very cool Robyn Hitchcock tune (which has already been posted in the thread).

Seems like I read somewhere that their upcoming album, Clockwork Angels, would feature a few epic length tunes as in the days of old. Not sure if Rush is still capable of pulling that off at this stage of the game (even though those kinds of songs used to be their stock in trade) but I'm willing to give 'em a listen.

I enjoyed this, much as I have for most every movie I've ever seen from Focus Features but if anyone wants to elaborate on the ending, I'm all ears. I'm usually not much on the romantic comedies but after reading a favorable review of this from a friend online recently I thought I'd give it a shot.

http://youtu.be/2AMRzNbrMiY

I'm not sure if you're trying to post a video from YouTube or not but if so, the embed feature won't work. All you need to do is click on "Share" beneath the video and then cut and paste that URL into your post. Embedding it won't do the trick and no tags are needed. If you are trying to post a clip from a site other than YouTube, I don't think it will work. I think the only site you can post video clips from is YouTube.

I bought it but only to own the new songs in a physical format and for the liner notes. Is it worth buying just for that? I don't think so though I did enjoy the liner notes. The songs are representative of R.E.M. in the sense that they show their various sides but other than that, they're really nothing earth shattering. Out of the three, I'd say "Hallelujah" is the most forward sounding. "We All Go Back To Where We Belong" is a mid tempo tune that is reminiscent of something that you may have heard on the radio back in the late 60s. The most common comparison has been Burt Bacharach. The song isn't very characteristic of their sound but it's still somehow fitting, especially considering the subject matter. "A Month of Saturdays" wouldn't have been out of place as a b-side done just for shits n' grins like they used to do. Mills has described it as having a very "Pylon-esque" groove which I think is pretty accurate. Are any of these songs essential to the overall R.E.M. canon? No, I don't think so but at least they show they still had some gas in their tank, especially "Hallelujah" which seems to point in the direction of where they may have been headed next, had there been another album. Or, you can listen for yourself: http://youtu.be/WVB2IXzLwL8

Probably pick up the DVD eventually but with Record Store Day recently passing, along with a couple of other purchases, I'll have to hold off for a while.

I did enjoy this but it was full of a lot of the touchy feely stuff that tends to turn me off to so much of the indie fare. There was one scene in particular where I felt like throwing shit at the screen because it was so fucking stupid and overwrought.

Michael Stipe on the End of R.E.M. as we Know It (Rolling Stone)

I don't understand the reasoning behind this unless fans just want to own everything in every configuration possible. Seems like it would make much more sense to release the entire catalog in 5.1 all at once rather than in a piecemeal fashion like this.