What It Is

I’ve been an avid fan of R.E.M. since first hearing them whilst on holiday in 1990. I’ve also found music by Bristol band The Blue Aeroplanes incredibly cathartic (for want of a better word) since the early ’90s. In particular, the wonderfully twanging, story-telling albums Swagger and Beatsongs. This afternoon, probably thirty-three (?) years after first hearing the albums, I discover by chance that the “ooh-ing” in the background of their song “What It Is” is only bloody Michael Stipe! He wrote about the re-release of the album on the R.E.M. website back in 2006; the “little remix” he mentions is on Spotify as part of the two-CD set. Also re-released is the BLUE AEROPLANES lp called SWAGGER, featuring my cello-esque background vocals on the song “what it is”. The band approached me to add a vocal to the song a thousand years ago, and frankly I thought it was a perfect song already and I would only muddy or fuck it up. So I sang a cello part that they had to put in really quietly.…