R.E.M. - CATAPULT Stephen Hague 1982 Demo (FULL SONG) 

Not gonna lie. I love this. I also think it was entirely the right decision to ditch it.

Thank the gods of rickenbacker for Mitch Easter.

This is an alternative universe on its own.

After hearing this I can appreciate the work they put into making it sound “timeless” and not using synths etc.

In my head I can see a very pensive looking Peter Buck listening to that synth in the studio, trying to get what the producer is doing, but never getting there.

You can really hear Mike Mills on this one. An underrated bassist and singer!

If they went with this, they'd become dated SO fast. As someone who grew up listening to old REM decades after it came out, what I loved about them was that their music sounded like it could've come from either the 60's or the 90's. They didn't sound like any decade. Just pure, timeless rock. This sounds SO 80's that it just seems goofy now.

Thanks for posting this. Holy Grail etc. Having said that, those synths! Aaaagh. Talk about "they airbrushed my face".

Wow... that keyboard really sticks out like a flaming cowpie

Love the original version obviously but glad this version exists...open your minds...a piece of history.

C'mon fellas, aren't you guys into New Order, Joy Division, Yaz, and Blancmange? "Yes...but....you're fired." But I was gonna order y'all matching parachute pants and those 80s shirts with the snap flap shoulders!! You'll go down a blinder on MTV!!" "You're still fired."

I LOVE this even with the synth - one of my favorite songs.

This is a great example of why it's so important for artists to push back when it's just not working. It's an interesting artifact, but Murmur has so much more energy. By the time I get to the third verse I'm ready to move on.

This only recently leaked. It never showed up on a bootleg, but we were waiting for it to!

I only knew REM from rock magazines until I bought "Murmur" and put the needle down on Side Two. That "Catapult" was a thunderclap! This version was quirky, but not life changing. :) Cheers!

I'm a big REM fan and a big fan of the early stuff which is when I first started listening to them. Im going to take a different view here. While I dont necessarily love this version compared to the studio or live versions, I see what Hague was doing here. He was trying to make it sound like a hit. Like all the other alternative bands that ended up with hits in the early 80s. And it does sound like one of those. This may have been their huge hit/breakout song if they had gone with it. As it was, this song was never a hit or on the radar except to dedicated fans. I am glad it went the way it did. But I totally see the vision here. Fer sher. Like, totally!!

I think the album version of the call and the response works better, where Mills only echoes Stipe's "catapult" on every second time. Here it's every time.

I kinda love this take.

aside from some of the cheesy synth flourishes, I think this is a great version!

As someone whose favourite bands are REM and Pet Shop Boys respectively, I've got a guilty crush on this song. Sure, it wasn't the right path for them, I get that. But as a glimpse into an alternative reality I totally love it. It's REM as lush post punk dream pop

Wow!! Gives me chills!! They for sure have not found their 'sound' quite yet, but so good!!

Oh this is atrocious. The echo makes my head hurt. I love that their reaction was "we're still figuring out our sound, but it's definitely not THAT."

Wow pretty much sounds like The Cure.

Love the light hint of synthesizers in this song that gives them that rather cliche new wave style of the time not necessarily associated with REM.

Wow, Hague was even able to make REM pure commercial pop.

I love Berry but he did always rush the tempos when they played live, so it's clear why he'd hate a click track.

I LIKE IT, ITS A DIFFERENT SOUND ANY RARE DEMOS HOW CAN YOU NOT DIG THEM , MY FIRST SHOW NOV 1983 BOSTON MASS PARADISE LOUNGE....CHOUT THANKS FOR POSTING ALL THE REM PORN , WE LOVE IT KEEP EM COMING

The producer was trying to make them sound like Scandal or Berlin. I'm glad that by the time they were ready to put keyboards in their music, it was more organic

Waited a long time to hear this! Thanks for uploading it.

Fun stuff! Thanks for sharing!!

This is awesome. Thanks for posting!!!

Always interested to hear outtakes, etc., but glad this isn't the direction they moved. Lacks that early R.E.M. energy and sonic blast. Interesting, nonetheless.

I've looked for this before! So glad it appeared!

DAYUM MAN THIS IS AWESOME!!! THANKS MAN!!! :D

after following this band since 1983 it's amazing to finally hear this. thank goodness the band knew this is not where they wanted to go and were smart enough to go with Easter/Dixon.

This reminds me of some kinda Psychedelic Furs! Awesome to hear this! they were really trying things out for the best sound

Honestly, without the synths, this would have made for a great B-side

REMchout, you've done it again...delivered the R.E.M. goods!! Thanks!

this is really good. the sound is lush. word.

Apart from the synth flourishes I love the sound of this. Buck needn't be worried - his guitar if anything sounds more pronounced

possible this drove them more decisively in direction of their more "organic" 60s retro sound

glad you finally have the full version,this version is actually quite good with the touches of synth,echo and reverb,but of the version on record is better.

Motto: always stick to your own plan.

Murmur was my comfort blanket while I was backpacking through Europe 30 years ago. Thank you REM! 🇨🇦

alternative Alternative.

Pretty cool that REM, after hearing this track and feeling the allure of quick money and fame, still gave it a thumbs down. Must say, the watery synth blurb in the verses is actually pretty awesome-in the chorus, though, barf.

And he was right about Berry's drums - they sped up and slowed down in the album version.

@yougotitjerky I was as excited as you to finally hear this!!!!

Really the only thing that detracts is the synth stuff - the arrangement is very strong and you can hear the vocalists better. But then they weren't into that "commercial" sound so you can see why the band passed. Still, this would sound fine as a single by any other band (esp if they had a keyboardist). Stephen Hague is a great producer who helped bring us masterpieces of the 80s with New Order, OMD, Pet Shop Boys, etc....he just wasn't a good fit for R.E,M.

It's not so bad after all !!! Thanks for sharing !

Nao vou mentir, eu adorei essa versão

This is the superior version

I'm a huge fan of the IRS years, and hearing this in context, I love it. Read historically, it'll open your mind.

that first stab of shrill reedy synth makes me wince, but other wise not bad. I would have liked this if I heard it on WLIR in 1983. I way prefer Murmur as it is, but like the kinda throb this has, and Stipes voice has a bit of a shimmer I like here also. That bit of gallop in the drums is nice, more accented here. Woops, there is more synth I don't like. Someone must have been doing a little blow during the mix. "Hey, this will sound great at 430AM!" Must listen more. Did Hague do any other songs?

Wow. This is fascinating. I was looking for the Eliot Mazer demos and found this instead. They could have just as easily gone this route and been like The Church or similar.

I knew Steve at the time but have never heard this. Pretty interesting.

Some very interesting ideas, but glad they took a more organic approach for the released version.

I love this version, asides from the keyboard, but I'm sure it'll grow on me

very cool mix. I'd love to see your entire collection. how many bootleg CDs/cassettes/albums do you have?

I kinda like this better than the final version, minus the weird synths.

Very nice. At first listen I actually thought it was as good as the Murmur version - it definitely isn't, but it's much, much better than the band think. I suppose it's very hard to murder such a great song, even with an attempt at commercialised production (I don't think it sounds THAT commercial to be honest). And, they definitely did the right thing persevering with their artistic ideals - Murmur is probably my favourite album of all time. Thanks for the uploads by the way, REMchout.

Flock Of Seagulls time. No wonder Buck locked up the tapes in a vault somewhere.

👍

Right after this they ran very quickly to Mitch Easter! 😆

Wow. I'd read about this many years ago, but never realised that it had surfaced. I thought that R.E.M. would have destroyed all evidence, given how much they hated it. My opinion? It's actually not as bad as I imagined. The chorus effect that was added to Peter's guitar makes it sound weirdly like early Cure. It's not exactly caked in synths like it was rumoured, but they're still incongruous-sounding and they're unnecessary embellishments that add nothing to the song. The Murmur version - like the rest of that record - sounds weirdly timeless, but the production on this version carbon-dates it to the early-1980s. I think the band were so horrified with it because Hague took something that they made and messed with it to such a degree that they didn't think it even sounded like them. Kind of like if you went to the barber, told him what you wanted, but he then gave you a stupid haircut that didn't suit you for no other reason than because he thought it was fashionable. Ironically, they band became born-again synthesiser enthusiasts 15 years later, but the two records that made the greatest use of them (Reveal and Around the Sun) are by far their two weakest.

Hague no doubt had gotten used to working with Stephen Morris (Joy Division, New Order) on drums, and Morris is/was about as perfect a human metronome as there has ever been. Fortunately, REM rejected this altogether.

Oh my goodness I'm so glad they didn't go with Hague...thank you Mitch Easter, thank you, so much...🙄😮😌😉

Interesting. Mike Mills sings the answering vocal. I think Bill Berry sings it on Murmur if I'm not mistaken.

Interesting... The first time I heard Radio Free Europe I thought it reminded me of The Fixx in a strange sort of way. THis sounds like Stephen Hague was trying to push them in that direction.

The lyrics on this version seem a lot clearer than the Murmur version. On that one it sounds like he's saying "Catford"!

Once again, where is this taken from??? Name of bootleg perhaps??? Ooops, said a bad word...thanks!

It's alternate universe R.E.M.

First time I heard this, I thought Hauge was trying to make a hit single that sounded like "99 Red Balloons". Also, circa mid 80's this track surfaced on an ATL college radio show #wrek #personalitycrisis and, for whatever reason, Pete got really upset with the host of that show

Horrifying, I can see why they hated it o_O But thanks for the find, as always you rock REMchout!

You better be careful Chout, I read somewhere that Peter would kick the persons arse who let this recording see the light of day, lol.

He was made to play with a metronome...to keep the beat even, like a machine (many excellent drummers have a hard time doing this, as it's pretty human to fluctuate tempos and hits here and there...), and was told to hit his drums really hard. When you are used to your style, it's probably a bit frustrating to immediately alter your technique while being under the gun of being in a recording studio.

Hot take: I actually like this more post-punk-y version better than the one on Murmur; the only problem I have are the cheesy synth hits (which could've easily been replaced with high-register bass guitar hits, or just left out altogether).

Who ELSE found their way here from Lurie's Great Book BEGIN THE BEGIN?? :) Awesome read folks! #nosynthlovinband

Mitch Easter was SO the right producer for this band in the early days!

The vocals are higher in the mix.

This is one of my favourite tunes from a pretty flawless album. I actually quite like this version but it's a bit too polished in that kind of processed 80's way..........It hasn't aged well.

@WickedWings07 HEHE...The diehards have been dying to hear this...Mr. Buck, please don't kick my ass!!!

LOL, "Hague airbrushed our sound." Thank the universe that Auto-Tune didn't exist yet, or it could have been worse!

I don't see what's all the fuzz about the synths - there's barely a tiny melody line that complements the chorus. And added as such, the synths definitely gave this song an extra flavour resulting in a nice early melodic experiment of theirs... I would have liked REM either way - love their official work and how they defined their own sound, but this was just as promising.

too weird & unreal. thanks

*march COULD be DARKER*

What's wrong with Bill's drumming?

really like it but I like cheesy 80s pop/rock!

Stephen Hague almost ruined REM. This is like from an parallel universe.

it's kind of like if Robert smith was the guitar player for REM. I kind of like it to be honest. Although it doesn't suit REM in the slightest

Buck's guitar sounds better on this version. And I would pay real money for a Murmur produced by someone like Conny Plank, Martin Rushent, Daniel Miller or even Hague himself, it could sound like a folk and velvety version of Eyeless in Gaza.

This version sounds like the Church.

I like the song. I don't like the lugubrious fatalism. Been forty years, none of this ever made a difference.

@SteveOwens54321 Google :)

This is a great song in and of itself. The way they fleshed it out is organic. The added synth-organ sucks, plain and simple! So over the top, it makes me want to puke!Not really, but , you get my point.

I'm glad this didn't wind up on the album. REM would have faded into obscurity.

Producer mismatch. REM were never going to be Pet Shop Boys at least in 1981. In Hague's i like the drum sound very much. I don't like the vocal sound (way too much reverb), and the background keyboards melt this song into a monotonic mess, to the point that chord changes become jarring after the hypnotising G-Em-D progression. And Berry DID need a metronome - his beat is fast in the "did we miss anything" part. I haven't heard any versions of this song prior to this one, but i think it possible Buck got the little "d-e-f#" riff from this version.

I love New Order and all those brit bands from minimal-synth-pos-punkof 4AD, Rough Trade, Situation two (the fast Set, Gary Numan, etc). But REM is\was in another vibe. That synth in the middle of the song is simply awful. The worst side of the 80s

the vocals do not sound good at all because of the over-double-tracking. The production specifically doesn't match Stipe's vocal sound and style. Everything else but the keyboards sounds pretty good.