R.E.M.
115 articles
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R.E.M.: Rock Reconstruction Getting There
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1985
FABLES OF YEARS spent on the road. Decadent tales of groupies and drugs and arrogance and misspent lives near the top. You won't find any ...
R.E.M.: Automatic For The People
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 1992
MILLIONS HAVE BEEN waiting on the new R.E.M. album, and almost none of them is barmy. ...
Audio interviews
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Mike Mills (1992)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 August 1992
Messrs. Buck and Mills talks about making Automatic For The People: how they write; the optimal length of an album; Stipe as a lyricist, and the album track-by-track. They also reflect on their 10-year career; the REM organisation; parallels with U2; how they measure success; touring... or not; working with the Troggs, and Robyn Hitchcock; Peter Holsapple's relationship with the band; being out of place at the Grammies, and their Desert Island Discs.
File format: mp3; file size: 83mb, interview length: 1h 26' 26" sound quality: ****
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Mike Mills (1992)
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1992
The two multi-instrumentalists talk about recording Automatic for the People; writing songs for Stipe; not working with big-name musicians; favourite Beatles albums; confronting Tipper Gore; their musical heroes, and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; file size: 57mb, interview length: 1h 02' 18" sound quality: ***½
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1996
The R.E.M. guitarist talks about the songs and artists that meant most to him, from Moon River to the Ramones and beyond.
File format: mp3; file size: 29.9mb, interview length: 32' 37" sound quality: ***
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, December 2003
Gavin Martin quizzes the R.E.M. front-man on movies, religion, his gayness, Bill Berry's departure and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; file size: 48.7mb, interview length: 50' 45" sound quality: ****
List of articles in the library
Review by Gary Sperrazza!, New York Rocker, September 1981
It's... it's... it's Gary Sperrazza! ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 November 1982
A TOWN IS CHRONIC because we are fated to revisit it time and time again. A chronic town might also be a carny town, jammed ...
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, January 1983
THIS EP IS SO ARCANE that I had to play it six times in a row to get a handle on it – and even ...
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, June 1983
R.E.M. HAS the most hypnotizing sound of any group playing rock today. That sounds like hyperbole, I know, but it's true. Thanks to their densely ...
Report and Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 1 June 1983
PALE FROM lack of sleep combined with a terrific hangover, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is perched on a barstool, swallowing aspirin. The employees of the ...
Review by John Morthland, Creem, July 1983
I KEEP HEARING about the rise of the new garage bands, who draw their inspiration from the original punks, those brash, anarchistic, one-hit bands so ...
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Record, July 1983
BOSTON — Talk about rock 'n' roll bands — their public images and their music — and certain adjectives jump up and wave their hands ...
Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios
Interview by Roy Trakin, Musician, August 1983
Producing the Post-Punk Pantheon ...
Interview by Jon Young, Trouser Press, August 1983
ARE YOU tired of constantly being told how this or that band is the new greatest wonder? Of course you are. Unfortunately, superlatives have a ...
R.E.M.: Subverting Small Town Boredom
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, August 1983
ALMOST EVERYBODY else at the Athens, Georgia, Holiday Inn was there for some convention being held at the University of Georgia — seminars in bovine ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
R.E.M., LIKE THE B-52's, come from Athens, Georgia, but it must be the other side of town. Where the Bs are flamboyant, emblazoning their borrowed ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, November 1983
IF YE Smythes are anything to go by, rock's set-piece quartet of voice and guitar, bass and drums is making a decided comeback. Witnessing R.E.M.'s ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
TAKE R.E.M. POP VITAMINS FOR A HEALTHY MUSICAL DIET! ...
Interview by Blake Gumprecht, Alternative America, Winter 1983
FROM INGLORIOUS beginnings playing a birthday party, R.E.M.'s independent first single, 'Radio Free Europe', was Robert Palmer's choice as 10th best single of 1981 in ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
REM's presence as a genuine group staunchly committed to rock's most crucial attitude, this being the simple desire to play a little honest loud-hearted music ...
American Paradise Regained: R.E.M.’s Reckoning
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
WHEN I HEAR word plangent I reach for my applause button. Which is why Reckoning and its predecessor, last years Murmur, confirm R.E.M. as ...
R.E.M.: Four Guys Bucking For The Sainthood
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
"THERE'S TWO SCHOOLS OF MUSICIANS" argues guitarist Peter Buck. "One just digs playing and is in it for fun, the other wants to get rich ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 5 May 1984
HOT NIGHTS IN GEORGIA ...
Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Record, June 1984
R.E.M.'s Hip American Dream ...
R.E.M. and Friends: Capitol Theater, Passaic, N.J.
Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 30 June 1984
IT WAS A folk-rocker's fantasy: R.E.M. was videotaping a concert for MTV broadcast in July, for a new series called Influences. And so the IRS Records ...
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 1984
R.E.M. DIDN'T go courting success but the acclaimed Georgia quartet is learning to deal with it. ...
Live Review by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 15 December 1984
PIONEER SPIRITS ...
R.E.M.: Tales from the Black Mountain
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 27 April 1985
In which a rapt Helen FitzGerald hears stories from the background of MICHAEL STIPE of R.E.M., the Georgia boys who brought mystery back to music. ...
R.E.M.: Fables Of The Reconstruction/Reconstruction Of The Fables (MCA)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985
SOPPY FABLES ...
R.E.M., U2, The Ramones etal: Milton Keynes Bowl, Buckinghamshire
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 29 June 1985
THE LONGEST DAY ...
R.E.M.: On the Southern Frontier
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 July 1985
Adam Sweeting meets one of the bands pioneering the new American rock ...
R.E.M.: Fables Of The Reconstruction (I.R.S.)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, September 1985
ATHENS REVISITED ...
Golden Palominos: The Ritz, New York NY
Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Creem, May 1986
Horse Platitudes ...
R.E.M.: Lifes Rich Pageant (IRS)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 August 1986
THE ONLY BAND that mutters, as an American commentator wittily described REM, are back, and not before time, too. The past few years have seen ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 16 August 1986
NOW WHERE did this panther spring from? Seems like only a minute ago I was hacking my way through a jungle of ugly pop fever ...
R.E.M.: Deconstructing The Fables
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 18 October 1986
Their sight fully restored with the release of their latest creation, R.E.M. are looking straight ahead once more and enjoying Lifes Rich Pageant. EDWIN POUNCEY ...
R.E.M.: Notes From Near Normal Town
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, November 1986
ATHENS, GEORGIA, is a fascinating place. They've got a bakery called "Bakery" on Lumpkin, just south of Broad Street. There's a lot of farmers in ...
R.E.M.: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 19 September 1987
A LAPSED believer is born again. ...
REM and 10,000 Maniacs: Rulers Of The Campus
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 25 September 1987
College rock is alive and gigging in the US. MARK COOPER hears why from Michael Stipe of REM and Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs ...
Berets from Mars! R.E.M. Eat The Document
Interview by Karen Schlosberg, Creem, December 1987
IT'S DANGEROUS to write about R.E.M. without falling into the Larger-Than-Life trap. Perhaps it's because so few "Rock Stars" (and that term is used loosely) ...
Miles Copeland: "Make sure you write what a nasty S.O.B. I am"
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, March 1988
STING'S BRING On the Night was a big-budget home movie by a talented musician convinced that every breath he takes deserves to be documented. It ...
Memphis: A Legendary Music City is on the Rebound
Report by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 8 September 1988
Keith Richards, U2 and R.E.M. have recorded there, but the city's future hinges on its home-grown talent ...
R.E.M.: Green (Warner Bros.) ***½
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 12 January 1989
The greening of R.E.M. ...
Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 21 May 1989
"I COULD TURN YOU inside out! But I choose not to!" R.E.M.s singer Michael Stipe, back arched, is bellowing into a megaphone. Five songs into ...
R.E.M.: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 June 1989
The green line over Georgia Adam Sweeting at Hammersmith Odeon on the homespun charms of R.E.M. ...
Michael Stipe: What Are Friends For
Interview by Mark Kemp, Option, September 1990
2 SODA FOUNTAIN glasses full of strawberry-banana smoothie, a plate of nachos covered with melted cheese, a gorgeous Manhattan spring afternoon: what more could a ...
Drummers: Adventurers in the Skins Trade
Overview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 March 1991
Dim, manic, noisy, and rarely women. But drummers aren't all troll-like, says Adam Sweeting ...
Interview by Tony Fletcher, The Observer, 10 March 1991
Tony Fletcher finds REM have turned from tub-thumping to thoughts of love. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1991
DESPITE MICHAEL STIPE'S production activities with the likes of the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies and the recent emergence of Tourfilm, from 1989's Green tour, R.E.M. have ...
Review by Max Bell, Vox, April 1991
THEY MUST have scratched their heads at Burbank when R.E.M. delivered Out Of Time. Far from capitalising on the success of Green, where America's most ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, April 1991
If R.E.M. appear to walk the street of Athens, Georgia, as if they owned the place well, that's because they do. Now, as the ...
Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar School, September 1991
EMERGING FROM the haze of haircut bands that dominated the early '80s was R.E.M., a mysterious and gripping outfit hailing from the college town of ...
Review by Mat Snow, Q, November 1991
FOR FIVE YEARS R.E.M. steadily grew on Miles Copeland's IRS label until they took the Warner Bros shilling and were thus promoted to the big ...
R.E.M.: Touched! Chuffed! Etc!
Report and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, January 1992
For R.E.M., 1991 will always be the year in which a low-key LP brought them high-profile success, the year a tiny tour won them a ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, October 1992
Ten years down the road, Athens, Georgia's little-band-that-could takes stock of fame, fortune and folk music. * ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Q, October 1992
THE LAST RESORT is a civilised eatery offering a wide selection of imported beers in what must surely be – after Asbury Park, New Jersey ...
R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (Warner Bros.) ***½
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 4 October 1992
Playfulness, Profundity From a Rusticated R.E.M. ...
R.E.M.: Automatic For The People
Review by David Cavanagh, Select, November 1992
REM'S LATEST COLLECTION is a miraculously stripped-to-the-bone celebration of the sorrowful. It's here. It's ready. And it makes Out Of Time look like a collection of ...
R.E.M.: Automatic For The People (Warner Bros 9362-45055-2)
Review by Keith Cameron, Vox, November 1992
DESPITE THE crew's best attempts to shift course, the good ship R.E.M. appears to be heading inescapably towards that dreamland reserved for rock bands with ...
R.E.M.: Lyrically Dark, Musically Oddball
Interview by Mat Snow, Q, November 1992
R.E.M.'s new album, Automatic For The People, is released this month. Here, the group dissect the LP, track by track...hang on, Automatic For The People? ...
R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (Warner Bros.)
Review by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 5 November 1992
Andy, Can You Hear Me? R.E.M. speaks of the dead ...
The Men on the Harvest Moon: Young-Buck!
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, April 1993
OUTSIDE THE sky was dark and the rain was falling hard. But the pre-concert scene congealing toward the rear of Universal Studios stage 12 was ...
Rapid Eye Monster: R.E.M. and the Reconstruction of New Fables
Interview by Gerrie Lim, BigO, September 1994
IF ROCK LYRICS ARE the fragile touchstones of this post-punk era, one concisely summarizes all the aspirations and angst of these psychically shifting times. ...
Rock Criticism and the Rocker: A Conversation With Peter Buck
Book Excerpt by Anthony DeCurtis, Rocking My Life Away, September 1994
IN SEPTEMBER 1994 R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck kindly took time off from promoting R.E.M.'s Monster to do an interview with Anthony DeCurtis, who wanted an ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 1994
YOU CAN JUST HEAR THE PHONE CALL. "The album's ready. Hire the Irish castle!" When the world's biggest bands have something to promote, money's no ...
Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994
When U2 swapped their Romany drifter look for the PVC strides and comedy shades, there was, after the initial confusion, a general hum of approbation. ...
Conference Call: Mike Mills talks to 10cc!
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1995
ON THE receiving end of the PRs pointy red fingernail: Sylvie Simmons... ...
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, May 1995
Fabled and reconstructed, the all-new, star-spangled, itinerary-wielding R.E.M. were poised to take on the world. Then Bill Berry took ill. ADRIAN DEEVOY caught the doomed ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 July 1995
Invalids losing their direction ...
R.E.M.: Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
Live Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, August 1995
"I DON'T FIND R.E.M. transcendent." complained a friend who had just witnessed one of the band's first U.S. performances in five years. Well, fair enough, ...
R.E.M./Radiohead: Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford, CT
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 21 October 1995
SCARY 'MONSTERS' AND SUPER 'CREEPS' ...
Radiohead: Shiny Unhappy People*
Report and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 28 October 1995
*Only kidding. RADIOHEAD aren't solely responsible for the Culture Of Despair. But they are prone to the occasional spot of miserabilist navel-gazing, and they have ...
Report by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1996
Last year's Monster tour almost killed them. They have dispensed with the services of their "fifth" member. They now live time zones apart. On the ...
R.E.M.: New Adventures In Hi-Fi (Warner Bros.) **** ½
Review by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 19 September 1996
New Day Rising: R.E.M. make a great new album in the face of disaster ...
R.E.M.: New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Review by David Cavanagh, Select, October 1996
GEORGIAN SPLENDOUR. After Monster's lumpy grunge, REM's tenth studio LP find them back on song. ...
Mark Eitzel with Peter Buck: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Rolling Stone, 1997
AN OLD CHAPEL in Islington, North London, Prime Minister Tony Blairs old hood. The stage is set up around the pulpit; the audience sits in ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 1997
'People liked it when I was drunk and fell over onstage all the time. That was very popular in Europe for a while' ...
Tibetan Freedom Concert: People Have The Power
Report by Paul Lester, Uncut, August 1998
MONDAY, JUNE 15, THE CAPITOL BUILDINGIt is 10 days before Bill Clinton's historic first presidential visit to China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. An ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 1998
R.E.M., MORE than just about any band you can name, were whacked mightily with the Great Rock Dilemma stick: how does an intelligent, introspective, underground ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 1998
Unexpected return to peak form after 1996's disappointing New Adventures In Hi-Fi ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 January 1999
Last week, Pete Waterman the Brian Clough of pop, stoutly defended his new teenpop cadets Steps and his revitalised label PWL. Here Doctor Waterman offers ...
Nigel Godrich: How to Become a Hot Producer In Eight Easy Steps
Interview by Marc Weingarten, Rolling Stone, 21 January 1999
Beck, Radiohead and Pavement producer Nigel Godrich explains ...
R.E.M.: Pavilhao Atlantico,Lisbon
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 June 1999
Will R.E.M. prove to be worthy headliners at Worthy Farm? Barbara Ellen sees the band in Portugal ...
REM: Man On The Moon — Soundtrack
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
R.E.M.'s ASSOCIATION with Andy Kaufman goes back to 1993 when they penned 'Man On The Moon', Stipe's achingly personal tribute to the late comedian. ...
Byrd Brains: Matthew Sweet and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck Ponder Country-rock’s Finest
Review and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Revolver, Spring 2000
The Byrds:(Untitled/Unissued)ByrdmaniaxFarther AlongLive at the Fillmore West February 1969 ...
Review by David Cavanagh, Q, April 2001
MONKEYS ROAM THE WHITE HOUSE and sheep fry in the British countryside, so let us phrase our words carefully. The 12th R.E.M. album will not ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 May 2001
THIS IS THE SECOND ALBUM REM have made since the departure of drummer Bill Berry, and (on disc at least) it finds them settling into ...
Review by The Rev. Al Friston, Rock's Backpages, December 2001
REVEAL IS, well, a revelation — especially for anyone as weary of the bogus and posturing Michael Stipe as this writer is. After the bands ...
Book Excerpt by Tony Fletcher, Omnibus Books, 2002
An extract from Remarks Remade: The Story of R.E.M. by Tony Fletcher, first published by Omnibus Press in 1989 and in three subsequent editions, the ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, June 2002
It's 1984, and America's in thrall to Valley Girls, Day-Glo socks and 'Billie Jean'. Is this really the best time for a jangly Georgia folk-rock ...
R.E.M. at Brixton Academy, London
Report by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 June 2003
SEEING A BAND OF REM's stature at a medium-sized venue such as Brixton Academy is undeniably some sort of occasion. The suspicion nags, though, that ...
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2003
World tour, new album, R.E.M. are fit, happy and working again. Twenty years ago it was all so different. ...
R.E.M.: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, September 2003
Athens, Georgia's finest back at the Academy, facing the future, taking on all-comers ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2003
As R.E.M release their first compilation — and 32nd single — for Warners, David Stubbs asks America's greatest band to talk about their 20 greatest ...
R.E.M.: In Time. The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2004
THIS COLLECTION spans the past 15 years and features songs covered extensively in the November 2003 issue of Uncut. There are few surprises, not least ...
R.E.M.: St James's Church, Piccadilly, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 2004
R.E.M. ARE NO strangers to the "secret" show, having pioneered them back in the 80s, when they would appear at places such as the tiny ...
Michael Stipe: He's Singing A New Tune
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, Sunday Telegraph (Australia), 3 October 2004
EVEN MICHAEL STIPE'S eyes are smiling. The R.E.M. lead singer's face beams the delighted glow of an individual who has uncovered what feels like their ...
R.E.M: The Warner Years 1988-2004
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, March 2005
The best — and worst — of major label era R.E.M., repackaged in deluxe, 2-CD sets that include DVDs full of surround sound mixes, live ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, September 2006
THE ROOF TERRACE alone in Michael Stipe's ultra-deluxe Knightsbridge hotel suite is bigger than most luxury flats. Boasting its own sauna and dining hall, the ...
Mitch Easter Interviewed: Perfect Sound Forever - The Director's Cut
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, unpublished, Summer 2007
NOTE: This is a vastly expanded version of the Mitch Easter feature, "Perfect Sound Forever," written for issue #76, of Magnet, published summer 2007. Interviews ...
Review by David Buckley, MOJO, April 2008
A reinvigorated R.E.M. address the disappointment of Around The Sun by stripping back and shifting up a gear. David Buckley feels the burn. ...
Shiny, Happy People: R.E.M.: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 10 April 2008
The veteran rock band have regained the passion that made them great ...
R.E.M.: International Arena, Cardiff ***
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 27 August 2008
MICHAEL STIPE and his fellow Athenians were on punchy, persuasive form in Cardiff on Monday. In between rowdy tracks from the latest R.E.M. album, Accelerate, ...
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, February 2009
A deathless debut, and the first indie-rock album, says Andrew Mueller ...
R.E.M.: Murmur (Deluxe Edition)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2009
IT CAME FROM the South, as all the best American myths do: a strange collection of songs by a group named after a stage in ...
R.E.M.: A Great Southern Voice Revisited
Retrospective by Robot A. Hull, Rock's Backpages, August 2009
THE MUSIC OF R.E.M. speaks in many voices, swirling voices searching for a new language through the words of mythology, literature, and Holy Scripture. Like ...
Nirvana: Live At Reading and other live albums
Review by James Medd, The Word, December 2009
They keep saying this is the golden age of live music. So why don't live albums sound as good as they used to? Nirvana: Live At ...
R.E.M.: Fables of the Reconstruction
Retrospective by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 July 2010
THE MYTH SURROUNDING THE ALBUM is itself being reconstructed as Peter Buck dispels the myth that the band members didn't like it. ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, January 2011
Greatness restored – a fine 2008 performance from a reinvigorated band ...
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, April 2011
AS RECENTLY as three years ago, it looked like REM were done. The first certifiably poor record of their astonishing career, 2004's Around The Sun ...
R.E.M.: "There's a good chance we'll never play together again"
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 10 November 2011
After 31 years, R.E.M. are no more, after an amicable, mutual decision to split. But is it really what they all wanted? And is it ...
Michael Stipe's Last Stand — An R.E.M. Exit Interview
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 12 November 2011
Michael Stipe wants to retire. Trouble is, Jude Rogers won't let him until he's been suitably debriefed… ...
REM: Document — The 25th-anniversary reissue, accompanied by a contemporaneous live show
Review and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, November 2012
"I DON'T KNOW if I have any commercial expectations for this one at all," Peter Buck told Rolling Stone prior to the release of REM's ...
see also Tired Pony
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