Exclusive Music, Playlists, Merch & More

“Reckoning was a chance to turn up the volume, tear up the rule book, and instead capture R.E.M.’s on-stage mojo.” – Don Dixon (producer, Reckoning)

My relationship with Reckoning began roughly 23 years ago via a dubbed cassette copy I recorded off my friend’s older brother’s vinyl LP. The flip side of the tape was Lifes Rich Pageant.I still have the cassette, the sleeve’s paper yellowed and stained, with the track titles written in the hand of a 13 year old boy. The red ink is a bit smeared and runs in places, and the cassette itself sounds a bit warped and thin. It is seasoned in the way only an album that has been played hundreds of times, in hundreds of places, can be. To say that my “getting into” R.E.M. at the beginning of my teenage years was revelatory would be an understatement. This was, after all, the late eighties in suburban Atlanta. Prior to this my musical diet primarily consisted of my parents record collection, whatever was on the radio, some Guns ‘n Roses (Appetite), Beastie Boys (Licensed To Ill), Run DMC (King of Rock) and select bargain bin finds like Zeppelin, and other ‘classic rock’ staples. Looking back, IRS Records-era R.E.M. was an absolute gateway band. It wasn’t long before my tastes expanded and I ditched the music of my parent’s generation (well, for a few years anyway) quickly getting my hands on everything I could find by the Pixies, Smiths, Devo, the Cure, and Violent Femmes. The majority of this purloined by said friend’s older brother’s collection and dubbed to cassette.

I know, I know, we're supposed to like David Lee Roth Van Halen better, and I do, but...

That does not mean that Sammy's version of the band was no good...

So Dave thinks he's a star, a veritable one man band, covering classics and promoting them with extravaganzas on the breakout MTV. And then...

Word comes down that the Van Halens have hooked up with Sammy Hagar. Who they famously met through their exotic car mechanic, back when musicians were rich, before everybody found out the money was in tech and players invested in startups instead of iron.

And I'm a Sammy fan. Probably because of Montrose, but even more the Capitol years, with Carter...do you know the second solo, which started off with "Red," but had the hilarious "The Pits" on side two? I bought it, I became a fan.

But then...

John Kalodner recognizes Sammy's greatness, signs him to Geffen and he starts having hits. The debut had two, "There's Only One Way To Rock" and..."I'll Fall In Love Again"! Produced by Keith Olsen, I won't say you hear the Fleetwood Mac influence, but there's a melody, a subtlety, sonic extras that were absent previously.