R.E.M. - The Hi-Res Album Collection (1982-2014) [Official Digital Download]

R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first single, "Radio Free Europe", was released in 1981, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the early '80s, R.E.M. brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Throughout the '80s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-'80s to scores of alternative pop groups in the '90s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.



Chronic Town is American rock band R.E.M.'s debut EP originally released in 1982. After having some success with their single "Radio Free Europe", R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt believed the group was ready to produce a longer release. They settled on releasing an EP, it was this 5 track record that paved the way for the band's signature sound combining Peter Buck's arpeggiating guitar lines with Michael Stipe's enigmatic, murmuring vocals.

Chronic Town established R.E.M.'s signature sound immediately, expanding the jangling riffs of their debut single, "Radio Free Europe," into a full-fledged modus operandi. Recorded at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios, the EP has an endearingly ragged sound – it's a garage band playing jangling pop songs, and while the music is melodic and memorable, it has an underground mentality that keeps it from sounding conventional. Not only does the lo-fi production keep the music underground, but so do Peter Buck's ringing arpeggios, Michael Stipe's incomprehensible mumbled vocals, and the band's amateurish enthusiasm. They might not be accomplished players, but already their songwriting is distinctive, with "Gardening at Night," "Wolves, Lower," and "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" ranking as early classics.

Tracklist:

01 - Wolves, Lower
02 - Gardening At Night
03 - Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
04 - 1,000,000
05 - Stumble

Recorded October 1981 and June 1982 at Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Produced by Mitch Easter and R.E.M. Mastering engineer: Greg Calbi.




Murmur is a milestone recording and the band’s first full-length debut. It would set the precedence for all alternative rock albums that followed. Embraced by audiences, this enchanting listen established R.E.M.’s signature sound, one that has remained timeless throughout their careers. Murmur, one of Alternative Press’ “10 Essential ‘80s Albums” includes the hit single, “Radio Free Europe.” R.E.M.’s debut would receive praise from various publications including Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Blender, Paste, Uncut and Q.

Leaving behind the garagey jangle pop of their first recordings, R.E.M. developed a strangely subdued variation of their trademark sound for their full-length debut album, Murmur. Heightening the enigmatic tendencies of Chronic Town by de-emphasizing the backbeat and accentuating the ambience of the ringing guitar, R.E.M. created a distinctive sound for the album – one that sounds eerily timeless. Even though it is firmly in the tradition of American folk-rock, post-punk, and garage rock, Murmur sounds as if it appeared out of nowhere, without any ties to the past, present, or future. Part of the distinctiveness lies in the atmospheric production, which exudes a detached sense of mystery, but it also comes from the remarkably accomplished songwriting. The songs on Murmur sound as if they've existed forever, yet they subvert folk and pop conventions by taking unpredictable twists and turns into melodic, evocative territory, whether it's the measured riffs of "Pilgrimage," the melancholic "Talk About the Passion," or the winding guitars and pianos of "Perfect Circle." R.E.M. may have made albums as good as Murmur in the years following its release, but they never again made anything that sounded quite like it.

Tracklist:

01 - Radio Free Europe
02 - Pilgrimage
03 - Laughing
04 - Talk About The Passion
05 - Moral Kiosk
06 - Perfect Circle
07 - Catapult
08 - Sitting Still
09 - 9-9
10 - Shaking Through
11 - We Walk
12 - West Of The Fields




Reckoning is R.E.M.’s critically-acclaimed follow-up to Murmur. The band continued to push their musical boundaries, producing a collection that is filled with quick rhythms, catchy choruses and stellar guitar-work. With Reckoning, producers Dixon and Easter, set out to capture the energy of R.E.M.’s live sound. Standouts include the classics “Harborcoat,” “Pretty Persuasion,” “So. Central Rain” and “7 Chinese Bros.” An absolute masterpiece that is essential for any music lover’s library.

R.E.M. abandoned the enigmatic post-punk experiments of Murmur for their second album, Reckoning, returning to their garage pop origins instead. Opening with the ringing "Harborcoat," Reckoning runs through a set of ten jangle pop songs that are different not only in sound but in style from the debut. Where Murmur was enigmatic in its sound, Reckoning is clear, which doesn't necessarily mean that the songs themselves are straightforward. Michael Stipe continues to sing powerful melodies without enunciating, but the band has a propulsive kick that makes the music vital and alive. And, if anything, the songwriting is more direct and memorable than before – the interweaving melodies of "Pretty Persuasion" and the country rocker "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" are as affecting as the melancholic dirges of "Camera" and "Time After Time," while the ringing minor-key arpeggios of "So. Central Rain," the pulsating riffs of "7 Chinese Bros.," and the hard-rocking rhythms of "Little America" make the songs into classics. On the surface, Reckoning may not be as distinctive as Murmur, but the record's influence on underground American rock in the '80s was just as strong.

Tracklist:

01 - Harborcoat
02 - 7 Chinese Bros.
03 - So. Central Rain
04 - Pretty Pursuasion
05 - Time After Time (Annelise)
06 - Second Guessing
07 - Letter Never Sent
08 - Camera
09 - (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
10 - Little America [Original Album Version]




Fables of the Reconstruction is R.E.M.'s third studio album and was released on June 10, 1985. It was recorded in February - March 1985 at Livingston Studios in London, UK and was produced by Joe Boyd. The album marked a distinct stylistic departure from the band's previous two records, with producer Joe Boyd being best known for his work with modern English folk musicians such as Fairport Convention and Nick Drake. Fables of the Reconstruction explores the mythology and landscape of the American South, and the album can be considered a concept record by R.E.M. standards.

For their third album, R.E.M. made a conscious effort to break from the traditions Murmur and Reckoning established, electing to record in England with legendary folk-rock producer Joe Boyd. For a variety of reasons, the sessions were difficult, and that tension is apparent throughout Fables of the Reconstruction. A dark, moody rumination on American folk – not only the music, but its myths – Fables is creepy, rustic psychedelic folk, filled with eerie sonic textures. Some light breaks through occasionally, such as the ridiculous collegiate blue-eyed soul of "Can't Get There From Here," but the group's trademark ringing guitars and cryptic lyrics have grown sinister, giving even sing-alongs like "Driver 8" an ominous edge. Fables is more inconsistent than its two predecessors, but the group does demonstrate considerable musical growth, particularly in how perfectly it evokes the strange rural legends of the South. And many of the songs on the record – including "Feeling Gravitys Pull," "Maps and Legends," "Green Grow the Rushes," "Auctioneer (Another Engine)," and the previously mentioned pair – rank among the group's best.

Tracklist:

01 - Feeling Gravitys Pull
02 - Maps And Legends
03 - Driver 8
04 - Life And How To Live It
05 - Old Man Kensey
06 - Can't Get There From Here
07 - Green Grow The Rushes
08 - Kohoutek
09 - Auctioneer (Another Engine)
10 - Good Advices
11 - Wendell Gee




R.E.M.’s fourth studio recording, Lifes Rich Pageant, is a pivotal release that saw the band evolving into bona fide rock legends. It was their first album to achieve Gold status and is included on Slant Magazine’s “100 Best Albums of the Eighties.” Teaming up with producer Don Gehman, the album is a politically-conscious work that addresses social progress and environmental issues. Lifes Rich Pageant includes the hit singles “Fall On Me” and “Superman.” The album is a hard-rock affair that is both inspirational and uplifting.

Fables of the Reconstruction was intentionally murky, and Lifes Rich Pageant was constructed as its polar opposite. Teaming with producer Don Gehman, who previously worked with John Mellencamp, R.E.M. developed their most forceful record to date. Where previous records kept the rhythm section in the background, Pageant emphasizes the beat, and the band turns in its hardest rockers to date, including the anthemic "Begin the Begin" and the punky "Just a Touch." But the cleaner production also benefits the ballads and the mid-tempo janglers, particularly since it helps reveal Michael Stipe's growing political obsessions, especially on the environmental anthems "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga." The group hasn't entirely left myths behind – witness the Civil War ballad "Swan Swan H" – but the band sound more contemporary both musically and lyrically than they did on either Fables or Murmur, which helps give the record an extra kick. And even with excellent songs like "I Believe," "Flowers of Guatemala," "These Days," and "What if We Give It Away," it's ironic that the most memorable moment comes from the garage rock obscurity "Superman," which is sung with glee by Mike Mills.

Tracklist:

01 - Begin the Begin
02 - These Days
03 - Fall On Me
04 - Cuyahoga
05 - Hyena
06 - Underneath the Bunker
07 - The Flowers of Guatemala
08 - I Believe
09 - What If We Give It Away?
10 - Just a Touch
11 - Swan Swan H
12 - Superman




Document is R.E.M.’s commercial breakthrough and one of their most politically charged albums. Co-produced by Scott Litt, the Platinum-selling work is a profound statement highlighted by its powerful rhythms, stellar guitar riffs and masterful melodies. The recording displays the band’s evolution in growth and maturity. Document would reach the Top Ten on the Billboard 200 and spent 33 weeks on the charts. It includes the hits “Finest Worksong,” “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and the band’s first bona fide hit, “The One I Love.” The album is included on Rolling Stone’s “100 Best Albums of the Eighties”.

R.E.M. began to move toward mainstream record production on Lifes Rich Pageant, but they didn't have a commercial breakthrough until the following year's Document. Ironically, Document is a stranger, more varied album than its predecessor, but co-producer Scott Litt – who would go on to produce every R.E.M. album in the following decade – is a better conduit for the band than Don Gehman, giving the group a clean sound without sacrificing their enigmatic tendencies. "Finest Worksong," the stream-of-conscious rant "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," and the surprise Top Ten single "The One I Love" all crackle with muscular rhythms and guitar riffs, but the real surprise is how political the mid-tempo jangle pop of "Welcome to the Occupation," "Disturbance at the Heron House," and "King of Birds" is. Where Lifes Rich Pageant sounded a bit like a party record, Document is a fiery statement, and its memorable melodies and riffs are made all the more indelible by its righteous anger. In other words, it's not only a commercial breakthrough, but a creative breakthrough as well, offering evidence of R.E.M.'s growing depth and maturity, and helping usher in the P.C. era in the process.

Tracklist:

01 - Finest Worksong
02 - Welcome to the Occupation
03 - Exhuming McCarthy
04 - Disturbance At the Heron House
05 - Strange
06 - It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
07 - The One I Love
08 - Fireplace
09 - Lightnin' Hopkins
10 - King of Birds
11 - Oddfellows Local 151




With their 1988 major label debut, R.E.M. stepped forward from the shadows of underground rock into the mainstream limelight. Green saw the band reinventing their sound, incorporating mandolin, accordion and keyboards into some of their greatest songs and biggest hits: “Orange Crush,” “Stand,” “Pop Song 89,” and “Get Up.” The record went double-platinum and stands among the band’s most enduring and critically acclaimed albums.

As far as major-label debuts by underground bands go, Green is fairly uncompromising. While it displays a more powerful guitar sound on "Get Up," "Turn You Inside Out," and "Orange Crush," it also takes more detours than Document, whether it's the bizarrely affecting contemporary folk of "The Wrong Child" and "You Are the Everything," the bubblegum of "Stand" and "Pop Song 89," or the introspection of the lovely "Hairshirt" and "World Leader Pretend." But instead of presenting a portrait of a band with a rich, eclectic vision, Green is incoherent. While its best moments are flat-out great, the band has bitten off more than it can chew; many of the songs sound like failed experiments, and its arena-ready production now sounds slightly dated. Nevertheless, half of the record is brilliant, and it certainly indicates that R.E.M. are continuing to diversify their sound.

Tracklist:

01 - Pop Song 89
02 - Get Up
03 - You Are the Everything
04 - Stand
05 - World Leader Pretend
06 - Wrong Child
07 - Orange Crush
08 - Turn You Inside Out
09 - Hairshirt
10 - I Remember California
11 - Untitled

To celebrate the landmark album s 25-year anniversary, Rhino presents a two-disc deluxe edition that features the remastered original album accompanied by a disc of live performances taken from the penultimate show of R.E.M. s 130-date Green World Tour. All 21 songs were recorded in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 10, 1989, just miles from where Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry had their very first recording session at Mitch Easter s Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem. The concert captures a fiery set from R.E.M., which had been forged in the crucible of nearly one year of shows. R.E.M. performed most of Green ("Get Up, " "World Leader Pretend" and "You Are The Everything"), while mixing in early favorites like "Fall On Me, " "Finest Worksong, " "The One I Love" and "Perfect Circle" from the band s 1983 debut Murmur. The show also finds the band testing out new songs ("Low" and "Belong") that would appear two years later on Green s follow-up, Out Of Time.

Tracklist:

CD1 #01 - Pop Song 89
CD1 #02 - Get Up
CD1 #03 - You Are The Everything
CD1 #04 - Stand
CD1 #05 - World Leader Pretend
CD1 #06 - The Wrong Child
CD1 #07 - Orange Crush
CD1 #08 - Turn You Inside-Out
CD1 #09 - Hairshirt
CD1 #10 - I Remember California
CD1 #11 - Untitled

CD2 #01 - Stand (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #02 - The One I Love (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #03 - So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) [Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989]
CD2 #04 - Turn You Inside-Out (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #05 - Belong (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #06 - Exhuming McCarthy (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #07 - Good Advices (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #08 - Orange Crush (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #09 - Feeling Gravitys Pull (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #10 - Cuyahoga (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #11 - These Days (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #12 - World Leader Pretend (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #13 - I Believe (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #14 - I Remember California (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #15 - Get Up (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #16 - Life And How To Live It (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #17 - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #18 - Pop Song 89 (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #19 - Fall On Me (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #20 - You Are The Everything (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #21 - Begin The Begin (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #22 - King Of Birds (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #23 - Strange (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #24 - Low (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #25 - Finest Worksong (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)
CD2 #26 - Perfect Circle (Live - Greensboro Coliseum, NC 11/10/1989)




R.E.M.’s 4x platinum, 3x Grammy-winning album Out of Time transformed the band from underground cult heroes to full-fledged rock stars. Blending elements of folk, rock, and classical music, the album reached #1 in both the US and UK and became one of the definitive albums of the 1990s.

The supporting tour for Green exhausted R.E.M., and they spent nearly a year recuperating before reconvening for Out of Time. Where previous R.E.M. records captured a stripped-down, live sound, Out of Time was lush with sonic detail, featuring string sections, keyboards, mandolins, and cameos from everyone from rapper KRS-One to the B-52's' Kate Pierson. The scope of R.E.M.'s ambitions is impressive, and the record sounds impeccable, its sunny array of pop and folk songs as refreshing as Michael Stipe's decision to abandon explicitly political lyrics for the personal. Several R.E.M. classics – including Mike Mills' Byrds-y "Near Wild Heaven," the haunting "Country Feedback," and the masterpiece "Losing My Religion" – are present, but the album is more notable for its production than its songwriting. Most of the songs are slight but pleasant, or are awkward experiments like "Radio Song"'s stab at funk, and while this sounds fine as the record is playing, there's not much substantive material to make the record worth returning to.

Tracklist:

01 - Radio Song
02 - Losing My Religion
03 - Low
04 - Near Wild Heaven
05 - Endgame
06 - Shiny Happy People
07 - Belong
08 - Half A World Away
09 - Texarkana
10 - Country Feedback
11 - Me In Honey




Automatic For The People is the haunting masterpiece from alternative rock legends, R.E.M. Layered with lush strings and glistening keyboards, the band’s eighth studio recording is a musical exploration on life’s mortality. Listed as one of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” the record peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Top 200 and yielded six hit singles including “Drive,” “Ignoreland,” “Everybody Hurts,” “Man On The Moon” and “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite.” The multi-platinum album earned worldwide success and remains one of the band’s most celebrated releases.

Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death, and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments, and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status. It is a reflective album, with frank discussions on mortality, but it is not a despairing record – "Nightswimming," "Everybody Hurts," and "Sweetness Follows" have a comforting melancholy, while "Find the River" provides a positive sense of closure. R.E.M. have never been as emotionally direct as they are on Automatic for the People, nor have they ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre.

Tracklist:

01 - Drive
02 - Try Not To Breathe
03 - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
04 - Everybody Hurts
05 - New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
06 - Sweetness Follows
07 - Monty Got A Raw Deal
08 - Ignoreland
09 - Star Me Kitten
10 - Man On The Moon
11 - Nightswimming
12 - Find The River




After putting Athens, GA, on the musical map in the early '80s, R.E.M. went on to become one of the world's biggest bands. Their 9th album Monster, debuted at #1 and yielded one of the band’s biggest singles: "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" The record features the band at its most rocking and aggressive, with guitarist Peter Buck delivering some of his most memorable riffs and fills over some of the band’s most enduring songs.

Monster is indeed R.E.M.'s long-promised "rock" album; it just doesn't rock in the way one might expect. Instead of R.E.M.'s trademark anthemic bashers, Monster offers a set of murky sludge, powered by the heavily distorted and delayed guitar of Peter Buck. Michael Stipe's vocals have been pushed to the back of the mix, along with Bill Berry's drums, which accentuates the muscular pulse of Buck's chords. From the androgynous sleaze of "Crush With Eyeliner" to the subtle, Eastern-tinged menace of "You," most of the album sounds dense, dirty, and grimy, which makes the punchy guitars of "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and the warped soul of "Tongue" all the more distinctive. Monster doesn't have the conceptual unity or consistently brilliant songwriting of Automatic for the People, but it does offer a wide range of sonic textures that have never been heard on an R.E.M. album before.

Tracklist:

01 - What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
02 - Crush with Eyeliner
03 - King of Comedy
04 - I Don't Sleep, I Dream
05 - Star 69
06 - Strange Currencies
07 - Tongue
08 - Bang and Blame
09 - I Took Your Name
10 - Let Me In
11 - Circus Envy
12 - You

Recorded during and immediately following R.E.M.'s disaster-prone Monster tour, New Adventures in Hi-Fi feels like it was recorded on the road. Not only are all of Michael Stipe's lyrics on the album about moving or travel, the sound is ragged and varied, pieced together from tapes recorded at shows, soundtracks, and studios, giving it a loose, careening charm. New Adventures has the same spirit of much of R.E.M.'s IRS records, but don't take the title of New Adventures in Hi-Fi lightly – R.E.M. tries different textures and new studio tricks. "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" opens the album with a rolling, vaguely hip-hop drum beat and slowly adds on jazzily dissonant piano. "E-Bow the Letter" starts out as an updated version of "Country Feedback," then it turns in on itself with layers of moaning guitar effects and Patti Smith's haunting backing vocals. Clocking in at seven minutes, "Leave" is the longest track R.E.M. has yet recorded and it's one of their strangest and best – an affecting minor-key dirge with a howling, siren-like feedback loop that runs throughout the entire song. Elsewhere, R.E.M. tread standard territory: "Electrolite" is a lovely piano-based ballad, "Departure" rocks like a Document outtake, the chiming opening riff of "Bittersweet Me" sounds like it was written in 1985, "New Test Leper" is gently winding folk-rock, and "The Wake-Up Bomb" and "Undertow" rock like the Monster outtakes they are. New Adventures in Hi-Fi may run a little too long – it clocks in at 62 minutes, by far the longest album R.E.M. has ever released – yet in its multifaceted sprawl, they wound up with one of their best records of the '90s.

Tracklist:

01 - How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us
02 - The Wake-Up Bomb
03 - New Test Leper
04 - Undertow
05 - E-Bow The Letter
06 - Leave
07 - Departure
08 - Bittersweet Me
09 - Be Mine
10 - Binky the Doormat
11 - Zither
12 - So Fast, So Numb
13 - Low Desert
14 - Electrolite

Note: Official "HDTracks" version was done from this edition




R.E.M. returned with Up in 1998, the much anticipated first recording by the band's new three-man lineup. Musically ambitious, melodically rich and filled with provocative new textures and sounds, Up marked the beginning of a bold new creative era for one of the world's finest bands. It was certified gold by the RIAA in 1999.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi functioned as the starting point for Up, R.E.M.'s first album without drummer Bill Berry and their first that truly repudiates the legacy of jangle pop. Up is dominated by keyboards, muted percussion, buried guitars, and moody melodies – only "Daysleeper" finds the group in familiar sonic territory. What's striking about the album is that it doesn't sound like a dramatic departure; even without the ringing guitars, it sounds like R.E.M., albeit R.E.M. trying to be adventurous and hip. To a certain extent, that's a good thing, since it proves that the band has developed a signature sound more elastic than many would have predicted, and that they are skilled enough to successfully take risks with their sound. Above all else, Up is an accomplished and varied record, the work of smart record-makers. It is also the work of veteran musicians – for the first time, R.E.M. sound like they're playing catch-up, trying to keep their hip status intact. Occasionally, they pull it all together, as on the ominous opener "Airportman" and the darkly seductive "Suspicion," but they stretch their capacities to the breaking point nearly as often, as on the Pet Sounds pastiche "At My Most Beautiful," which comes off as second-rate High Llamas. Most of Up, however, falls in between those two extremes, winding up as self-consciously moody, down-tempo songs that fail to make an impression because they either don't take enough chances or they fail to speak directly – they are simply well-crafted tracks that are easy to admire, but hard to love. Ultimately, that is what distinguishes this new incarnation of R.E.M.

Tracklist:

01 - Airportman
02 - Lotus
03 - Suspicion
04 - Hope
05 - At My Most Beautiful
06 - The Apologist
07 - Sad Professor
08 - You're In The Air
09 - Walk Unafraid
10 - Why Not Smile
11 - Daysleeper
12 - Diminished
13 - Parakeet
14 - Falls To Climb

Please note: Tracks "5 & 11" is 24bit/192kHz.




R.E.M.’s 12th studio album, released in 2001, was a staggering return to the group’s original sound. Peter Buck’s chiming guitars swirl around some of Michael Stipe’s most emotive singing on singles like “Imitation of Life,” “All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)” and “I’ll Take the Rain.” At the same time, the album showcased the group at their most experimental and texturally adventurous, coloring their songs with reversed guitar, subtle electronics and vintage keyboard sounds. The album peaked at #1 in the UK and hit #6 on the Billboard 200.

Give 'em credit for realizing that Up was a dead end, an avenue paved with forced experimentalism that signified nothing. Dock them points for harboring the desire to wander down that path, choosing to indulge in fuzzy details that add texture but not character. These two impulses balance each other as R.E.M. delivered Reveal, an album that feels like their stab at All That You Can't Leave Behind – a conscious return to their classic sound. Since they're fiercely protective of their anointed position of underground pioneers, they're not content to sit still and spin their wheels, turning out a record that apes Automatic for the People. So, they return to the lushness of Out of Time, melding it with the song-oriented Automatic – and undercutting it all with the sober sonic trickery of Up and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Because Reveal is song-oriented, it initially plays more accessibly than Up, but these songs are cloaked in the same kind of deliberate studiocraft that made Up feel stilted. It's not as overt, of course – the drum machines and loops have taken a backseat – but it's still possible to hear the clipped Pro Tools effects on "Summer Turns to High," for instance, and most tracks are a little fussy in their aural coloring. This prevents Reveal from being an album to wholeheartedly embrace, even if it attempts to be as rich as Automatic and even if it succeeds on occasion. There are some very good pop songs here – windswept and sun-bleached beauties like "Imitation of Life," the dusty "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)," and "Beachball," the one time their Beach Boys obsessions click. Still, none of these moments shine as brilliantly as the best moments of New Adventures and ultimately they're weighed down by the album's aesthetic, which emphasizes sonic construction over the songs. This is mood music, not music that creates a mood, which becomes evident as the record stagnates during its second half. Reveal winds up sharing the same strangely distant feel of Up, even if it's a tighter, better record. When R.E.M. weren't trying as hard, when they weren't meticulously crafting their sound, they made records that were as moody, evocative, and bracing as Reveal intends to be. Here, it's just all a bit too studied to ring true.

Tracklist:

01 - Lifting
02 - I've Been High
03 - All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)
04 - She Just Wants to Be
05 - Disappear
06 - Saturn Return
07 - Beat a Drum
08 - Imitation of Life
09 - Summer Turns to High
10 - Chorus and the Ring
11 - I'll Take the Rain
12 - Beachball

Ten years after the commercial zenith of Monster and seven years after the departure of linchpin Bill Berry, R.E.M. have never seemed as directionless as they do on their 13th album, Around the Sun. To a certain extent, R.E.M. have seemed unsure ever since Monster – sporadically brilliant as it is, New Adventures in Hi-Fi was an effort to clear the decks and redefine the band in the wake of its breakthrough to superstar status. It pointed in a few directions the group could follow, but Berry left the band before they could follow those paths, leaving Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe at a bit of a loss on what to do next. They initially responded with the overly experimental, overly serious Up in 1998, which gave way to the classicist Reveal in 2001. While these two records were of a piece – heavy on keyboards, containing far more deliberate performances than anything recorded with Berry – they had different characters and feels, which was not unusual for R.E.M.; since the careening, ragged Reckoning followed the hazy, dreamlike Murmur, each album had an element of a surprise, offering something different than what came before. That's not the case with Around the Sun, which refines and polishes the blueprint of Reveal to the point that Q-Tip's rap on "The Outsiders" fades into the background as if it were another overdubbed keyboard or acoustic guitar. This is as slow and ballad-heavy as Automatic for the People, but where that album was filled with raw emotion and weird detours, Around the Sun is tasteful and streamlined, from its fussy production to its somber songwriting. Automatic may have been obsessed with death and regret, but it was empathetic and comforting. In contrast, Around the Sun offers no weighty themes – it dabbles in politics and relationships, but the lyrics never seem to mesh with the music – and it's emotionally removed, keeping listeners at a considerable distance. Here, R.E.M. write songs like craftsmen without distinction – the songs are sturdily constructed but bland, lacking musical and lyrical hooks. The band sound as if they were going through the motions, hoping to save the tunes in the mix. With their layered, low-key production, R.E.M. seem hell-bent on leaving behind anything that could be construed as their signature sound, so keyboards and drum machines are pushed to the front as Buck's guitar strums instead of jangles and Mills' background vocals are buried in the mix under Stipe's double-tracked harmonies. Change is all well and good, but this doesn't feel like organic change; it feels like the end result of too many hours in the studio tinkering with synthesizers and overdubs, resulting in a record as studiously serious as Wilco but as radio-friendly as U2. By straddling these two extremes, R.E.M. wind up with a record that's neither fish nor fowl – all the quirks in the production have been sanded down and glossed over so it can slip right onto adult alternative rock airwaves, but it's too insular, too overthought to appeal to either a wide audience or R.E.M.'s dwindling cult following.

Tracklist:

01 - Leaving New York
02 - Electron Blue
03 - The Outsiders (feat. Q-Tip)
04 - Make It All Okay
05 - Final Straw
06 - I Wanted to Be Wrong
07 - Wanderlust
08 - Boy in the Well
09 - Aftermath
10 - High Speed Train
11 - The Worst Joke Ever
12 - The Ascent of Man
13 - Around the Sun

For years, R.E.M. promised that their next album would be a rocker, an oath to fans that perhaps made sense during the early '90s, when they were exploring the pastoral fields of Out of Time and the gloomy folk of Automatic for the People, but in the years after Bill Berry's 1997 departure, the desire of longtime fans for the group to rock again was merely a code word for the wish that R.E.M. would sound like a band again. Apart from a few fleeting moments – "The Great Beyond," their "Man in the Moon" re-write for the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic, Man in the Moon; "Bad Day," a mid-'80s outtake revived for a greatest-hits album – R.E.M. not only didn't sound like a band, but they seemed at odds with themselves and their very strengths, culminating in the amorphous, mummified Around the Sun, a record so polished and overworked it didn't sound a bit like R.E.M., not even like the art-pop outfit the band turned into after Berry's retirement. It was a situation so dire that the band recognized the need for corrective steering, so they stripped themselves down to bare-bones for 2008's Accelerate.

Tracklist:

01 - Living Well Is The Best Revenge
02 - Man-Sized Wreath
03 - Supernatural Superserious
04 - Hollow Man
05 - Houston
06 - Accelerate
07 - Until The Day Is Done
08 - Mr. Richards
09 - Sing For The Submarine
10 - Horse To Water
11 - I'm Gonna DJ




For Collapse Into Now, R.E.M. re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the band's acclaimed previous album Accelerate. Lee is also noted for his work on albums by U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, and indie stalwarts Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party. R.E.M. and Lee recorded the album in New Orleans at the Music Shed and in Berlin at the famed Hansa Studios, where several legendary albums, including David Bowie's Heroes, U2's Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, were made. Additional recording and mixing was done at the venerable Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

Righting themselves via their long-awaited return to rock Accelerate, R.E.M. regrouped and rediscovered their core strengths as a band, strengths they build upon on its 2011 sequel, Collapse into Now. Cautiously moving forward from Accelerate’s Life's Rich Pageant blueprint, R.E.M. steer themselves toward the pastoral, acoustic moments of Out of Time and Automatic for the People without quite leaving behind the tight, punchy rockers that fueled Accelerate’s race to the end zone. This broadening of the palette is as deliberate as Accelerate’s reduction of R.E.M. to ringing Rickenbackers, and while it occasionally feels as if the bandmembers sifted through their past to find appropriate blueprints for new songs, there is merit to their madness. R.E.M. embrace their past to the extent that they disdain the modern, reveling in their comfortable middle age even if they sometimes slip into geezerhood, with Michael Stipe spending more than one song wondering about kids these days. He’s not griping; he’s merely accepting his age, which is kind of what R.E.M. do as a band here, too. Over a tight 41 minutes, they touch upon all the hallmarks from when Bill Berry still anchored the band, perhaps easing up on the jangle but devoting plenty of space to rough-hewn acoustics and mandolin, rushing rock & roll, and wide-open, eerie mood pieces that sound like rewrites of “E-Bow the Letter.” Any slight element of recycling is offset by craft so skilled it almost seems casual. This may impart a lack of urgency to Collapse into Now but it also means that it delivers R.E.M. sounding like R.E.M., something that has been in short supply since the departure of Berry.

Tracklist:

01 - Discoverer
02 - All The Best
03 - Uberlin
04 - Oh My Heart
05 - It Happened Today
06 - Every Day Is Yours To Win
07 - Mine Smell Like Honey
08 - Walk It Back
09 - Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter
10 - That Someone Is You
11 - Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I
12 - Blue




R.E.M. delivered two knockout performances on MTV’s Grammy and Emmy award-winning “Unplugged” series, the first in 1991 and the other in 2001, giving them the unique distinction of being the only band to headline the series twice. Surprisingly, audio from both shows has never been available, making these some of the most demanded music in the R.E.M. vaults. The collection includes every performance from the original broadcasts, as well as 11 songs that never aired, from the storied collection of the band’s MTV appearances.

Originally issued in May of 2014 as half of Unplugged 1991 & 2001: The Complete Sessions, this live recording is of R.E.M.'s 1991 show only. Following their exhaustive touring schedule for 1988's Green, the band decided they wouldn't tour for 1991's Out of Time, which proved to be the commercial breakout album they'd long been leading up to. As "Losing My Religion" slowly rose to number one, the band only turned in a handful of shows, the most visible of which was their debut set of MTV Unplugged; the show was also at the height of its power and influence. The material from Out of Time was well-suited to the show's acoustic format and their versions of tracks like "Half a World Away," "Radio Song," and of course, "Losing My Religion" sound strong and relevant. There are a handful of tunes from Life's Rich Pageant ("Fall on Me" and the already acoustic "Swan Swan Hummingbird") and Document ("Disturbance at the Heron House" and the immortal "It's the End of the World as We Know It [And I Feel Fine]") alongside the more recent material from Green as well as one early chestnut ("A Perfect Circle") from their 1983 debut Murmur. This earthy, Baroque folk sound came to define the R.E.M. of this era with 1992's Automatic for the People following a similar bent. Unlike their second Unplugged appearance in 2001, the 1991 show features the original lineup with Bill Berry on congas along with Peter Buck's guitar and mandolin playing, Mike Mills' acoustic bass and tenor vocals, and Michael Stipe's rich, thoughtful drawl. Auxiliary cohort Peter Holsapple further colors the set on additional guitar and organ. When the band eventually returned to touring several years later, they had essentially gone electric again making this show a unique snapshot of a very specific time in R.E.M.'s career when they finally came into the world's greater consciousness in a surprisingly organic way.

Originally issued in May of 2014 as half of Unplugged 1991 & 2001: The Complete Sessions, this live recording is of R.E.M.'s 2001 show only. The only band ever to headline MTV's acoustic concert series twice, the Georgians return here without drummer Bill Berry for a tight 16-song set that dips generously into their nearly two-decade career. Aided by auxiliary sidemen Ken Stringfellow and Scott McCaughey along with touring drummer Joey Waronker on percussion, the band is in fine form and nimbly makes its way through early fare like "So. Central Rain" and "Cuyahoga" and into mid-period songs like their unlikely number one smash "Losing My Religion" and the beautiful 1992 ballad "Find the River." Of course, much focus is placed on what were their more current songs at the time, like Up's "At My Most Beautiful" and Reveal's "Imitation of Life," both of which dovetail fairly nicely with their more successful earlier work within this acoustic context. In the greater span of R.E.M.'s career, 2001 isn't necessarily considered their greatest period, but this outing sounds confident and strong, revealing a band that still had plenty more to offer.

Tracklist:

01 - Half A World Away
02 - Disturbance At The Heron House
03 - Radio Song
04 - Low
05 - Perfect Circle
06 - Fall On Me
07 - Belong
08 - Love is All Around
09 - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
10 - Losing My Religion
11 - Pop Song 89
12 - Endgame
13 - Fretless
14 - Swan Swan H
15 - Rotary 11
16 - Get Up
17 - World Leader Pretend
18 - All The Way To Reno
19 - Electrolite
20 - At My Most Beautiful
21 - Daysleeper
22 - So. Central Rain
23 - Losing My Religion (2)
24 - Country Feedback
25 - Cuyahoga
26 - Imitation Of Life
27 - Find The River
28 - The One I Love
29 - Disappear
30 - Beat A Drum
31 - I've Been High
32 - I'll Take The Rain
33 - Sad Professor

Recorded April 10, 1991 in Chelsea Studios and May 21, 2001 in TRL Studio at MTV Studios, both in New York City, New York.


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