The band's "REM40" campaign is showing signs of being in motion. The Twitter account today marked the 40th anniversary of the band signing with I.R.S. Records, re-publishing a press release hyping the forthcoming "Chronic Town" EP. Since we know a 40th anniversary release has been in the works for some time, figured now's a good time as any to start talking what to expect? Our personal wishlists? Hoping an announcement isn't far behind.
How about adding this January 1982 set from Maxwell's: 1. Ages Of You 2. Catapult 3. Shaking Through 4. Gardening At Night 5. 9-9 6. Wind Out 7. Laughing 8. Romance 9. Sitting Still 10. Pretty Persuasion 11. That Beat 12. 1,000,000 13. Wolves, Lower 14. Radio Free Europe Encore with Richard Barone (of the Bongos) 15. King Of The Road 16. There She Goes Again 17. Hunting 18. Stumble
I’d buy it! “Hunting” and “That Beat” have never been officially released, as far as I know, and I’m not sure the band even recorded either of them in a studio.
Great setlist. I wonder how the vocals sound. I love the Chronic Town EP. Will be keeping an eye on this thread for release updates!
A deluxe anniversary reissue of Chronic Town featuring studio and live material was prepared, but vetoed by one of the band members.
The reason there was no “new” material on the recent New Adventures reissue likewise isn’t that there was no “new” material to be found.
That definitely checks out. There’s sessions we know about that weren’t included. I just don’t understand why they were all willing to sign off on the copious OOT/AFTP/Monster bonus material but not NAIHF or Chronic Town
Stipe has publicly remarked about how he felt uncomfortable with his demo vocals being put out there for public consumption on the Out of Time and Automatic twenty-fifth anniversary reissues, both of which featured a lot of demos with vocals. The last two twenty-fifth anniversary reissues coincidentally haven’t featured any, or at least not many, new outtakes with vocals. There was even more stuff from Monster available than what was included on the fairly generous five-CD deluxe box of that album. There are different camps in the band and different stuff gets vetoed for different reasons. The Chronic Town box was vetoed for a different reason than the New Adventures outtakes.
> "The Chronic Town box was vetoed for a different reason than the New Adventures outtakes." Can you divulge reason?
If any of them are even a little self-conscious about the old days, a Chronic Town box probably feels like publishing naked baby photos. I get it from that perspective, but it still bums me out to know it almost got released
I’m all in for an SDE of Chronic Town. It’s one of my favorite EPs and a terrific intro to one of the best bands ever. I’m not sure what else there is as far as studio outs or demos so yes there would have to be a live show attached to it. Although Dead Letter Office is the only place you can listen to the tracks from Chronic Town digitally, I wish it had a separate release.
There's been that annoying and stupid thing of not including covers on the live CDs with deluxe editions so goodbye "King Of The Road" and "There She Goes Again." Plus to keep consistent they'd have to brick wall the hell out it. Sorry I'm so negative but their I.R.S. reissues have sucked immensely given what they could have been. Thankfully they played on the radio for many of their '84 dates and a few other years too.
3 October 1981 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC basic tracks recorded: 1,000,000 / Ages Of You / Gardening At Night / Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) / Stumble / Shaking Through / White Tornado / 9-9 (attempted but abandoned) notes: Recording Session for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. Apart from '9-9' all tracks are available in some format or another. '1,000,000' and 'Stumble' made it onto the Chronic Town EP. 'Ages Of You' and 'Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars)' can be found on the LP bootlegs Chronic Murmurings and Really Exciting Music and the CD bootleg The Essential Demos Vol. 1. 'Gardening At Night' was released on Eponymous. 'Shaking Through' is available on Essential Demos Vol. 1, and 'White Tornado' is on the LP bootleg Really Exciting Music. 4 October 1981 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks recorded: Jazz Lips (This Is Jazz (Blow Nose)) notes: Recording Session for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. This song was referred to by name in the packaging for the 'Dead Letter Office' compilation, but wasn't included in the final tracklisting. 27 January 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks recorded: Wolves, Lower (fast version) notes: Recording Session for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. This faster version of 'Wolves, Lower' can be found on the CD bootlegs Essential Demos Vol. 1 and Early Movements, and the LP bootleg Chronic Murmurings. 28 January 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks recorded: Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) / Catapult (attempted but abandoned) notes: Recording Session for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. This version of 'Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars)' can be found on 'Chronic Town'. 1 February 1982 - Studio C, RCA Studios, New York, NY first session/reel: Romance / Wolves, Lower / Laughing second session/reel: Shaking Through / Catapult / Stumble / Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) notes: Demo Recording Session for RCA with producer Kurt Munkacsi. Main backing tracks recorded with some harmony/backing vocals. All of the above can be found on the CD bootleg Early Movements, and on the LP bootlegs Pretty Pictures and Chronic Murmurings. 'Romance', 'Laughing' and 'Catapult' can be found on Essential Demos Vol. 1. 2 February 1982 - Studio C, RCA Studios, New York, NY tracks recorded: Romance (backing vocals, extra guitar) / Wolves, Lower (lead/backing vocals, extra guitar) / Laughing (lead vocals, extra guitar) / Shaking Through (extra guitar) / Catapult (lead/backing vocals, extra guitar) / Stumble (lead vocals) / Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) (extra guitars, twelve-string guitar) notes: Demo Recording Session for RCA with producer Kurt Munkacsi. Extra parts added to the backing tracks recorded 1 February 1982. 8 February 1982 - Studio C, RCA Studios, New York, NY tracks recorded: Laughing (piano, extra snare) / Shaking Through (lead/harmony vocals, two piano tracks, twelve string guitar) / Catapult (extra guitar/drums, tom-tom) / Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) (lead/backing vocals, extra snare) notes: Demo Recording Session for RCA with producer Kurt Munkacsi. Further parts are recorded to add to the demo tracks recorded 1 & 2 February 1982. 14-15 February 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC notes: Further mixing and overdubs recorded for 'Chronic Town', with Mitch Easter. 22 February 1982 - Studio C, RCA Studios, New York, NY tracks recorded: Romance (lead vocals) / Stumble (twelve-string guitar) notes: Demo Recording Session for RCA with producer Kurt Munkacsi. Further parts are recorded to add to the demo tracks recorded 1, 2 & 8 February 1982. 2 March 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks remixed: Wolves, Lower notes: Mitch Easter remixes the fast version of 'Wolves, Lower' recorded at the Drive-In on 27 January 1982. 4 March 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks remixed: 1,000,000 / Stumble notes: Mitch Easter remixes versions of '1,000,000' and 'Stumble', which were recorded on 3 October 1981. 1 June 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks recorded: Wolves, Lower (slower version) / Gardening At Night (vocal track and acoustic guitar added to October 1981 version) notes: Additional Recording Sessions for 'Chronic Town', with producer Mitch Easter. 2 June 1982 - Drive-In Studio, Winston-Salem, NC tracks mixed: Wolves, Lower notes: Mitch Easter mixes 'Wolves, Lower' from 1 June 1982.
After doing deluxe editions of 9 albums with basically no b sides,rarities etc they then change their mind completely and make the added content for the 10th album nothing but b sides,rarities etc. I was hoping for a physical version resembling the digital compilations of that material but that seems unlikely now. Also the press release at the announcement of last years Radio Free Europe single which was nearly a year ago they said it would be the first of many,exciting releases coming out last year to celebrate the anniversary of the band.They may want to check their definitions of many and exciting.
I'm no proponent of bootlegs or the release of leaked/stolen material, but the entire first chapter of the band being kicked down the memory hole in terms of commercial release for 40+ years now really puts the entire concept of official releases to the test. Their law-abiding fans are still not allowed to hear R.E.M. be a fiercely energetic bar band, and their connections to good ol' college quad rock and roll is still treated as something to be suppressed lest the secret that they didn't emerge fully-formed be discovered. This from a band that used to put snippets of studio outtakes on their albums! Bizarre.
Not accounting for key songs later released on Murmur, those sessions don't seem to include a plethora of extra material? So then it makes me wonder if concert recordings would have been the main focus or attraction in the making of the expanded set? Hmm. Chronic Town is 'perfect' as is so I wonder if releasing possibly inferior mixes, underdubs, or takes, would really be such a great idea in this case. Hearing some basic tracks of the 5 songs, remixed from the recorded tracks, would be interesting but perhaps not essential. I don't know. I wonder if its possible if some of this readied set for Chronic Town would instead see the light of day on another expanded edition of Murmur. Oh well. So it goes. Thanks for posting all that information and more. Hmm.
