The Antipodean

The "special edition" reissues of CDs trend continues! From Pause & Play and Chromewaves, comes news that 6 R.E.M. albums from "Green" on up to "Reveal" are getting the two-disc treatment courtesy of Rhino.

On the one hand, I'm psyched, as I'd love to see 2-disc editions of "Automatic for the People" and "Out of Time" and see what kind of bonus tracks they dig up, especially if this is as good as the recent Elvis Costello re-issues program by Rhino. On the other hand, part of me HATES buying albums again and again and it really seems like this "special edition" trend is growing. On the other (third?) hand, nobody's forcing me to buy it I guess. But it'll be hard to keep the completist geek in me from wanting to buy all 6 (except maybe "Up," R.E.M.'s worst album IMHO -- and I like "Reveal" a lot).

pezsoup

What are the six albums?

By my count there are 7 albums from Green to Reveal...

Green
Out of Time
Automatic For the People
Monster
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Up
Reveal

slop101

You got me excited - I thought it was gonna be for REM's older '80s albums.

I would LOVE a remastered 2-cd set of Life's Rich Pageant.

tofu

I'll definitely get the 2 disc version of Green and Out of time. Of course, I don't have those ones yet tho.

The Antipodean

You know, looking at the "Pause and Play" info there (not sure how reliable it is), "Automatic" is actually not included among that list -- which kinda blows as it's probably R.E.M.'s best album of the bunch. Imagine more info will be released over time though.

auto

This is great news!

I can't wait!

Hopefully they are similiar to the Costello reissues.

mike1978

I think the first 4 albums are about 234304495894785 times better than the ones that followed, so this is quite disappointing.*

* New Adventures in Hi-Fi is okay.

The Cow

Agree, that number is pretty close. I doubt I will dip on this one.

cungar

I really can't see REM having the kind of unreleased output that Costello has. They pretty much shot their wad on early stuff with Dead Letter Office and that was pretty weak except for a few gems (Ages of You, Bandwagon). I can't see them having a whole lot of appeal. Outtakes from UP! I'll pass.

auto

Actually, R.E.M. have dozens of B-Sides that could be included from the Warner Bros. years. Dead Letter Office only represented the I.R.S. albums and these reissues do not concern that era. On top of that, demos, remixes and live recordings could fill out those sets nicely.

Maybe you would pass on outtakes from Up but I'm sure plenty of diehard fans (myself included) would gladly pay $13.99 for some nice two disc sets.

That being said, I would wholeheartedly prefer a nice box set of unreleased or rare material.

Either way, they've got my $$.

Rhino

FrozenMetalHead

That'd be a definate BUY price for me...I know it's early and lil info is out...but Amazon's current $25 price simply sucks.

So what major studio owns the IRS albums? Is that studio currently putting out 2-disc remasters series (ala the Deluxe Editions series)?

milo bloom

I recently realized I never got Dead Letter Office on CD, is it still in print? I'd prefer the IRS Vintage version if possible.

thanks

FrozenMetalHead

The domestic version's definately still available. The IRS Vintage should be available for a reasonable price, but it may take some searching. Probably have better luck online.

I never snagged the IRS Vintage versions...Were they remasters? or just international releases with bonus tracks put on?

Nabalab

I believe I'm in the minority that likes "newer" REM (Green and after) better than "older" REM, so I'm happy about this personally.

But as far as double-dipping, I will have to see what's on the bonus tracks before I make my decision.

The new album is growing on me, especially hearing a number of the songs live about a week ago.

And I'm proud to call myself a "Monster" fan!

cdollaz

Are we sure these are not going to be the Dualdisc sets, with each disc being the same album, 1 cd and 1 DVD-A?

dick_grayson

I prefer the older stuff from Reckoning and Dead Letter Office, so I'll pass.

milo bloom

I think they were just extra tracks. I was looking at the ones I do have last night and that seems to be the case.

DJLinus

I know how you feel, but at least these albums are years old. I hate the ever-increasing practice of re-releasing albums a few months to a year after they were first released (the current Entertainment Weekly has a write-up lamenting this).

I stopped buying R.E.M.'s stuff after Automatic for the People, so maybe this'll persuade me to pick up their latter-period music.

Zodo

They need to just release a box set of all of these b-sides disc for those of us who have already paid good money to buy all their cd's already.

DVD Josh

A la the Cure's Join the Dots. I agree with you totally.

fallfan

There seems to be a lot of talk on the Murmurs fan forum that this is the case, unfortunately. Not that DVD-A releases would be a horrible thing, but it seems like everytime Peter Buck is interviewed prior to a new album coming out he mentions how they demo 50-60 songs per album. I'm sure theres quite a few instrumentals in that bunch, but I'd love an extra disc of non b-side rarities.

auto

This is too bad. I was looking forward to these.

I would still double dip if these were the early albums but otherwise I would pass.

Lamont

I could not agree more. Half of Document is ok...the IRS stuff is great...WB stuff, eh.

Jazzbutcher

I came across my Chronic Town EP in the attic this week and gave it a spin on the old turntable.

It was like being in a time machine. That being said, I will not double dip on these, except maybe Automatic and ZOut of Time.

to the poster who requested LRP.

The Antipodean

Hmmm, well it seems this might not be what it sounded like to start.

According to Rolling Stone, these will be CD/DVD sets, and don't sound like they'll be loaded with extra tracks, but rather video extras. I'm probably just going to pick up one of them.