http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/articl...deluxe-edition

R.E.M. Announce Murmur Deluxe Edition

R.E.M. will give their classic debut album, 1983's Murmur, a deluxe reissue on November 25. The package, which comes courtesy of I.R.S./UMe, features two discs and liner notes with essays from producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, as well as several former I.R.S. executives.

The first disc of the reissue is a remastered version of the original album, and the second contains a previously unreleased concert the band played at Larry's Hideaway in Toronto just a few months after the album came out. In addition to Murmur songs, that set includes tunes from the Chronic Town EP, a Velvet Underground cover, and early versions of songs from 1984's Reckoning and 1986's Lifes Rich Pageant (both arguably even better than the mighty Murmur).


Murmur (Deluxe Edition):

Disc 1:

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

Disc 2 (Live at Larry's Hideaway):

01 Laughing
02 Pilgrimage
03 There She Goes Again
04 7 Chinese Brothers
05 Talk About the Passion
06 Sitting Still
07 Harborcoat
08 Catapult
09 Gardening at Night
10 9-9
11 Just a Touch
12 West of the Fields
13 Radio Free Europe
14 We Walk
15 1,000,000
16 Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)

For some reason I'm excited by this, even though I already have the MFSL version of Murmur and there's little chance this one will sound better. I'll definitely get a copy, though, in hopes that the rest of the IRS catalog will follow.

Me too although I'd much rather see the albums released ala the Elvis Costello or Pavement reissues that are reasonable priced. These Deluxe Editions generally have a $29.99 MSRP.

I will actually be seeing R.E.M. at voodoo fest next weekend. I have been a fan for years but this will be my first chance to see them live.

Sorry but an old live recording is not enough for me to buy this. Deluxe sets should have studio rarities not some old cleaned up bootleg tape. One of the top 5 albums of the 80's though.

Really? This bootleg sounds just about perfect to me.

I'd give anything, just about, to go see R.E.M. play live and do the exact setlist from the bootleg. There are some other older songs I'd like to hear too, to be sure, but that's just one friggin' great set containing some, if not the best music that was made during my lifetime.

There is plenty of good stuff from later albums, but the first 3 or 4 are remarkable. If I was just a little bit older, I'd have probably gotten to see them play these early songs all together. Now, you're lucky to hear 2 of the them out of 20 plus songs.

Anyone know if they ever shot a live concert back in those days that might one day be released one day?

PS-Found this and it seems like the whole show was filmed. A good example of something I'd like to own on dvd. R.E.M. haven't been too fan friendly when it comes to their old stuff, though. For many, many years they wouldn't play almost any of these songs. I get the whole artistic, "we've grown out of that" thing, but suck it up and do it for your fans. I've seen R.E.M. twice and have probably only heard them play live 3 songs (maybe 4) pre-Green. Really unfortunate.

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This album means more to me than I can probably express. I'd like to hear a few of the demos... don't need the live. So many boots already out there. I don't buy reissues and this one doesn't have enough to push me over the edge. BTW, did see them in '83!

They are starting to play a lot more old stuff at their shows. Amond the songs being played on the current tour:

Rockville
Disturbance At The Heron House
Fall On Me
Just A Touch
These Days
Begin The Begin
Auctioneer
Maps And Legends
Exhuming McCarthy
Driver 8
7 Chinese Brothers
Pilgrimage
Time After Time
Sitting Still
Pretty Persuasion
Little America
Harborcoat
Welcome To The Occupation
Cuyahoga
So. Central Rain
1,000,000
Wolves, Lower
West Of The Fields
Perfect Circle
Second Guessing
Shaking Through
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Gardening At Night

Instead of hearing 1 or 2 of those like on past tours, you are now likely to hear 4 or 5. I think the new album being so short allows them to play the bulk of it and have extra time that they haven't had on past tours.

Again, I just missed the boat by a few years. Damn it, me being a few years younger than I should have been!

It's just not the same even hearing 4, when you (me) consider the early songs probably the best music of your lifetime, which I do.

I would shell out more money than I would for ANY concert just to see them do a show where the played ONLY the songs you listed (there are others I'd like to hear as well) and NOTHING else OR at least released one of those old concerts on dvd.

It's one of the rare instances where I wouldn't care so much about pq. Just give me an entire show from 1983-1985.

No concert on dvd would make me happier, but it will never happen.

Not all that great! The larry hideaway show has been circulating for years and you can download or torrent it on the net in Excellent/soundboard sound..so...

This pretty well sums it up for me too.

Although I jumped on board with Reckonning, I'm looking forward to this too - would love to hear a great sounding live disc from the band in this era. Also, are Chronic Town and Dead Letter Office still available in any configuration - had both in the popular cassette format many years ago but in serious need of an upgrade.

I have Dead letter Office (with all the tracks from Chronic Town included) on CD. Is it out of print?

Nope, doesn't seem to be.

Yes, this is the one to get...all the tracks from both of those releases conveniently on one disc. And it's cheap!

I will buy the new Murmur. It is an extraordinary record (still their best ever IMO). I'll listen to the concert but am mainly thrilled just to get the main album remastered. They need to do the other original IRS titles as well. Whether they have bonus material or not really makes no difference to me. Just include a remaster of the original disc and I will be happy.

Are the UK import versions of their IRS albums, with the bonus tracks, already remastered? I have all of those, including Murmur, but I might purchase this if the sound quality is a noticeable improvement. One of the top ten greatest debut albums of all time.

I hope the remaster doesn't ruin this album. Part of its charm to me is the relatively low-fi, sparse, early-eighties indie quality to the recording. For me, the album's a perfect time capsule of a specific sound and a specific time in American music: the "Pretenders" drum sound that clicks more than pounds, a reedy sounding/ Byrds-riffing guitar and a fairly high-register bass... it's a sound that reminds me of early Camper Van Beethoven, The Embarrassment, Dumptruck, The Feelies and all of the other "College" guitar bands of that time. Something about Murmur has also got a uniquely Southern sound, just as evocative of the rural South to me as scratchy bluegrass/folk recordings. I hope none of that is lost in translation.

This is out. Regular price at Best Buy. Any deals out there? Cheapest I've seen is $21.99 at amazon.

When I saw R.E.M. live in 2003 in Atlanta, I got the next best thing because the setlist had a lot of older IRS-era songs, probably due to Athens being 45 miles from Atlanta so a lot of long-time fans were here at the show (plus R.E.M. was not touring in support of a new album that year).

This was the setlist that night (I want to find a bootleg of this great show):

-----------------------------------------------------
R.E.M. - Philips Arena, Atlanta (11-Oct-2003)
-----------------------------------------------------
Finest Worksong
Begin the Begin
So Fast So Numb
Drive
Animal
Fall on Me
You are the Everything
Bad Day
The One I Love
Electrolite
E-Bow The Letter
(Don't Go Back To) Rockville
Find the River
Losing My Religion
At My Most Beautiful
She Just Wants To Be
Walk Unafraid
Man on the Moon
--------
Encore:
--------
Life and How to Live It
Nightswimming
Final Straw
Gardening at Night
Wolves, Lower
Sitting Still
Radio Free Europe
Permanent Vacation
Imitation of Life
It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
--------

.

That is a great setlist this late in their career.

If you want to get a taste for what the remaster sounds like, this week's NPR All Songs Considered podcast closes with "Talk About The Passion".

The main difference between the two masters is that the Deluxe Edition's mix has been tweaked to bring out the bass guitar a little more (this is true for the whole album, not just "Talk About The Passion"). It's not an overpowering change, but it's definitely noticeable. I'll go out on a limb and say that the new mix is an improvement.

From a recent Peter Buck interview. It looks like more Deluxe Editions are coming:

Have you got the bug? Can we expect a new Reckoning next year?
Believe me, that’s all coming down the pipeline. And just think, it’s only 21 years until it’s 25 years of Around The Sun. Now there’s a record that would benefit from everyone hearing the first month or so of roughs. It would be ten times the record!


So what can we expect from a Deluxe Reckoning?
We’re already sifting through stuff from 1984, ’85, and there are also filmed elements… We’ve discussed putting all that stuff up on the web site, ’cos we’ve got copies of every performance that was ever filmed, and there’s a lot of ’em. I’d love to get all that stuff out there. The live thing is such an important element of who we were, and if you only know us from the records you’re missing out on more than half of what we were about. I’m sure the record company would have a nervous breakdown if they heard me talking like this, but it’s not the earning money thing that concerns me as much as the band entering history in as representative a way as possible. Come on, let’s see the weird Dutch TV performances with us lip-synching in make-up!

This is $13.98 at yourmusic.com.

Fantastic deal