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The R.E.M. reissue campaign continues with a 25th anniversary deluxe edition of their second album, 1984's Reckoning, due out June 23 on I.R.S./A&M/UMe. Like last year's deluxe treatment of R.E.M.'s debut, Murmur, the deluxe Reckoning is a two-disc set. The second disc contains a live show taped at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on July 7, 1984 and aired on Chicago radio station WXRT. The Aragon show features eight Reckoning songs, old songs "Gardening at Night" from Chronic Town and "Radio Free Europe," "9-9" and "Sitting Still" from Murmur, and new songs "Driver 8" and "Hyena", which would show up on Fables of the Reconstruction and Lifes Rich Pageant, respectively.

180 gram vinyl versions of the reissued Reckoning and Murmur will also be released on June 23.

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I'm all over this. The reissue of Murmur was very well done and I like that they are continuing the trend of adding a live show second disc.

Superdaddy

Very pleased about this also. I have the Murmur reissue and was happy with that. I like the live shows but probably won't listen to them very often. Just happy we are getting the remastered album.

The fact that they're releasing this soon after Murmur is a hopeful sign that they will remaster all their IRS albums.

GoVegan

I already shelled out for the Mobile Fidelity versions of these two, so I'll probably pass, but once they get to Fables and Life's Rich Pageant, I'm in.

nothingfails

will Reckoning be the last one Universal releases? I know IRS changed hands around the time Fables came out and now Capitol is distributing those latter REM albums

cdollaz

$14.99 now at Amazon. I've been waiting to find a price like this.

auto

Thanks for the heads up. It was $17.09 last werk and $19.49 yesterday. Picked one up.

Dubya

It's $14.99 at Best Buy as well (along with the Murmur DE).

cdollaz

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/201...sue-tracklist/


R.E.M.’s 2CD ‘Fables of the Reconstruction’ reissue to include 14 unreleased demos


College-rock kingpins R.E.M. will mark the 25th anniversary of their third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, this summer with the third installment in the band’s ongoing reissue series, a double-disc re-release featuring 14 previously unreleased demos — including one never-before-heard song.

Although the band hasn’t formally announced the reissue, our sharp-eyed friends at The Second Disc note that Amazon.com has begun taking pre-orders on the set, which is due out July 13. The Fables reissue follows similarly expanded re-releases of 1983’s Murmur and 1984’s Reckoning in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Unlike those two sets, however, the bonus disc on the new edition of Fables of the Reconstruction won’t include a vintage live show; instead, according to Amazon, “the bonus disc is a complete run-through of the album done in studio in Athens, before the band left for London for the actual recording sessions.”

The previously unreleased demos cover every track on Fables of the Reconstruction, plus “Bandwagon,” which was used, in finished form, as the B-side to “Can’t Get There From Here”; “Hyena,” later recorded for Lifes Rich Pageant; and “Throw Those Trolls Away,” a song the band has never released in any form.


Tracklist: R.E.M., Fables of the Reconstruction: 25th Anniversary Edition

Disc 1: Original Album
1. “Feeling Gravitys Pull”
2. “Maps and Legends”
3. “Driver 8″
4. “Life and How to Live It”
5. “Old Man Kensey”
6. “Cant Get There from Here”
7. “Green Grow the Rushes”
8. “Kohoutek”
9. “Auctioneer (Another Engine)”
10. “Good Advices”
11. “Wendell Gee”

Disc 2: Demos
1. “Auctioneer (Another Engine)” (Demo)
2. “Bandwagon (Demo)”
3. “Cant Get There from Here” (Demo)
4. “Driver 8″ (Demo)
5. “Feeling Gravitys Pull” (Demo)
6. “Good Advices” (Demo)
7. “Green Grow the Rushes” (Demo)
8. “Hyena (Demo)”
9. “Kohoutek (Demo)”
10. “Life and How to Live It” (Demo)
11. “Maps and Legends” (Demo)
12. “Old Man Kensey” (Demo)
13. “Throw These Trolls Away” (Demo)
14. “Wendell Gee” (Demo)

All tracks on Disc 2 previously unreleased.

cungar

^ Underrated masterpiece. If it hadn't been proceeded by two genuine classics, it might be held in higher regard. The way it balances avant garde oddball tracks (Feeling Gravitys Pull, Kohoutek) with nods to classic rock (Driver 8, Green Grow the Rushes) and pop (Can't get there from Here) is masterful. My favorite song is Life and How to Live it. I'll be picking this up.

dhmac

I think the Fables of the Reconstruction remaster should get its own thread.

dolphinboy

This is something that I can't wait for a price drop for. I simply have to have it right away. Screw the high price, you only live once.

But if they don't at least finish up with the IRS releases it would be tragic and I don't quite understand why Chronic Town wasn't released on its own. It's incomplete without that.

I enjoy Green, but not as much as the others.

Out of Time got old, but I love it again and, in particular, the songs that never were singles.

Then I'd love to have their last classic, Automatic For The People and Monster and New Adventures are both really good despite all the Monster hate-even by the band.

You'd think with such poor sales of their last 2 albums, that maybe WB will carry on and give us remasters as well to make some money back.

Personally, I'd just like to get the Chronic Town Ep and the IRS albums first.

When I went to pre-order this, I noticed Concrete Blonde is re-releasing their CDs as well. Stipe was the one who suggested the name Concrete Blonde. Those are must haves for me as well. Had to call a store in NYC to find the first one as it's already OOP. Free is out and Bloodletting comes out in July.

dhmac

...or the thread should be renamed with a more general "Deluxe Edition Reissues" name

cungar

Heard the Demos disk and I am definitely buying this. Fantastic quality for old REM demos. The unreleased song Throw those Trolls Away is really cool. Lyrically it sounds like the forerunner to I Believe.

auto

Anyone find a decent price that beats $23 shipped from deepdiscount?

cdollaz

Best Buy was selling the Reckoning Deluxe for $15 just a couple of months after it was released, so maybe that will happen here also. I would be much more eager to get it if it had a show instead of demos.

Adboy151

It's about $21 shipped at Barnes and Noble without any discounts (or cashback); could be as low ~$14 on the street date with various membership discounts, coupons and affiliate links.

cungar

The demos are really good. Listen here : http://mog.com/music/R.E.M./Fables_o..._id=mn42337789

Superdaddy

Just received this (along with the Bloodletting reissue) from amazon. Looking forward to hearing it.

Bring on Lifes Rich Pageant (one of my favorites)!

Hokeyboy

I'm hearing that the remaster sounds compressed as hell.

dolphinboy

I have both on the way too. We have great taste in music.

cungar

Sounds fine to me on my iPod and car stereo but I don't really get the whole compressed sound thing anyway.

Randy Miller III

Well, I doubt you'll hear much compression on an mp3 file, or even a car stereo (assuming you mean the CD), as opposed to on a fancier home stereo setup. It's like not noticing a bad DVD transfer if you're watching on a 7" portable DVD player.

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cdollaz

Those demos do sound good. Better than the proper album, IMO. Will have to go ahead and pick this up. The demos will probably be the way I will listen to the album from now on and it moves Fables from near the bottom of the REM list to the middle of the pack for me.

cungar

Do folks sit down and listen to CDs on expensive home stereos anymore? I'm not being facetious, it's just I don't know anyone who does that anymore. It seems to be music on the go for most of us. I do have an SACD and DVD-Audio collection that I occasionally listen to but not CDs very often.