R.E.M.’s pre-major label stint on I.R.S. Records will be anthologized on two CDs and a DVD due Sept. 12 via EMI Catalog Music Marketing. “And I Feel Fine” will be available as both a single-disc CD package and a double-disc set with a host of rarities, live cuts and previously unreleased selections. The DVD, “When the Light Is Mine,” features a mix of music videos and live TV performances.
As expected, the single-disc version of “And I Feel Fine” includes the finest tracks from R.E.M.’s first five years, from “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” and “Radio Free Europe” to “Driver 8,” “Sitting Still” and “Begin the Begin.” The set appropriately closes with “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” from 1987’s “Document,” the band’s final I.R.S. album before inking with Warner Bros.
But it’s the two-disc edition of the collection that will prove a bounty for R.E.M. collectors, as it includes the first authorized release of the studio outtakes “Theme From Two Steps Onward” and “Bad Day.” The former has circulated on bootlegs for years, while the latter was originally recorded during the sessions for 1986’s “Life’s Rich Pageant.” It was revived and re-recorded for inclusion on R.E.M.’s 2003 retrospective “In Time — The Best of R.E.M.”
Other nuggets include an early 1980s version of “All the Right Friends” (which was re-recorded for the 2001 soundtrack to “Vanilla Sky), demos of “Hyena” and the early live favorite “Mystery to Me,” a “live in the studio” version of “Just a Touch” and live takes of “Ages of You,” “We Walk” and “1,000,000” taped July 13, 1983 at Boston’s Paradise.
“When the Light Is Mine” is highlighted by performances from the U.K. TV show “The Tube” of “Talk About the Passion,” “Radio Free Europe” and “Can’t Get There From Here” (featuring a blonde Michael Stipe), a 20-minute film titled “Left of Reckoning” and a 1984 performance of “Pretty Persuasion” from “The Old Grey Whistle Test.” The label promises “rare interview footage and acoustic performances” but details of these features have yet to be announced.
According to R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs, original R.E.M. members Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry were heavily involved in crafting the upcoming releases, including selecting their favorite studio tracks for the two-disc edition of “And I Feel Fine.”
“This is a good history lesson on the days of yore when the band first started out and were writing sometimes 2-3 songs a day, many of which became classics, and some of which were lost in the mists of tape and time and vault,” he says.
To coincide with the releases, R.E.M. will be induced into Georgia Music Hall of Fame on Sept. 16 in Atlanta.
Here is the track list for “And I Feel Fine”:
“Begin the Begin”
“Radio Free Europe”
“Pretty Persuasion”
“Talk About the Passion”
“(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville”
“Sitting Still”
“Gardening at Night”
“7 Chinese Bros.”
“So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)”
“Driver 8”
“Can’t Get There From Here”
“Finest Worksong”
“Feeling Gravity’s Pull”
“I Believe”
“Life and How To Live It”
“Cuyahoga”
“The One I Love”
“Welcome to the Occupation”
“Fall on Me”
“Perfect Circle”
“It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
Bonus disc:
“Pilgrimage” (Mike’s pick)
“These Days” (Bill’s pick)
“Gardening at Night” (slower electric demo; previously unreleased)
“Radio Free Europe” (Hib-tone version)
“Sitting Still” (Hib-tone version)
“Life and How to Live It” (Live at the Muziekcentrum, Utrecht, Holland 9/14/87; previously unreleased)
“Ages of You” (Live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
“We Walk” (Live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
“1,000,000” (Live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
“Finest Worksong” (other mix)
“Hyena” (demo; previously unreleased)
“Theme From Two Steps Onward” (previously unreleased)
“Superman”
“All the Right Friends” (previously unreleased)
“Mystery to Me” (demo; previously unreleased)
“Just A Touch” (live in-studio version; previously unreleased)
“Bad Day” (previously unreleased)
“King of Birds”
“Swan Swan H” (live acoustic version)
“Disturbance at the Heron House” (Peter’s pick)
“Time After Time” (Annelise)” (Michael’s pick)
Here is the track list for “When the Light Is Mine”:
“Wolves, Lower”
“Radio Free Europe”
“Talk About the Passion”
“Radio Free Europe” (Live, “The Tube,” 11/18/83)
“Talk About the Passion” (Live, “The Tube,” 11/18/83)
“So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)”
James Herbert’s “Left of Reckoning”
“Pretty Persuasion” (Live, “The Old Grey Whistle Test,” 11/20/84)
“Can’t Get There From Here”
“Driver 8”
“Life and How To Live It”
“Feeling Gravity’s Pull”
“Can’t Get There From Here” (Live, “The Tube,” 10/25/85)
“Fall On Me”
“Swan Swan H” (“Inside/Out”)
“The One I Love”
“It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
“Finest Worksong”
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