R.E.M. has set a June 23 release date for its Reckoning: Deluxe Edition, previously reported on here. According to the band’s press release, the second disc will include a concert recorded July 7, 1984, at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, featuring live performances of eight of Reckoning’s 10 songs, plus “Gardening at Night” from the Chronic Town EP and “Radio Free Europe,” “9-9” and “Sitting Still” from Murmur, as well as “Driver 8,” which would later debut on Fables of the Reconstruction, and “Hyena,” which would appear on Lifes Rich Pageant.
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An ailing Dave Gahan has forced Depeche Mode to cancel three more shows on its just-launched Tour of the Universe, bringing the total number of shows scrapped so far to nine. The new cancelations are May 23 in Warsaw, Poland; May 25 in Riga, Latvia; and May 27 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
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Download a free audiobook of the 33 1/3 installment on the Beastie Boys’ classic Paul’s Boutique from Audible.com. Click here for more info.
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Echo and the Bunnymen’s 1984 album Ocean Rain will be launched into space next month when astronaut Timothy L. Korpa takes a signed copy of the record with him on his trip to the International Space Station. In a press release, frontman Ian McCulloch said: “What an honour. Now it’s official. We are the coolest band in the universe. As a kid I dreamt of being an astronaut, and now in a way it feels like I’m fulfilling that dream. I cannot wait to hear from Tim what it is like to listen to ‘The Killing Moon’ in the actual glow of the moon.” The mission ties in with the box set reissue of Ocean Rain, due May 30.
