R.E.M.’s Peter Buck to release ‘monkey concept single,’ re-press solo debut

Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck plans to release something he’s calling a new “monkey concept single” in the coming weeks on vinyl label Mississippi Records as well as re-press his 2012 solo debut — but without the song “LVMF,” because he only cleared its profane Sonny Boy Williamson sample for the album’s first 2,000 copies.

Buck announced the news in a note updating fans on his “fantabulous career” that was posted to R.E.M.’s official site Thursday night and came accompanied by a photo (reproduced above) featuring a guitar-wielding man — Buck himself? — clad in pink pajamas and a gorilla mask.

As for his solo album — which still only has been officially released on vinyl — Buck expresses surprise in how quickly it sold out its original 2,000-copy run last fall, but says he’ll have a new version pressed shortly, once again on Portland’s Mississippi Records, but without the Williamson-sampling “LVMF,” which he notes “is on you-tube and is relatively inconsequential anyway.”

Below, you can read Buck’s note and, if you weren’t one of the 2,000 fans to snatch the original pressing, listen to the album in full via its aforementioned presence on YouTube (“LVMF” starts at 26:29).

Hey this is Peter,

I just wanted to keep you all up on what is going on with my fantabulous career. I have a new single coming out in the next two weeks on Mississippi Records. It’s a monkey concept single. There will be about a 1000 available and can be ordered from your regular indie record stores.

I would like to apologize for the current unavailability of my solo record. My assumption was that a record from a non-singing, non-lyricist member of REM, released only on vinyl, would sell some where in the region of about 800 records, leaving me with 1200 of the things in my basement. It was extremely gratifying to find them sold out immediately. Unfortunately, I only cleared the samples for LVMF for 2000 copies. It has taken me awhile to get the the record re-pressed without that track. It should be available in the next couple of weeks. This being indie world, all dates are approximate, but again it can be ordered through your local independent music store or you may contact Mississippi Records in Portland. LVMF will not be on the re-pressed version, but it is on you-tube and is relatively inconsequential anyway.

I will be touring Spain and Norway this summer with my solo band and Robyn and hope to see you all there.

Summer’s here and the time is right.
Peter

Peter Buck, Peter Buck (full album)

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• Video: R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Mike Mills go back to ‘Rockville’ with Ed Kowalczyk of Live
• R.E.M.’s Peter Buck to release solo debut this week in limited-edition, 2,000-copy vinyl run
• Video: R.E.M.’s Peter Buck debuts solo band Richard M. Nixon in Seattle — watch full set
• R.E.M.’s Peter Buck on upcoming vinyl-only solo debut: ‘It’s not gonna be in Walmart’