R.E.M. will reissue its major-label debut Green in a deluxe 25th anniversary 2CD set this May, packaging a remastered edition of the original 1988 album with a 21-song live set recorded at the penultimate concert on the band’s massive Green World Tour — a live set that will be previewed with a 5-song EP released on Record Store Day.
The Green re-release, due out May 14 on Rhino Records, is the first of R.E.M.’s ongoing reissue campaign to extend beyond the band’s IRS Records catalog into the Warner Bros. years — albums that already were reissued once in 2005 with bonus discs featuring photos, video and the albums in 5.1 Surround.
The new reissue features a bonus live album culled from the band’s Nov. 10, 1989, concert in Greensboro, N.C., a 29-song performance that was filmed for use in the “Tourfilm” concert movie. With only 21 songs fitting on the Green bonus disc, the band is issuing five more as the Live in Greensboro EP, a limited-edition CD to be released April 20 for Record Store Day.
Still, between the reissue and live EP, four songs from that night aren’t being released: covers by Hugo Largo (“Harpers”), Wire (“Strange”), Syd Barrett (“Dark Globe”) and The Velvet Underground (“After Hours”).
See full tracklists below.
That EP is limited to 2,500 copies and only will be available at independent retailers participating in Record Store Day. Listed at $7.98, it also will come with an original patch left over from the Green World Tour.
The Green reissue will arrive in a hard clamshell box similar to the previously R.E.M. expanded editions and will include four postcards, a foldout poster and new liner notes. The remastered album also will be released the same day with original art and packaging on 180-gram audiophile vinyl.
Tracklist: R.E.M., Green: 25th Anniversary Edition
CD 1: Original Album
1. “Pop Song 89”
2. “Get Up”
3. “You Are The Everything”
4. “Stand”
5. “World Leader Pretend”
6. “The Wrong Child”
7. “Orange Crush”
8. “Turn You Inside Out”
9. “Hairshirt”
10. “I Remember California”
11. “Untitled”
CD 2: Live In Greensboro 1989
1. “Stand”
2. “The One I Love”
3. “Turn You Inside Out”
4. “Belong”
5. “Exhuming McCarthy”
6. “Good Advices”
7. “Orange Crush”
8. “Cuyahoga”
9. “These Days”
10. “World Leader Pretend”
11. “I Believe”
12. “Get Up”
13. “Life And How To Live It”
14. “Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
15. “Pop Song 89”
16. “Fall On Me”
17. “You Are The Everything”
18. “Begin The Begin”
19. “Low”
20. “Finest Worksong”
21. “Perfect Circle”
Tracklist: R.E.M., Live in Greensboro EP — Record Store Day Exclusive
1. “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)”
2. “Feeling Gravitys Pull”
3. “Strange”
4. “King of Birds”
5. “I Remember California”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Video: R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Mike Mills go back to ‘Rockville’ with Ed Kowalczyk of Live
- Video: R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe pops up at 12-12-12 concert, ‘The Colbert Report’
- Premiere: R.E.M. at Atlanta’s 688 Club, February 1981 — watch rare 40-minute set
- Milestones: R.E.M. played sole ‘Automatic For the People’ concert 20 years ago today
The RSD release won’t come out on 7″ also? Just CD?
Am I the only one who was never able to get past the uni-brow?
So glad they’re continuing on with these reissues. My main question is – and always has been – will this be reissued with the iridescent ‘4’ over the ‘R’. It was only on certain pressings – and I’ve never heard any explanation.
I was thinking the same thing: I think it would be really cool is this reissue had the ‘4’ over the ‘R’, especially for collectors.
And the explanation is simply because Michael supposedly typed the ‘4’ by mistake since it’s right above the ‘R’ on the keyboard, and he left it like that.
This is an excellent release. I can’t wait to buy it.
Skipped over Dead Letter Office. Why? I’d’ve much rather had an expanded edition of that with more b-sides and the fan club singles bolted on.
Wow, just found this release and was surprised. Not only did I attend this concert, I had the pleasure of a brief interaction with Mike Mills, who stood center stage before the show, looking out onto an empty house. He was nostalgically amused, commenting that he remembers attending concerts as a fan, “in this very place”.