R.E.M.’s multiplatinum eighth album Automatic For the People will receive a 25th anniversary reissue this fall on the newly christened Craft Recordings reissue arm of Concord Bicycle Music, which in late 2015 signed a worldwide licensing deal for the band’s Warner Bros. albums.
Concord today announced the launch of its new reissue label, and revealed that the Automatic anniversary edition is due out this year. R.E.M., on its Facebook page this evening, confirmed the reissue, and was more specific about the timeframe, saying it will be released this fall.
It’s not yet known what extras will be included on the Automatic re-release. Concord handled last year’s multiformat Out of Time 25th anniversary reissue, which included, as bonus material, previously unreleased demos and a live concert recording.
R.E.M. released the dark, introspective Automatic For the People on Oct. 5, 1992. It was the band’s second largely acoustic record in a row, and, despite once again not touring behind its new album, the period surrounding Out of Time and Automatic marked R.E.M.’s greatest commercial success.
Automatic spawned the singles “Drive,” “Man on the Moon,” “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,” “Everybody Hurts,” “Nightswimming” and “Find the River.”
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I preferred the earlier reissues, with the remixed album and a live concert from that tour, these were priced fairly at around $25. The Out of Time reissue included a live album, demos, b-sides and a dvd, but very pricey at $50.
these are great sets, just a little costly in my opinion.
Say it with me everybody!
What do we want? FAN CLUB SINGLES!
When do we want ’em? BEFORE MONSTER!
All together now!
I’m with Scott!
Thanks, Nortley!
Let’s make this happen!
It will be interesting to see what they round up for the reissue package. The B-sides from this period were a mixed bag — some outstanding covers (Arms of Love, Dark Globe, First We Take Manhattan, Lion Sleeps Tonight), some woeful instrumentals (Fruity Organ, Winged Mammal Theme), and a charmingly silly original (Chance). And just the one AFTP concert, the Greenpeace show.
Hopefully there’s more still in the vault!