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R.E.M.: Dead Letter Office

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: I.R.S. Records
Released: 1987.04.27
Time:
 43:22
Category: Alternative Rock
Producer(s): Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Joe Boyd, Don Gehman & R.E.M.
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.remhq.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Crazy (Crowe/Lachowski/Bewley/Briscoe) - 3:00
[2] There She Goes Again (Lou Reed) - 2:49
[3] Burning Down (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 4:10
[4] Voice Of Harold (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 4:21
[5] Burning Hell (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 3:48
[6] White Tornado (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 1:59
[7] Toys In The Attic (Perry/Tyler) - 2:26
[8] Windout (Berry/Ayers/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 1:57
[9] Ages Of You (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 3:39
[10] Pale Blue Eyes (Lou Reed) - 2:49
[11] Rotary Ten (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 2:00
[12] Bandwagon (Berry/L. Stipe/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 2:12
[13] Femme Fatale (Lou Reed) - 2:47
[14] Walters Theme (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 1:35
[15] King Of The Road (Roger Miller) - 3:08
[16] Wolves, Lower (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 4:08
[17] Gardening At Night (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 4:33
[18] Carnival Of Sorts [Box Cars] (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 3:51
[19] 1,000,000 (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 3:04
[20] Stumble (Berry/Stipe/Mills/Buck) - 5:39

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Bill Berry - Drums, Producer on [16-20]
Peter Buck - Guitar, Producer on [16-20]
Mike Mills - Bass, Producer on [16-20]
Michael Stipe - Vocals, Producer on [16-20]

Joe Boyd - Producer on [1,5,12]
Don Dixon - Producer on [3,8-9]
Don Gehman - Producer on [7,11]
Mitch Easter - Engineer on [16-20], Producer on [3,6,8-9,16-20]
Steve Fjelstad - Remix on [1,3,9]
Greg Calbi - Mastering on [16-20]
Curtis Knapp - Cover Design
Ron Scarselli - Package Excavation
R.A. Miller - Illustration
Kako.n. - Illustration

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Neither the new R.E.M. album nor the stopgap product that bands often spit out between real records, Dead Letter Office is what its title suggests, a clearinghouse for outtakes, cover versions and B sides of singles. R.E.M. just wants to make them available. If the fans don't like it, the next R.E.M. album will be out in September and this one will quickly fade. (CD purchasers get a bonus: the disc version of Dead Letter Office includes all of the songs from the band's 1982 EP Chronic Town, which was previously unavailable in CD.)

Dead Letter Office sets its sights far lower than any of the band's previous four LPs, but the first R.E.M. record wholly without pretension is something of an event. The self-deprecating, generous inner-sleeve notes, written by guitarist Peter Buck, prevent any stuffiness. For example, on his band's deconstruction of Roger Miller's fabled "King of the Road," Buck muses that Miller "should be able to sue for what we did to this song."

Dead Letter Office is R.E.M.'s loosest record. Singer Michael Stipe is as open as the best of Life's Rich Pageant suggested he always could be, and on "Burning Hell" and "Ages of You," Buck's guitar work is his least studied and most unrestrained. Reverential covers of songs by the Velvet Underground, Aerosmith and Pylon nudge against the steady instrumental "White Tornado" and the wacky "Walters Theme," helping to define the sources of this wideranging band. Dead Letter Office isn't meant to be anything special. That's why it is.

Jimmy Guterman - July 2, 1987
RollingStone.com



While purists will insist on an undiluted copy of the band's 1982 Chronic Town EP, R.E.M. completists (and those who just like a lot of tracks for their money) will be grateful for the inclusion of 15 additional B-sides and curios on this 1987 compilation. Not surprisingly, the non-Chronic material is a mixed blessing: while R.E.M. were much beloved for being notorious cover-whores during those early Athens live shows, their reverent takes on Velvet Underground classics stand the test of time far better than their odes to Roger Miller and Aerosmith. But all that will be forgotten by the time Chronic Town's "Wolves, Lower" kicks in, signaling the official arrival of a band that forever changed the face of Southern rock.

Bill Forman - Amazon.com



Arriving mere months before Document took the group into the Top Ten, the B-sides and rarities collection Dead Letter Office sums up all of the quirks and idiosyncrasies that made R.E.M. the leading underground guitar pop band of the '80s. While only a handful of songs on Dead Letter Office rank among the group's best, the record is extremely entertaining, even for casual fans, particularly because it captures the wild spirit of R.E.M. that was evident at their concerts, but not always on their records. Among the gems scattered throughout the collection are the cheerily ridiculous "Band Wagon," "Voice of Harold" (which features Michael Stipe singing the liner notes to a gospel album over the backing of "7 Chinese Brothers"), covers of the Velvet Underground, Pylon, and Aerosmith, the ringing pop of "Burning Down" (which is later reworked as "Ages of You"), and "Walter's Theme," a drunken attempt at a commercial for a local restaurant that segues into a clueless cover of "King of the Road." The material may be slight, but it's fun - and R.E.M.'s albums aren't always fun.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Dead Letter Office is a rarities and B-sides collection by R.E.M., released in 1987. The album is essentially a collection of many additional recordings R.E.M. made pre-Murmur to Lifes Rich Pageant that were outtakes or released as flip sides to their singles internationally. Many of the tracks are favorite cover versions indicating the band's disparate influences and musical tastes, including three Velvet Underground covers, and songs by Pylon, Aerosmith and Roger Miller. Guitarist Peter Buck composed wry, self-deprecating (and, in one instance, apologetic) liner notes to the songs on the album. Buck initially had doubts about releasing it, saying he felt as though people would perceive the album as the band "trying to cash in, maybe to sell some records," as the ultimate release date predated that of the band's final studio album with IRS, Document, by a mere five months. The album was initially issued as a 15-song collection on vinyl and cassette, but when its CD edition appeared (now the only available edition of Dead Letter Office) the five tracks from the band's 1982 Chronic Town EP were added. This is also the only current CD availability of Chronic Town. Dead Letter Office originally reached #52 in the U.S. and #60 in the UK.

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