R.E.M. by Chris Bilheimer
R.E.M’s tenth studio album was originally released in September 1996.
R.E.M will release a 25th anniversary edition of New Adventures In Hi-Fi on October 29th.
Amongst the rarities, previously unreleased videos, interviews and more treats for fans to be included in the reissue is a version of Leave featuring new vocals from Michael Stipe, who says he, ‘actually might prefer this version to the one that’s on the record’.
With Automatic For The People still fresh in the memory and Monster delivering them another multi-platinum US number one, R.E.M. were firmly cemented as one of the world’s biggest bands by the time they headed out on their first tour in six years during 1995.
Despite it being a tumultuous affair which proved to be drummer and founding member Bill Berry’s last, one on which most of the band broke down with health problems at some stage, they endeavoured to write new material on the road during this time, travelling with a mobile recording truck, preserving new songs performed at soundchecks, putting the finishes touches to it all upon the tour’s completion with producer Scott Litt.
“The idea was, ‘Let’s challenge ourselves,’” Peter Buck recalls. “My feeling was, it’ll show exactly where we’re at right now in a way that maybe some of the records don’t at all. This record was just an attempt to be who we were at that minute.”