Dead Letter Office (album)

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Dead Letter Office
Dead Letter Office cover
Compilation album by R.E.M.
Released UK 27 April 1987 (UK)
USA April 28, 1987 (US)
Recorded 1981-1986
Genre Alternative rock
Length 43:22
63:51 (with Chronic Town EP)
Label I.R.S. Records
Producer Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Joe Boyd, Don Gehman and R.E.M.
Professional reviews
R.E.M. chronology
Lifes Rich Pageant
(1986)		 Dead Letter Office
(1987)		 Document
(1987)
R.E.M. compilations chronology
Dead Letter Office
(1987)		 Eponymous
(1988)

Dead Letter Office is a rarities and B-sides collection by R.E.M., released in 1987. The album effectively mops up many of the 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 Dead Letter Office.

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 Chronic Town EP from 1982 was added to it.

Dead Letter Office originally reached #52 in the U.S. and #60 in the UK.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except as indicated.

Post side

  1. "Crazy" (Randy Bewley, Vanessa Briscoe, Curtis Crowe, Michael Lachowski) – 3:03 B-side of "Driver 8" 7 inch single & "Wendell Gee" 7 & 12 inch singles
  2. "There She Goes Again" (Lou Reed) – 2:50 B-side of I.R.S. "Radio Free Europe" 7 inch single
  3. "Burning Down" – 4:12 B-side of "Wendell Gee" 7 & 12 inch singles
  4. "Voice of Harold" [1] – 4:24 B-side of "So. Central Rain" 12 inch single
  5. "Burning Hell" – 3:49 B-side of "Cant Get There From Here" 12 inch single
  6. "White Tornado" – 1:55 B-side of "Superman" 7 & 12 inch singles
  7. "Toys in the Attic" (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) – 2:28 B-side of "Fall On Me" 12 inch singles

Script side

  1. "Windout" (Jerry Ayers, Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 1:58 from Bachelor Party soundtrack
  2. "Ages of You" – 3:42 B-side of "Wendell Gee" 7 & 12 inch singles
  3. "Pale Blue Eyes" (Reed) – 2:53 B-side of "So. Central Rain" 12 inch single
  4. "Rotary Ten" – 2:00 B-side of "Fall on Me" 7 inch single
  5. "Bandwagon" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Lynda Stipe, M. Stipe) – 2:16 B-side of "Cant Get There From Here" 7 & 12 inch singles
  6. "Femme Fatale" (Reed) – 2:49 B-side of "Superman" 12 inch single
  7. "Walters Theme" – 1:32 B-side of "So. Central Rain" 7 inch single
  8. "King of the Road" [2] (Roger Miller) – 3:13 B-side of "So. Central Rain" 7 inch single

CD Bonus tracks (Chronic Town EP)

  1. "Wolves, Lower" – 4:10
  2. "Gardening at Night" – 3:29
  3. "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)" – 3:54
  4. "1,000,000" – 3:06
  5. "Stumble" – 5:40

[edit] The IRS Years reissue

On January 26, 1993, EMI (which owns the I.R.S. catalogue) re-released Dead Letter Office in Europe with two bonus tracks:

  1. "Gardening at Night" (Acoustic version)
  2. "All the Right Friends"

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Features the backing track of "7 Chinese Bros." with Stipe reading the liner notes from the back cover of a gospel album (The Joy Of Knowing Jesus) by The Revelaires.
  2. ^ Buck says this track was recorded extemporaneously during a recording session while the band was drunk. It consists mostly of Stipe fumbling through the lyrics as Buck and Mills try to arrive at the same key.

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1987 The Billboard 200 52 (14 weeks on chart)
1987 UK Albums Chart 60 (2 weeks on chart)

Single

Year Single Chart Position
1987 "Ages of You" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 39
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