Dead Letter Office

Dead Letter Office
Compilation album by R.E.M.
Released	27 April 1987 (UK) 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
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C+) link Rolling Stone (favorable) link
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 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.^[1]

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.

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 Recorded on the same day as the "Radio Free Europe" single in 1981, previously unreleased
7. "Toys in the Attic" (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) – 2:28 B-side of "Fall On Me" 12 inch singles

Script side

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

CD Bonus tracks (Chronic Town EP)

16. "Wolves, Lower" – 4:10
17. "Gardening at Night" – 3:29
18. "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)" – 3:54
19. "1,000,000" – 3:06
20. "Stumble" – 5:40

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:

21. "Gardening at Night" (Acoustic version)
22. "All the Right Friends"

Notes

¹Features 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.
²Buck says "Walter's Theme" and "King of the Road" were recorded extemporaneously during a recording session while the band was drunk. "King of the Road" consists mostly of Stipe fumbling through the lyrics ("I'm a man, a man by no means") as Buck and Mills try to arrive at the same key (both can be heard yelling chord names at each other).

Charts

Album

Single

References