Remaster of the 1987 album that saw R.E.M. transition out of the "college rock" thing into mainstream radio hits. The sound is a confused hybrid between the murky metallic jangle-rock of Fables of the Reconstruction and the hyper-radio-friendly pop of Out Of Time. Somehow this remaster makes the album sound more sonically dated—the drum sounds especially are almost too 80s-radio-pop to take seriously. Disk 2 is a 1987 concert recording from Holland. Musically clunky at times, especially when Stipe and Mills try to coordinate vocals, but worth it for some interesting alterations. FCC clean —Andy

*1 - (3:50) high energy, slightly cheesy 80s rock with metallic guitars and big reverbed-out snare hits; works thanks to Mike Mills' "whoa-whoa"s on the chorus
2 - (2:49) dark, Fables-esque pondering with simple, emblematic Peter Buck guitar
**3 - (3:22) starts with 7 seconds of quiet typewriter sounds; pounding, politically charged rock with grooving interludes; seriously dated sound, but still thrilling
**4 - (3:34) bright and wistful; great intertwined simple guitar riffs and vocal lines that could fit on Out Of Time
*5 - (2:33) Wire cover; high power, snarling rock; Mills' backing vocals again make it worthwhile
*6 - (4:07) you know this one; super fun head-bobbing pop with rapid-fire verse lyrics and fuck-it-all guitar wandering around in the background
7 - (3:18) midtempo, sinister pop with howling choruses; proof that they could write a powerful chart-topper; still, simplistic and less interesting than most of the record
8 - (3:24) weird rock with chugging guitar, dumb lyrics, sax break
9 - (3:21) fast, weird, metallic rock; nasal, snarled vocals; this one's particularly butchered by the remaster
*10 - (4:10) mid-tempo march with exotic arrangement at start; calm, interlaced vocals
11 - (5:21) steady, bass-heavy groove; structurally, basically a weirder version of "One I Love"

1 - (4:10) cool stuttering start
*2 - (3:35) gets some extra Mike Mills in the live version; one of their best rock songs
3 - (3:43) prominent harmonica, clumsy harmonizing at start, yelping at end; ends with 30s left
4 - (2:53)
5 - (3:35)
*6 - (5:31) 30s guitar feedback lead-in, loud outro
7 - (4:33) Stipe leads in by crooning another song
*8 - (3:20) first verse just voice and guitar, works well
*9 - (3:22) more bite than the album version
10 - (4:23) the oldest song in this set; Buck stumbles a little with the (excellent) riff
11 - (3:05)
12 - (3:04) rockin
13 - (5:01) extended jamming, noisy at end
14 - (2:50) Stipe recites the pledge of allegiance at start and end; it's over the top
15 - (4:01) lots of fun, cool ending
16 - (3:58) another good rocker, Stipe talks briefly afterward
17 - (3:41)
18 - (3:02) loud, yelping
19 - (6:28) Stipe tells a story for first 1:30; recording seems to have some weird clicking
20 - (5:19) slow, moving rendition; unfortunately it's nearly ruined by the clicking