R.E.M.

R.E.M.'s first collection of B-sides and other oddities now also contains the five songs from Chronic Town, their enchanting debut EP for I.R.S. So start at "Wolves, Lower" and listen to the end. Now that you're convinced these guys are brilliant, enjoy the three Velvet Underground covers that taught them how to make music that unique and beautiful, and consider stopping with "Windout," a great rocker that was wasted on the Bachelor Party soundtrack. The other cuts have their charms, but most demonstrate that even R.E.M. occasionally wrote obvious R.E.M. rip-offs.

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... More >

Peter Buck describes these B sides and outtakes as "a junkshop." Dumpster would be more like it. You can throw away a Velvets cover or three without anybody getting hurt, but bad Pylon gives unsuspecting young people the wrong idea. (Grade - C+)