R.E.M. announce 25th anniversary edition of ‘Up’
American alternative rock forefathers R.E.M. have announced a new reissue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their 1998 album Up.
The forthcoming reissue is set to include a remastered version of the original album, plus interviews, expanded liner notes, press kits, music videos, and the band’s full performance from their 1999 appearance on the television programme Party of Five. The contents will be packaged in a 2-CD set, with alternative versions coming out on vinyl and Blu-Ray.
Up was the first R.E.M. album recorded without drummer Bill Berry. He had suffered a brain aneurysm while onstage in 1995 and eventually left the group in 1997. The only condition he had upon his departure was that the band would continue in his absence. Berry’s presence was largely filled by drum machines on the album, setting the musical tone for the record.
“Once we made the decision to continue without Bill, we had to look at it as a freeing thing, otherwise why do it at all?” bassist Mike Mills explains in a statement. “We had to approach it with enthusiasm and hope, as a brave new world of unexplored possibilities.”
“The growing pains of becoming a three-piece were really evident throughout the entire making of the record, and it left three best friends very distant from each other as creative partners, but we managed to hold it together, and I believe a very good record came out of it,” singer Michael Stipe added.
Most of the songs on the album feature a more ambient and electronic sound than R.E.M. had attempted in the past. Album opener ‘Airportman’ is much spacier than most of the band’s material, which served to alienate some longtime fans when they first heard Up.
“We always wanted to introduce each record with a song or attitude or mood that showed people they were stepping into a whole different thing,” Stipe explained. “We never wanted to repeat ourselves, and ‘Airportman’ might have been our most radical choice in that regard. But we wanted to let longtime fans know that we were now a three-piece – that Bill was really gone, and we weren’t just going to find some ersatz Bill, but instead use the opportunity to explore different ways of composing and arranging and presenting the work.”
The 25th anniversary expanded reissue of Up is scheduled for release on November 10th.
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