{"id":71361,"date":"2022-06-28T13:34:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T18:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=71361"},"modified":"2022-06-28T13:34:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T18:34:59","slug":"r-e-m-celebrates-the-40th-anniversary-of-chronic-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2022\/r-e-m-celebrates-the-40th-anniversary-of-chronic-town\/","title":{"rendered":"R.E.M. CELEBRATES THE 40th\u00a0ANNIVERSARY OF\u00a0CHRONIC TOWN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Available For The First Time As A Standalone CD<\/strong><\/em>
\nvia I.R.S. \/ UMe With Extensive Liner Notes<\/strong><\/em>
\nBy Producer MITCH EASTER<\/strong><\/em>
\nAlso Available In Picture Disc And Cassette Editions<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2013 JUNE 28, 2022 — Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, R.E.M.\u2019s debut EP CHRONIC TOWN will be released for the first time ever as a standalone CD with extensive liner notes by the original producer Mitch Easter (Let\u2019s Active). It will be released in three different formats: CD, Picture Disc, and Cassette on August 19, 2022 via I.R.S.\/UMe and can be preordered here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Featuring such adored classics in the band\u2019s repertoire as \u201cGardening At Night,\u201d \u201cWolves, Lower,\u201d and \u201c1,000,000,\u201d the five-song EP, as Rolling Stone noted, \u201cserved notice that R.E.M. was an outfit to watch.\u201d As a debut release, R.E.M.\u2019s Chronic Town<\/em> became an anomaly\u2026 a record that didn\u2019t quite fit into the constraints of what was played on the radio. So instead of trying to fit into a genre, R.E.M. helped create their own: College Rock. The follow-up to their breakthrough single \u201cRadio Free Europe\u201d which was released in 1981, Chronic Town<\/em> served as the entry point to what would become one of Alternative Rock\u2019s biggest bands. \u201cOne might fancifully say that Chronic Town<\/em> was the sound of an expedition, ready for anything, setting forth,\u201d says Easter fondly about the EP. \u201cIf R.E.M. \u2018Radio Free Europe\u2019 single was a signpost, the Chronic Town<\/em> EP was the atlas.”<\/p>\n

Introducing their arpeggiated guitar playing, cryptic and often indecipherable lyrics, and radiant choruses that would soon emerge as signatures of the classic R.E.M. sound, Chronic Town<\/em> is the sound of a restless band, chock-full of ideas, operating on a post-collegiate budget. Charmingly ragged and refreshingly immediate, it established the band indelibly upon impact. \u201cWolves, Lower\u201d opens the EP with Michael Stipe\u2019s trademark impressionistic and idiosyncratic lyrics, while Mike Mills\u2019 rubbery bass lines and Peter Buck\u2019s jangly Rickenbacker keeps Bill Berry\u2019s unpredictable drumming in check. It\u2019s this combination that would not only fuel the band for subsequent decades but make them equally as dependable as songsmiths. Serving as a template for \u201880s college jangle pop, \u201cGardening At Night\u201d forged a style that combined heartily strummed rhythm guitars with a meandering bass line that proved to be a solid blueprint for college bands to come.<\/p>\n

Critically hailed both upon release and in retrospect, Chronic Town<\/em> heralded \u201ca great band planting their flag in the ground, a historic landmark that portended great things that actually came\u201d (Stereogum). The Stranger praised \u201ceverything about the EP, from its gnomic, blue-tinted cover art, to its restlessly discursive music, to the fact that the two sides both had their own titles (\u2018Chronic Town\u2019 and \u2018Poster Torn\u2019), was not only good on its own merits, but an excellent influence in favor of obscurantism and understatement.\u201d Chronic Town\u2019s<\/em> impact and influence on the future of alternative music is uncontested and described by Magnet Magazine as \u201cessentially a template for the entire indie-rock movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

R.E.M. – CHRONIC TOWN<\/em>
\n1. Wolves, Lower
\n2. Gardening At Night
\n3. Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
\n4. 1,000,000
\n5. Stumble<\/p>\n

R.E.M. “Wolves, Lower”
\nVid: https:\/\/youtu.be\/zJB628tWEHk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Available For The First Time As A Standalone CD via I.R.S. \/ UMe With Extensive Liner Notes By Producer MITCH EASTER Also Available In Picture Disc And Cassette Editions LOS ANGELES \u2013 JUNE 28, 2022 […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":71362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15771,15768,15769,15770,15767],"class_list":{"0":"post-71361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news-wires","8":"tag-bill-berry","9":"tag-chronic-town","10":"tag-michael-stipe","11":"tag-mike-mills","12":"tag-rem"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}