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Dead Letter Office
 
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Dead Letter Office

R.E.M.
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews) | More about this product
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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Crazy 3:03$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. There She Goes Again 2:50$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Burning Down 4:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Voice Of Harold 4:25$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. Burning Hell 3:49$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. White Tornado 1:56$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Toys In The Attic 2:30$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Wind Out 2:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Ages Of You 3:44$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Pale Blue Eyes 2:54$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Rotary Ten 2:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Bandwagon 2:17$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. Femme Fatale 2:50$0.99 Buy Track
listen14. Walter's Theme 1:31$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. King Of The Road 3:16$0.99 Buy Track
listen16. Wolves, Lower 4:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen17. Gardening At Night 3:30$0.99 Buy Track
listen18. Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) 3:55$0.99 Buy Track
listen19. 1,000,000 3:06$0.99 Buy Track
listen20. Stumble 5:39$0.99 Buy Track

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Dead Letter Office + Reckoning + Fables of the Reconstruction
Price For All Three: $25.97

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  • This item: Dead Letter Office ~ R.E.M.

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  • Reckoning ~ R.E.M.

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  • Fables of the Reconstruction ~ R.E.M.

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
  • Original Release Date: January 1, 1987
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: A&M
  • ASIN: B000001I0I
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,472 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #78 in  Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Rock
    #86 in  Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Jangle Pop

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Editorial Reviews

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While purists will insist on an undiluted copy of the band's 1982 Chronic Town EP, R.E.M. completists (and those who just like a lot of tracks for their money) will be grateful for the inclusion of 15 additional B-sides and curios on this 1987 compilation. Not surprisingly, the non-Chronic material is a mixed blessing: while R.E.M. were much beloved for being notorious cover-whores during those early Athens live shows, their reverent takes on Velvet Underground classics stand the test of time far better than their odes to Roger Miller and Aerosmith. But all that will be forgotten by the time Chronic Town's "Wolves, Lower" kicks in, signaling the official arrival of a band that forever changed the face of Southern rock. --Bill Forman
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Customer Reviews

53 Reviews
5 star:
 (24)
4 star:
 (16)
3 star:
 (11)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (53 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars You kind of had to be there...., November 13, 2004
By Clare Quilty (a little pad in hawaii) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
... which is not to say I was hitting the Athens club scene in the mid-late-80s, I was a disgruntled high schooler in a hick town with a few cool-nerdy friends and we spent a lot of time trying to figure out ways to obtain beer and places to sit around and drink it. That's when we began to stain our pink lungs with cigarettes and sit on the hoods of cars in fields, playing music on a one-speaker boom box: Elvis Costello's "Trust" and "Armed Forces," Warren Zevon, They Might Be Giants, "Nebraska," the Violent Femmes and, especially, REM's "Dead Letter Office."

I completely respect a band's right to make the music they want to make, but at the same time I'm firmly a fan of REM's pre-"Losing My Religion" stuff (so fans of latter albums should take my 5-star rave with several grains of salt). And I love "Reckoning" and "Fables" and "Murmur" and most of all "Life's Rich Pageant." They're great, hand-tooled classics.

But "Dead Letter" is loose, banged-out, sloppy music by a surly young band for surly young people growing up in the waning days of the Reagan era.

"Ages of You" and "Voice of Harold" and "Rotary Ten" and "King of the Road" just kind of sum up winter, 87, for me and I can't listen to them without thinking about warm cans of Milwaukee's Best, Lucky Strikes and cottonmouth. And the covers of "There She Goes Again" and "Femme Fatale" led me directly to the Velvet Underground. Let me say that again: This Album Led Me to The Velvet Underground. Can an album, or anything, do more for a listener than that? I don't think so.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Rest, July 12, 2002
"Dead Letter Office" is a housecleaning effort from R.E.M.'s days on IRS records (1981-1987). As such it provides an interesting alternative view of the band. Several of the tracks reveal a goofy sense of humor that doesn't show itself on their "proper" albums. Two examples are "Voice of Harold," which features the backing track from "7 Chinese Brothers" as singer Michael Stipe reads a studio promotional flyer, and a cover of the Roger Miller country staple "King of the Road." The band acknowledges its considerable debt to the Velvet Underground by covering no less than three songs ("There She Goes Again," "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Femme Fatle") that are among the best performances here. Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic" even gets a workout. The CD includes the contents of the band's 1981 EP "Chronic Town" as a (very considerable) bonus.

Overall, rarities albums don't get much better than "Dead Letter Office."

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great REM, a great listen and a great buy, October 20, 1998
By A Customer
This is, quite simply, my favorite REM CD for repeat listening. The only track I feel is even remotely substandard is the mangled rendition of "King of the Road", and even that track is pretty good listening compared to the filler most bands use to fill out an album. The inclusion of the Chronic Town EP as the last five tracks on the disc are an added listening bonus, as this album provides one of the longest-playing REM CD's I own, and I'm just as happy to start over again at the beginning immediately after listening to it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars the best kind of trip down memory lane
When most of my friends were sulking to Led Zeppelin, grooving to Kool and the Gang, or screaming along with the Dead Kennedys, I was listening to REM, Aztec Camera, INXS, and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lorel Shea

3.0 out of 5 stars The covers are inconsequential, but there's some good eccentric southern rock here
DEAD LETTER OFFICE is a collection of B-sides R.E.M. recorded during its years on the IRS label (1982-1987), plus the band's first big release "Chronic Town" which was now... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Christopher Culver

4.0 out of 5 stars just what I needed to hear lately
Voice of Harold: it's real, they mean it.

I remember lines like that, it much more comes creeping over me when I listen to my old stuff. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Bruce P. Barten

3.0 out of 5 stars Hitting the Flea Market with R.E.M.
The main reason to get this CD was to pick up the long out-of-print "Chronic Town" EP. It was the first time R.E.M. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Tim Brough

4.0 out of 5 stars Humble beginnings and the choice leftovers
I had nearly forgotten about this record when I started re-perusing R.E.M.'s catalog the other day, but this was one of my favorites by the band from Athens. Read more
Published on February 23, 2007 by jokamachi

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for longtime R.E.M. fans
I admit that I was an REM fan from the release of Murmer. And yes, I am quite partial to the early stuff. I believe there are two REMs. the one before Green and the one after. Read more
Published on December 20, 2006 by SUPERMAN

3.0 out of 5 stars I.R.S. leftovers and the band's first EP
I can't honestly rank this among their finest works and I'm sure the band would say as much: this was never meant to be an "album". Read more
Published on October 7, 2006 by Greg Brady

4.0 out of 5 stars Delivered from the Recycle Bin
In the liner notes, Peter Buck says that this collection is like entering a junk shop. True, except there are some real finds to be made here. R.E.M. Read more
Published on September 17, 2006 by Rocky Raccoon

3.0 out of 5 stars A REALLY mixed bag
I am pretty much going to echo what most people here have already said - this album is necessary solely for the last 5 tracks (i.e. Read more
Published on June 6, 2005 by Vinny Mac

5.0 out of 5 stars Chronic Town + 15 other tracks
This is worth picking up solely to get the five tracks of the band's debut 12-inch EP, "Chronic Town. Read more
Published on May 30, 2005 by hyperbolium

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