R.E.M.
Dead Letter Office

Need any introductions? R.E.M. are a candy factory of any assortment, color, taste, and mood.
Unfortunately, I arrived too late and their records have already been heavily reviewed, but fortunately for me, I found this in an abandoned corner.

"Dead Letter Office" is a compilation of b-sides released in April 1987, when the quartet was finishing up recordings for "Document", an absolutely key album.
It includes 15 tracks recorded from 1981 to 1986, among which are several covers that outline and reveal the influences of the young and in some sense still novice musicians. The CD version also included tracks from the EP "Chronic Town", their very first debut.

Those who know them well are aware of how devoted Stipe and company are to the Velvet Underground, and indeed there are as many as three covers of the latter: "There She Goes Again", "Pale Blue Eyes", "Femme Fatale". Great classics delivered with elegance, respect, and personality.
In particular, I want to place on a pedestal their version of "Pale Blue Eyes", a song that brings to mind not-so-happy and not-so-distant memories of a breakup. With great respect, I find it more intimate and moving.
Among the other covers: a fun and carefree "King Of The Road" by Roger Miller (it is said that the band was drunk at the time of recording), the energetic "Toys In The Attic" by Aerosmith and "Crazy" by Pylon.

The original tracks, on the other hand, can be divided into two categories: the more mature ones and the more immature ones (and perhaps not yet convincing).
Starting with the second category, with "Burning Hell" we find R.E.M. in a more aggressive and more classic Rock guise. You can sense how they are not quite comfortable; luckily twenty years later they will prove everyone wrong with that wild card that is "Accelerate".
"White Tornado" and "Rotary Ten" are two brief instrumental pieces respectively colored with Surf Rock and Jazz; tracks that, especially "Rotary Ten", make you scratch your head... perhaps a bit out of place.

Among the more mature tracks there is certainly "Bandwagon", a fast song in the perfect "R.E.M. style of the time" written with the collaboration of Lynda Stipe, Michael's younger sister. Then how can we not mention "Voice Of Harold" (b-side of "So. Central Rain") and "Ages Of You" (b-side of "Wendell Gee"), tracks that would have certainly deserved a place in "Reckoning" and "Fables Of The Reconstruction", without any doubt. Great vocal exchange between Stipe and Mills in the second track mentioned.

In summary, an opportunity to listen to energetic, fresh (as always) and most importantly carefree R.E.M.