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Dead Letter Office
Compilation album by R.E.M.
Released	27 April 1987
Recorded	1981-1986
Genre	College rock
Length	43:22 63:51 (with Chronic Town EP)
Label	I.R.S. Records
Producer(s)	Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Joe Boyd, Don Gehman and R.E.M.
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
R.E.M. chronology
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)	Dead Letter Office (1987)	Document (1987)

Dead Letter Office is a rarities and B-sides collection by R.E.M., released in 1987. The album effectively mops up many of the additional recordings R.E.M. made pre-Murmur to Lifes Rich Pageant that were outtakes or released as flip sides to their singles internationally. Many of the tracks are favorite cover versions indicating the band's disparate influences and musical tastes, including three Velvet Underground covers, and songs by Pylon, Aerosmith and Roger Miller.

Guitarist Peter Buck composed wry, self-deprecating (and, in one instance, apologetic) liner notes to the songs on Dead Letter Office.

The album was initially issued as a 15-song collection on vinyl and cassette, but when its CD edition appeared (now the only available edition of Dead Letter Office), the legendary (and rare) Chronic Town EP from 1982 was slotted in.

Dead Letter Office originally reached #52 in the U.S. and #60 in the UK.

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 The IRS Years reissue 1.2 Notes 2 Charts 3 External links

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except as indicated.

1. "Crazy" (Randy Bewley, Vanessa Briscoe, Curtis Crowe, Michael Lachowski) – 3:03 (B-side of Driver 8 7 inch & Wendell Gee 7 & 12 inch)
2. "There She Goes Again" (Lou Reed) – 2:50 (B-Side of I.R.S. Radio Free Europe 7 inch)
3. "Burning Down" – 4:12 (B-Side of Wendell Gee 7 & 12 inch)
4. "Voice of Harold"¹ – 4:24 (B-Side So. Central Rain 12 inch)
5. "Burning Hell" – 3:49 (B-Side Can't Get There From Here 12 inch)
6. "White Tornado" – 1:55 (#B-Side of Superman 7 & 12 inch)
7. "Toys in the Attic" (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) – 2:28
8. "Windout" (Jerry Ayers, Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 1:58
9. "Ages of You" – 3:42 (B-Side of Wendell Gee 7 & 12 inch)
10. "Pale Blue Eyes" (Reed) – 2:53 (B-Side So. Central Rain 12 inch)
11. "Rotary Ten" – 2:00 (B-Side of Fall on Me 7 inch)
12. "Bandwagon" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Lynda Stipe, M. Stipe) – 2:16 (B-Side Can't Get There From Here 7 & 12 inch)
13. "Femme Fatale" (Reed) – 2:49 (B-Side of Superman 12 inch)
14. "Walter's Theme" – 1:32 (B-Side So. Central Rain 7 inch)
15. "King of the Road"² (Roger Miller) – 3:13 (B-Side So. Central Rain 7 inch)
16. "Wolves, Lower" – 4:10
17. "Gardening at Night" – 3:29
18. "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" – 3:54
19. "1,000,000" – 3:06
20. "Stumble" – 5:40

Note that tracks 16 - 20 were originally released on the Chronic Town EP in 1982 and added to CD edition of Dead Letter Office.

On January 26, 1993, EMI (which owns the I.R.S. catalogue) re-released Dead Letter Office with two bonus tracks:

21. "Gardening at Night" (Acoustic version)
22. "All the Right Friends"

¹ Features the backing track of "7 Chinese Bros." with Stipe reading the liner notes from the back cover of a gospel album (The Joy Of Knowing Jesus) by The Revelaires.

² Buck says this track was recorded extemporaneously during a recording session while the band was drunk. It consists mostly of Stipe fumbling through the lyrics as Buck and Mills try to arrive at the same key.

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1987	The Billboard 200	52 (14 weeks on chart)
1987	UK Albums Chart	60 (2 weeks on chart)

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1987	"Ages of You"	Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	39

• Dead Letter Office at MusicBrainz

R.E.M.
Peter Buck  ·  Mike Mills  ·  Michael Stipe
Bill Berry
Other musicians: Scott McCaughey  ·  Bill Rieflin  ·  Ken Stringfellow  ·  Nathan December  ·  Buren Fowler  ·  Peter Holsapple  ·  Barrett Martin  ·  Joey Waronker
Management and producers: Bertis Downs, IV  ·  Pat McCarthy  ·  Jefferson Holt  ·  Scott Litt Joe Boyd  ·  Don Dixon  ·  Mitch Easter  ·  Don Gehman
Discography
Albums and EPs: Chronic Town  ·  Murmur  ·  Reckoning  ·  Fables of the Reconstruction  ·  Lifes Rich Pageant  ·  Document  ·  Green  ·  Out of Time  ·  Automatic for the People  ·  Monster  ·  New Adventures in Hi-Fi  ·  Up  ·  Reveal  ·  Around the Sun
Singles: See here
Compilations: Dead Letter Office  ·  Eponymous  ·  The Best of R.E.M.  ·  Singles Collected  ·  In the Attic  ·  In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003  ·  And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987
Remix album: R.E.M.IX
Soundtrack: Man on the Moon
Videos: Succumbs  ·  Tourfilm  ·  Pop Screen  ·  This Film Is On  ·  Parallel  ·  Road Movie  ·  In View: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003  ·  Perfect Square  ·  When the Light Is Mine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987
Related articles
Alternative rock  ·  Hindu Love Gods  ·  I.R.S. Records  ·  Warner Bros. Records  ·  Homer the Moe
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