OK, the last time I did one of these updates, I expressed disappointment that the re-release of “Reckoning” would be paired with a disc from the Dublin rehearsals prior to the Accelerate release. A few people pointed out the fallacy in my logic and told me to stop whining. Well, they were right.
The Reckoning release and the live Dublin CD are separate. I clumsily read the initial news item, but got confirmation this week I was wrong when the Reckoning date was announced this week. So on June 23, geeks like me will head out to add another copy of R.E.M.’s second full-length release to our collection.
As a bonus, we will get a recording of a July 1984 show from Chicago. I’m sure I have heard this show at some point and might have a CD lying around the house with it, but I will avoid the temptation to look for it so that it can be a nice little surprise next month. I guess a few songs will disappear like they did with the concert paired with Murmur, but that doesn’t bother me too much.
Tony Fletcher, author of the first and probably best biographies of the band, will provide the liner notes. That should be fun.