With REVEAL being the next studio album in line for the 25th anniversary deluxe edition, what would you like to see included in the package options? Physical product design? What did you appreciate most about prior deluxe edition releases?
I would like to hear alternate or demos versions of songs that I donāt have already included. I have two alternate versions on the b side of the āImitation of Lifeā single. āThe Liftingā & āBeat a Drumā. I absolutely love both of them. I donāt know what other versions or demos from Reveal are out there. Original master recordings are nice to hear, I know they can be expensive.
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demos/outtakes would be cool. not really interested in live shows from this period.
a lot of reveal demos are floating around already and while they arenāt terribly interesting, theyād still be fun to have. seems such a waste for them not to dig through the vaults for these. some have been generous with unheard stuff and some have been disappointing. hard to tell what theyāre going for half the time with these reissues. not expecting reveal deluxe to be revelatory, but ATS has a chance to be if they do it properly.
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I think that the āwhat theyāre going for with these reissuesā feelings is a result of Michaelās reluctance to release demos. Iām really hoping that by the time they get to AtS heāll come to his senses (I remembering him praising the demos for this album in comparison to the album, so thereās still a chanceā¦)
āCome and Join Usā the leaked Reaveal instrumental demo has a version with lyrics, maybe a miracle will happen and weāll get to hear it in 2026ā¦
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I never got into the post-Berry releases all that much although I did buy them as they were released. I still havenāt gotten around to buying the 25th anniversary edition of Up. I bet it will consist of a remastered album and demos. Iām not into demos, so I may skip this one as well.
Re Michael potentially blocking demos, itās frustrating for sure. But as an artist myself (on a tiny speck of the scale of Michael) I know I would have to crawl in a hole and die if some of my first draft demo versions got released. Can only imagine how exposed it feels when the whole world is listening. So whilst I would love to hear these too I kinda get it in a way
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Michael always says that he looks for- and likes the - mistakes in photos that he takes. He should apply it to music and songwriting 
Peter, as usual, said it really well on the LMR song exploder episode, it was something along the lines of āI say to Michael - at this point it just history man. no one is going to remember you for the demos and if it makes a few fans happy so what the hellā¦ā
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Listening to Reveal today for the first time in ages, and thinking - whenever the reissue comes around, I hope they do an Atmos mix of it. Thereās just so much going on sonically here. Having that with a wider soundstage could be really special (revealing, even).
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R.E.M.'s most underrated album. I was just thinking about the 25th reissue the other day. Thought it was ages away but itās only next year! Time is moving fastā¦
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I think they did an atmos mix of it already, didnāt they? Somebody?
According to a previous thread, apparrently so far only Automatic For the People was remixed in Dolby Atmos.
Iād be curious to hear the original press only master released before their final amendments. That would give us a long overdue official release of Fascinating (the Around the Sun version that was released for charity is vastly inferior) and alternative mixes of many songs including Imitation of Life. Would be great to finally see how much their vision changed between that 14 song album and the final 12 song released version
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i didnāt realize the charity āfascinatingā was different!
I believe that the version they released for charity is identical to the version from Reveal that was leaked and then released on a promo-only compilation.
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murmur was released in atmos, but itās only available on apple music and tidal.
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Right. Thanks for the info. 
According to some sources including Discogs the band recorded two different versions of the song
The original Reveal promo version which later leaked
And the 2004 re-recording at Compass Point
These sources could of course be incorrect but they sound different to my ears. Not by much but I swear the 2004 version is a bit stiffer and Michaelās inflection is slightly different. Maybe they recorded some new parts over the original tracks. Purely speculative, I dunno
Either way, a great song
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Thanks. You clearly have better ears than me! But agreed, great song.
Chris from The R.E.M. Timeline here,
the version from the Reveal Advance CD from 2001 & the ā2004 versionā released in 2019 are the SAME recording. As you can see below, the waveforms which show the 2001 Reveal Advance version on top & the 2004 āversionā below it - & they are exactly the same, the same recording.
I have gone through the studio logs for the Around The Sun sessions in the R.E.M. Archives (from 2002 to 2004) and Fascinating was not recorded or worked on at all during those sessions & especially absent during the Compass Point sessions in 2004.
A few days before the release of Fascinating in September 2019, remHQ posted a photo of the CD which they took it from & it was a Reveal CD Version #1 Alt Sequence - EQ Reference CD from 15 December 2000, which had the following tracklisting:
- The Lifting 4:39
- Iāve Been High (VSO + 0.5%) 3:26
- She Just Wants (VSO + 1%) 5:22
- Reno (VSO + 0.75%) 4:52
- Disappear 4:15
- Saturn Return 4:55
- All I Want 4:20
- Fascinating 5:02
- Summer Turns To High (w/fx) 3:28
- Imitation Of Life (VSO + 0.9%) 4:51
- Free Form Jazz Jam 0:18
- Chorus & The Ring 4:31
- Iāll Take The Rain 5:51
- Beachball 4:14
So its very strange they had it from Compass Point when it wasnāt even recorded or worked on at those sessions.
In the archives regarding the Reveal sessions - there are a number of Warners Advance mix CDās from different dates, from as early as Nov 2000, before changing it to the released final version in early 2001.
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This is SO informative! Thank you, sir!