The reissues span from R.E.M.'s 1988 Warner debut Green to this fall's Around the Sun, and mark the band's transition from indie favorites to one of the world's biggest bands.
"These days, there are R.E.M. fans who think 'Stand' or even 'Losing My Religion' is the first song the band ever wrote," bassist Mike Mills told Rolling Stone in 1991. "The people who listen to Top Forty are generally not R.E.M. record buyers -- or they weren't until the last year or two. It's kind of surprising to listen to the fourteen-year-old girls call up and go, 'How long have you been together? I like your first record.' And it's like 'No, no. See, the first record came out when you were about one year old.'"
Typical of the bonus material is the extra disc for Out of Time, which includes the unreleased documentary Time Piece, a blend of band member interviews and commentary on songs from the album that made R.E.M. a household name.
R.E.M. finish their U.S. tour Sunday with a show at Albuquerque's Kive Auditorium, before heading to Europe in January.
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