R.E.M. to re-release debut EP Chronic Town to mark its 40th anniversary

By Paul Brannigan
published

Originally released in August 1982, R.E.M.'s debut EP is getting a 40th anniversary re-release

REM
(Image credit: Chris Walter/WireImage)

R.E.M.'s debut EP Chronic Town is being given a 40th anniversary re-release in August.

Originally released on  August 24, 1982, the five-track EP followed the Athens, Georgia band's debut single, Radio Free Europe: the re-release, set to emerge on August 19 via I.R.S./UMe, will be available on CD, picture disc, and cassette, and will feature liner notes from producer Mitch Easter.

“One might fancifully say that Chronic Town was the sound of an expedition, ready for anything, setting forth,” says Easter.  “If Radio Free Europe was a signpost, the Chronic Town EP was the atlas.”

Last year, R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe re-affirmed that the group's 2011 split was permanent. 

He told All Of It: “We will never reunite. We decided when we split up that that would just be really tacky and probably money-grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together. We don’t really need that, and I’m really happy that we just have the legacy of the 32 years of work that we have.”

Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.