R.E.M. celebrate the 25th anniversary of their tenth studio album ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ with a special reissue

R.E.M. celebrate the 25th anniversary of their tenth studio album 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi' with a special reissue 1
Photo Credit: Chris Bilheimer

Craft Recordings proudly celebrates the 25th anniversary of R.E.M.’s tenth studio album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, with a special reissue set for release on October 29. The bonus-filled 2-CD/1-Blu-ray Deluxe Edition offers a trove of audio-visual content, including the newly remastered album, 13 B-sides and rarities, a never-before-released 64-minute outdoor projection film (shown on buildings across five cities in 1996 to promote the album’s original release), and a previously unreleased 30-minute EPK.

Additionally, the Blu-ray features New Adventures in Hi-Fi in stunning Hi-Res and 5.1 Surround Sound audio, plus five HD-restored music videos including “Bittersweet Me,” “Electrolite,” and “E-Bow the Letter.” Housed in a 52-page hardcover book, the collection includes archival photographs—many of which have never been published—plus new liner notes from journalist Mark Blackwell and reflections from all four original band members, as well as from Patti Smith, Thom Yorke, and producer Scott Litt.

An Expanded Edition is also available as a 2-CD or digital collection, including the remastered album along with B-sides and rarities. The 2-CD offers an exclusive 24” x 24” poster and four collectable postcards, as well as a booklet featuring new liner notes and archival photos. Additionally, the newly remastered album will be available as a 2-LP set, pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Fans can preview all physical formats via the official unboxing trailer below. A limited-edition pressing on clear and black marbled vinyl is also available exclusively at R.E.M.’s official store (limited to 1,000 worldwide), along with special New Adventures in Hi-Fi merchandise.

Available via digital platforms today, ahead of the album, is the advanced single “Leave – Alternate Version.” Originally recorded for the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack, the single offers a haunting, sparse, siren-less version of New Adventures album track “Leave,” for which Michael Stipe re-recorded the vocals. Reflects Stipe, “I actually might prefer this version to the one that’s on the record… Well, I wouldn’t say I prefer it, it just tells a different story with the lyric.”

First released in September 1996, New Adventures in Hi-Fi endures as one of R.E.M.’s most acclaimed albums and stands as a favourite among band members and fans alike. The album was a global success, achieving platinum certification in the US and peaking at No.2 on the Billboard 200. Elsewhere, the album went to No.1 in more than a dozen countries, including Australia, the UK, and Canada. Critically, New Adventures in Hi-Fi received wide praise and was named as one of the best albums of the year by such outlets as Rolling Stone, Spin, Mojo, Entertainment Weekly, and the NME. Over the decades, the title has achieved cult status, with several press retrospectives ranking it among the top albums in R.E.M.’s rich catalogue of releases.

Recorded at the height of their fame, New Adventures in Hi-Fi also marks R.E.M.’s final album with drummer and founding member Bill Berry, who left the group amicably the following year. Perhaps most remarkable, however, is that the album found the band taking a unique creative approach: writing and recording much of the LP on the road, during their 1995 Monster tour.

While writing new material on the road wasn’t an unusual feat for R.E.M., New Adventures was unlike anything they had done before. As they embarked on tour, the band sought to create an abstract travelogue documenting every emotion and experience as it happened. “We wanted to make a record about being on the road without singing about being on the road,” bassist Mike Mills explains in the liner notes. “The idea was that the feeling of being on the road would come through in the sound and feel of the record itself.”

The band traveled with a mobile recording truck, capturing new songs on an 8-track during soundchecks (as well as in various backstage areas and on the tour bus). “The idea was, ‘Let’s challenge ourselves,’” guitarist Peter Buck tells Blackwell. “My feeling was, it’ll show exactly where we’re at right now in a way that maybe some of the records don’t at all. This record was just an attempt to be who we were at that minute.”

The year-long outing, which began in January 1995, marked R.E.M.’s first tour in six years. As one of the biggest bands in the world, the quartet played to packed arenas across North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan, with support from acts like Sonic Youth and Radiohead. But along the way, the tour was marred by medical emergencies. In March, Berry collapsed on stage from an aneurism and spent the next month recuperating. Mills, meanwhile, underwent intestinal surgery in June. A month later, Stipe had emergency surgery for a hernia (which, he asserts, occurred while performing the song, “Undertow”).

After the band returned from the eventful—yet highly successful—run of dates, they entered the studio with their longtime producer, Scott Litt, to record a few final tracks and put finishing touches on others. Among them was the epic, seven-minute-long “Leave;” “E-Bow the Letter,” featuring backing vocals from the legendary singer-songwriter Patti Smith; “New Test Leper,” which Buck proclaims is his favorite R.E.M. song; and “How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us,” one of several songs on the album inspired by Stipe’s experiences living in Los Angeles.

Upon its release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi marked R.E.M.’s longest studio album, with a total run-time of 65 minutes. Filled with cinematic storytelling, haunting effects, and dissonant notes, New Adventures in Hi-Fi found R.E.M. exploring diverse sonic territories—particularly in songs like “Low Desert,” which, Berry describes, is “just dusty and kind of slow and it’s swampy…I feel isolated when I listen to that song, but it’s a good thing.” Stipe adds that the song offers such questions as, “‘What are we doing in the desert? What are we doing in the American West? What are we doing in this unlivable, uninhabitable place?’” Other tracks, like “Departure” and “The Wake-Up Bomb” deliver classic R.E.M. rock vibes.

The band looks back on New Adventures in Hi-Fi with great pride. Buck, perhaps, sums it up best. “Most records, you go in the studio and you just do ’em. And years later all you really remember is vaguely where you stayed, and the songs and the recording process. But this one I remember every bit of it. It was an experience. It was f**king tough, but we made a record. And it was as challenging as anything I’ve ever done.”

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New Adventures in Hi-Fi 25th-anniversary tracklists:

Deluxe Edition (2-CD/1-Blu-Ray):

Disc 1 – New Adventures in Hi-Fi (remastered audio)

How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us

The Wake-Up Bomb

New Test Leper

Undertow

E-Bow the Letter

Leave

Departure

Bittersweet Me

Be Mine

Binky the Doormat

Zither

So Fast, So Numb

Low Desert

Electrolite

Disc 2 – B-sides and Rarities

Tricycle (Instrumental)

Departure (Live Rome Soundcheck / Rome, Italy / 2/22/1995)

Wall of Death

Undertow (Live / Atlanta, GA / 11/18/1995)

Wichita Lineman (Live / Houston, TX / 9/15/1995)

New Test Leper (Live Acoustic / Seattle, WA / 4/19/1996)

The Wake-Up Bomb (Live / Atlanta, GA / 10/4/1995)

Binky the Doormat (Live / Atlanta, GA / 11/18/1995)

King of Comedy (808 State Remix)

Be Mine (Mike on Bus version)

Love Is All Around

Sponge

Leave (Alternate Version)

Disc 3 (Blu-Ray)

R.E.M. Outdoor Projections – Saturday Sept 7, 1996 – 5 cities (64:56)

New Adventures in Hi-Fi EPK – previously unreleased 30 min version (29:13)

New Adventures in Hi-Fi 5.1 Audio

New Adventures in Hi-Fi – Hi-Resolution Audio

E-Bow the Letter (Music Video)

Bittersweet Me (Music Video)

Electrolite (Music Video)

How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us (Music Video)

New Test Leper (Music Video)

Expanded Edition (2-CD):

Disc 1 – New Adventures in Hi-Fi (remastered audio)

1. How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us

2. The Wake-Up Bomb

3. New Test Leper

4. Undertow

5. E-Bow the Letter

6. Leave

7. Departure

8. Bittersweet Me

9. Be Mine

10. Binky the Doormat

11. Zither

12. So Fast, So Numb

13. Low Desert

14. Electrolite

Disc 2 – B-Sides and Rarities

1. Tricycle (Instrumental)

2. Departure (Live Rome Soundcheck / Rome, Italy / 2/22/1995)

3. Wall of Death

4. Undertow (Live / Atlanta, GA / 11/18/1995)

5. Wichita Lineman (Live / Houston, TX / 9/15/1995)

6. New Test Leper (Live Acoustic / Seattle, WA / 4/19/1996)

7. The Wake-Up Bomb (Live / Atlanta, GA / 10/4/1995)

8. Binky the Doormat (Live / Atlanta, GA / 11/18/1995)

9. King of Comedy (808 State Remix)

10. Be Mine (Mike on Bus Version)

11. Love Is All Around

12. Sponge

13. Leave (Alternate Version)

New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Vinyl):

Side A

1. How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us

2. The Wake-Up Bomb

3. New Test Leper

Side B

1. Undertow

2. E-Bow the Letter

3. Leave

Side C

1. Departure

2. Bittersweet Me

3. Be Mine

4. Binky the Doormat

Side D

1. Zither

2. So Fast, So Numb

3. Low Desert

4. Electrolite

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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