Quick Note: I originally titled this the 20th anniversary edition.  This sloppy mistake has been corrected, so without further ado . . .

I just got a listen to this edition of Out of Time. The first disc is the regular album in the same form it has always been and the second disc is a fistful of demoes (19 to be exact).  Frankly, I doubt this would be worth the investment except to completists and collectors.  I am no longer the former but I am still the latter.  On the whole, the demoes are well recorded and mixed.  It kind of demonstrates how they had moved up in the industry world.  By this time, they had signed with Warner Bros. and were benefitting from the healthy sales of Document and Green.   This would be their “breakout” album as its called in the industry.  In reality, it would be just another album with more money spent.  R.E.M. had always been a band that was nonchalant about the process (much like New Order).  Basically, the band makes the music, Michael Stipe pulls vocals from the ether and together they play with it until they’re pleased.  R.E.M. doesn’t seem to wrestle with the music like some other bands; they let it breathe.  These demoes demonstrate that approach.

Helpfully, you get two or more versions of most of the songs so you get an idea of their development.  The first several are instrumental beds of the songs.  The are well done and easy to listen to.  In fact, I think they could possibly stand on their own. This shows how much the production and vocals add to already strong material.   The demoes, on the most part, are nondescript.  They’re well done but rather lifeless compared to the end result.  Usually, their demoes are a completely different creature from the finished product.  Of course, we are not privy to the entire creative process but it does demonstrate who well thought out the songs were in advance.

With this edition, you get none of the drunk silly instrumental ramblings or badly performed good ideas that were never fleshed out.  Instead, you get the portrait of a band wholly confident and taking their muse for a ride.  The most interesting demo (to me, anyway) is the demo for Texarkana (the vocal version). The lyrics are completely different and show Michael Stipe trying to reach for ideas to fit the music.  Nowhere in the finished version is Texarkana mentioned but in this version the title stands out lyrically.  I can see why they kept the title.  Both the finished and demo versions of this song are great road music.  The album, in general, is good road music but this song is more so.

Is it worth buying?  That depends on you and how much of a fan you are.  I used to get any and every collectable by R.E.M. in their early days. I’m not quite the collector that I used to be but I really appreciate any band that is brave enough to open their creative process to the public (as the release of Dead Letter Office demonstrates).  R.E.M. have always been big record collectors/music fans and they do not forget that feeling in their releases.