Vinyl love: R.E.M. “Out of time”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: R.E.M.
Album Title: Out of time
Year released: 1991
Year reissued: 2016
Details: 25th anniversary, 180 gram vinyl

The skinny: Going backwards through R.E.M.’s discography more than 25 years after each album was released, we have the benefit of hindsight. When their 7th studio album was released in 1991, “Out of time” felt like the Athens, Georgia quartet were at their peak. Of course, when set alongside the focus of last week’s ‘Vinyl love’ post, it feels a bit uneven and of its time, rather than out of it. Still, it has some amazing tunes – “Losing my religion”, “Low”, “Near wild heaven”, “Belong”, and yes, even the ultra-technicolor “Shiny happy people” – and it was a huge commercial success for a band that had taken a break from touring to focus on studio recordings. This was the first of the 25th anniversary reissues I picked up on in advance of its release. Much like the others we’ve already seen in this series, it is remastered from the original analog masters and pressed to audiophile, 180 gram vinyl. Another must have for an alt-rock music fan like myself

Standout track: “Losing my religion”