Song of Time

Improvising sonic adventurers, weaving psychedelic tales across the cosmic tapestry of the Orangeverse. It’s all an illusion. Might as well be the imagination of an orange.

Improvising sonic adventurers, weaving psychedelic tales across the cosmic tapestry of the Orangeverse. It’s all an illusion. Might as well be the imagination of an orange.

Improvising sonic adventurers, weaving psychedelic tales across the cosmic tapestry of the Orangeverse. It’s all an illusion. Might as well be the imagination of an orange.

A quarter of a century after ‘Out Of Time’ helped break alternative music into the American mainstream and turned R.E.M. into a worldwide phenomenon, the band have announced a special 25th Anniversary Edition. After putting Athens, GA, on the musical map in the early '80s, R.E.M. went on to become one of the world's biggest bands. Fusing folk, garage rock, pop sensibilities, and insightful lyrics delivered with Michael Stipe's inimitable lead vocals, these alt-rock forefathers built a massive indie following, and in 1988 unleashed their major-label debut, Warner Bros. Green. This roots rock tour de force was followed in '91 by the Grammy-winning #1 blockbuster Out of Time, which led to an ongoing stream of masterpieces.

1991's Out of Time catapulted R.E.M. from an indie favorite to one of the biggest bands in the world, with hit singles 'Losing My Religion' and 'Shiny Happy People.' In a case-bound book, this deluxe, 25th anniversary edition features the remastered album, with a treasure trove of bonus material, including new liner notes, 19 never-before-heard demos, an unreleased 1991 live show.

Out of Time is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on March 12, 1991 by Warner Bros. Records. With Out of Time, R.E.M.'s status grew from that of a cult band to a massive international act. The record topped the album sales charts in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, spending 109 weeks on American album charts and enjoying two separate spells at the summit, and spending 183 weeks on the British charts and a single week at the top. The album has sold over four and a half million copies in the U.S. and over 18 million copies worldwide. The album won three Grammy Awards in 1992: one as Best Alternative Music Album, and two for the first single, "Losing My Religion." R.E.M. celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1991 blockbuster Out of Time by releasing a deluxe edition of the album. This was their first release with Concord Bicycle, who signed a licensing deal for the band's Warner albums in 2015, and it's appropriately splashy: there's a standard double-CD set with a full disc of unreleased material.

Song of Innocence is the debut album of American composer and producer David Axelrod. It was released in October 1968 by Capitol Records. Axelrod sought to capitalize on the experimental climate of popular music at the time and composed the album as a suite-like tone poem based on Songs of Innocence, a 1789 illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with an orchestra and a variety of studio musicians, including keyboardist and conductor Don Randi, guitarist Al Casey, bassist Carol Kaye, and drummer Earl Palmer. Song of Innocence is an instrumental jazz fusion record that incorporates elements of classical, rock, funk, pop, and theatre music. It is arranged for bass, drums, and string instruments, written in the rock idiom with tempos centered on rock-based patterns by Palmer. Axelrod used contrast in his orchestral compositions and interspersed the album's euphoric psychedelic R&B form with dramatic, harrowing arrangements to reflect the supernatural themes found in Blake's poems. The music's reverent, psychedelic overtones evoke their themes of innocence and spirituality.