R.E.M. did a lot of things really well, but probably none of their releases captured what they did best better than their first EP. Following their first single by a year, and preceding their first album by nine months, Chronic Town introduced R.E.M. as masters of mega-exciting jangle-pop. Although there are none of the mysterious ballads like "Perfect Circle" or novelties like "We Walk" that would make Murmur a more eclectic platter, R.E.M.'s celebrated debut LP was not as consistently thrilling as Chronic Town. This is the sound of a young band with a serious fire in their collective belly, and tracks like "Wolves, Lower" and "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)" are as exciting as they'd ever get ("Gardening at Night" is pretty fierce too, though I do prefer the less mumbly alternate mix that would later appear on the Eponymous compilation). For CD enthusiasts, the only way to get Chronic Town since the beginning of that medium was as bonus tracks tacked onto the end of Dead Letter Office, a compilation of outtakes of varying quality largely outclassed by its bonus EP. For its fortieth anniversary, Chronic Town is receiving its first ever release as a stand alone CD in a cardboard sleeve and with new liner notes by co-producer Mitch Easter. I'm more of a vinyl enthusiast myself, but if CDs are your thing and you just have to have that neat gargoyle pic on the cover but don't mind missing out on Dead Letter Office's best tracks, such as R.E.M.'s definitive covers of Pylon's "Crazy" and Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic", I guess this is the release for you.
