Chronic Town
Chronic Town is the first EP from R.E.M., released on 24 August 1982 on I.R.S. Records. Its five tracks were recorded at Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October 1981, eighteen months after the band formed. Mitch Easter, who had produced the "Radio Free Europe" single earlier that year, co-produced the sessions. The opening track, "Wolves, Lower", was recorded again in June 1982, two months before the EP came out.
It arrived before the debut album Murmur in 1983, so it captures the band at the very start of their story, in the jangle pop and indie rock mould that would define their early work. The title comes from a line in "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)", the third track, and the two sides carry names from the same lyric: "Chronic Town" for the first and "Poster Torn" for the second.
Chronic Town: tracklist and credits
5 tracks · 20:23Tracklist
- 1Wolves, LowerBerry, Buck, Mills, Stipe4:13
- 2Gardening at NightBerry, Buck, Mills, Stipe3:30
- 3Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe3:53
- 41,000,000Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe3:06
- 5StumbleBerry, Buck, Mills, Stipe5:41
- Produced by
- Mitch Easter, R.E.M.
- Recorded at
- Drive-In, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
- Recorded
- October 1981, January & June 1982
- Labels
- I.R.S. Records, I.R.S.
- Length
- 20:23
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
Released the same week
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + wikidata
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | August 1982 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 24 August 1982 | |
| Wikidata | 24 August 1982 | |
| US release | August 1982 | earliest US date |
13 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | JP | CBS/Sony | other | |
| — | US | I.R.S. Records | 04479705021 | other |
| 1982 | CA | I.R.S. Records | other | |
| 1982 | GR | Illegal Records | other | |
| 1982 | JP | I.R.S. Records | other | |
| August 1982 | US | I.R.S. Records | 044797050244 | original |
| August 1982 | US | I.R.S. Records | 044797050213 | original |
| 17 April 2010 | US | Interscope Records | 602527361864 | other |
| 27 May 2014 | US | A&M Records | 602537885725 | other |
| 31 March 2021 | XW | A&M Records | 00602537747092 | other |
| 19 August 2022 | XW | I.R.S. Records | 602445736430 | other |
| 19 August 2022 | US | I.R.S. Records | 602445736416 | other |
| 19 August 2022 | XE | I.R.S. Records | 602445736416 | other |
Cover art sources
itunes · native: native 1500x1500
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| itunes ✓ | 1500×1500 | native: native 1500x1500 |
| coverartarchive | 1314×1292 | upscaled |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |