'R.E.M. at the BBC' box set and album coming next month

"R.E.M. at the BBC," a super deluxe 8-CD/1-DVD box set, plus 2-CD, 2-LP and digital, includes rare studio and live recordings spanning nearly 25 Years, is due out Oct. 19 via Craft Recordings.

In-studio performances featured in the set include a John Peel Session (1998), Drive time and Mark and Lard appearances (2003) and a Radio 1 Live Lounge performance (2008). Live broadcasts include a show from Nottingham's Rock City (1984), the 1995 Milton Keynes Monster Tour (their first after a six-year break), a 1999 Glastonbury headline set and an invitation-only 2004 show at London's St James's Church.

The DVD has a 60-minute retrospective of the band's performances at the BBC in the Accelerating Backwards film - previously broadcast only in the UK and available commercially for the first time here.

Accelerating Backwards also includes interviews with Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe. The DVD also offers a complete 1998 Later....With Jools Holland episode dedicated to the band, plus TV appearances on Top of the Pops and more.

The package liner notes add yet more behind-the-scenes insight. Assorted BBC personalities reminiscence about what it was like to work with R.E.M both on stage and off. 

BBC DJ/Presenter Jo Whiley recalls, "Their Glastonbury performance in 1999 was a dazzling moment: the band storming through an all-killer, no-filler setlist. As a headline performance, it was a triumph and, for me, it's up there as one of the Glastonbury greats." 

Of a 2001 Top of the Pops performance, BBC Producer Mark Hagen muses, "Michael once told me that he hears in colors and it was one of those nights when you felt that you could reach out and touch the music as it flowed through the air, a glorious rolling cloud of green. Just like a kudzu vine in a dream." Journalist Tom Doyle also provides an overview of the entire thirty-year period.

In addition to the box set, The Best of R.E.M. at the BBC is also available via 2-CD and 2-LP formats. The Best of collection offers a selection of in-studio performance and live broadcast highlights. R.E.M. at the BBC will also be available to stream or download, with the digital album offering mirroring discs 1 to 8 from the box set.

The first instant grat single - version of "Losing My Religion" recorded in 1991 for BBC 1's Into The Night session - is available when you pre-order the box set or Best of album (Listen or Pre-order Here). New instant grat. singles will be released each week leading up to street date.