Cover art to Chronic Town
Chronic Town is the debut EP by R.E.M., released on August 24, 1982 on the I.R.S. Records label. It was recorded after the minor college radio success of the band's debut single "Radio Free Europe" (released on the Hib-Tone label) between 1981 and and 1982. The musical style demostrates R.E.M.'s early I.R.S. work—prominent arpegiatted guitar playing, murmured vocals and cryptic lyrics. It is available on vinyl and cassette, but its only current availability on a CD release is on the end of the compilation album Dead Letter Office. Chronic Town runs for 20:26 and was produced by Mitch Easter, with R.E.M..
Track listing
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.
- "Wolves, Lower" – 4:10
- "Gardening at Night" – 3:29
- "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" – 3:54
- "1,000,000" – 3:06
- "Stumble" – 5:40
Side one (1–3) was originally labelled "Chronic Town" and side two (4–5) was labelled as "Poster Torn". The back cover of the EP shows the track order incorrectly listed as (4-5-1-2-3), mixing up side-one (1-2-3) with side-two (4-5). On the Dead Letter Office CD, they were placed in proper sequence. However, that release's insert reproduction of the EP's back cover does not correct the running order. The official R.E.M. website repeats the error.