Twenty-five years after its release, R.E.M.’s Reveal returns in an expanded anniversary edition. Arriving November 20 via Craft Recordings, the collection pairs the band’s acclaimed 2001 album with The Black Sessions Revealed, a previously unreleased 17-song performance recorded for Radio France just days before Reveal hit shelves.
Available as a deluxe 2-CD/Blu-ray set and expanded digital edition, Reveal (25th Anniversary Edition) features reimagined cover art by longtime R.E.M. designer Chris Bilheimer. The physical edition comes housed in a 32-page hardcover book with archival photography and new liner notes from journalist Birgit Fuss, including fresh reflections from Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills. The Blu-ray adds high-resolution and 5.1 surround sound audio, the album’s three music videos, and its original EPK.
The Black Sessions Revealed also makes its standalone vinyl debut as a 2-LP set. REMHQ.com will offer exclusive Neon Orange vinyl of Reveal and Neon Pink vinyl of The Black Sessions Revealed, alongside new anniversary merchandise. The Black Sessions performance of “Imitation of Life” is available to stream today.
→ PRE-ORDER REVEAL (25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
CHASING THE SUN
Following the departure of founding drummer Bill Berry and the experimental turn of 1998’s Up, R.E.M. entered the making of Reveal on steadier ground. Working again with producer Pat McCarthy, the band recorded across Athens, Vancouver, Dublin, and Miami, layering guitars, keyboards, and electronic textures into one of the most atmospheric records in their catalog.
Without necessarily setting out to make one, R.E.M. ended up with what Mike Mills calls a “buoyant summertime record,” balancing warmth and bright pop melodies with a distinctly wistful undercurrent.
At one point, the summer feeling became literal. Struggling to write during a cold, damp stretch in Dublin, Michael Stipe headed for warmer weather. “I jumped on a plane and chased the sun,” he recalls. The trip produced “Disappear” and “I’ve Been High,” while “Imitation of Life” was finished on a beach.
The result was a record that Mills now calls R.E.M.’s “most underrated,” adding that Reveal captures a feeling that runs through the entire album.
A DIFFERENT SIDE OF R.E.M.
Released in May 2001, Reveal debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and reached No. 1 in the UK, while topping charts across Europe. Its lead single, “Imitation of Life,” became a fixture of R.E.M.’s live sets through the end of the band’s career, followed by “All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)” and “I’ll Take the Rain.”
The era also produced some particularly inventive visuals. Garth Jennings constructed the “Imitation of Life” video from just 20 seconds of footage from a pool party, repeatedly shifting the viewer’s focus through the scene. Michael Moore directed “All the Way to Reno” at a Brooklyn high school with students joining the production, while “I’ll Take the Rain” became R.E.M.’s first entirely animated music video.
But unlike most R.E.M. albums, Reveal didn’t lead to a traditional tour. Instead, the band played a limited number of promotional performances around its release, making documents from the period relatively rare.
THE BLACK SESSIONS REVEALED
One of those performances took place for Radio France in Paris on May 7, 2001, just days before Reveal was released.
Joined by Scott McCaughey on guitar, Ken Stringfellow on keyboards, and Joey Waronker on drums, R.E.M. moved between brand-new material and songs from across their catalog. The 17-song set stretches from “Imitation of Life,” “The Lifting,” and “I’ve Been High” to “The One I Love,” “Losing My Religion,” “Man on the Moon,” and “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry).”
It’s also a snapshot of R.E.M. figuring out how Reveal worked onstage at a point when its songs were still completely new. As Buck puts it, “It’s a cool performance of a lot of songs that we didn’t really play live that much.”
LISTENING NOTES
“Imitation of Life”
The natural starting point for Reveal: bright, immediate, and endlessly melodic. Then jump to the newly released Black Sessions version to hear what happened when the song left the studio.
“All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)”
One of the best places to hear Reveal’s hazy summer atmosphere, with a title that promises stardom while the song itself feels considerably more complicated.
“I’ve Been High”
Born from Stipe’s escape from rainy Dublin in search of sunlight, it trades the album’s brighter pop moments for something dreamier and more hypnotic.
“I’ll Take the Rain”
For the wistful side of R.E.M.’s “summer album.” A slow-burning counterpoint to the sunnier “Imitation of Life,” it shows just how many moods fit inside Reveal.
“So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” – Live at The Black Sessions
Here’s a reason to dig into the live set beyond the Reveal material: a song dating back to R.E.M.’s early years landing inside this intimate 2001 performance, nearly two decades later.
SUMMER, REVEALED
Twenty-five years later, Reveal occupies a distinctive place in R.E.M.’s catalog: a bright yet wistful record made after the band had found its footing as a three-piece and discovered a new way forward.
The anniversary edition fills in the picture from both sides. The expanded audio and visual material returns listeners to the carefully layered world of the studio album, while The Black Sessions Revealed captures those songs outside it, newly written and being brought to the stage alongside nearly two decades of R.E.M. history.
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