Out of Time (album)



Out of Time is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on March 12, 1991 by Warner Bros. Records. With Out of Time, R.E.M.'s status grew from that of a cult band to a massive international act. The record topped the album sales charts in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, spending 109 weeks on American album charts and enjoying two separate spells at the summit, and spending 183 weeks on the British charts and a single week at the top. The album has sold over four and a half million copies in the U.S. and over 18 million copies worldwide. The album won three Grammy Awards in 1992: one as Best Alternative Music Album, and two for the first single, "Losing My Religion."

Details
Out of Time combines elements of pop, folk and classical music heard on their previous album Green, with a new concentration on country elements that would continue on 1992's Automatic for the People.

Preceded by the release of "Losing My Religion", which became R.E.M.'s biggest U.S. hit, Out of Time gave them their first U.S. and UK No. 1 album. The band did not tour to support the release. In Germany, it is the band's best-selling album, selling more than 1,250,000 copies, reaching 5×gold. Out of Time was the first R.E.M. album to have an alternative expanded release on compact disc, including expanded liner notes and postcards. In Spain, a contest was held to have a limited edition cover with the winner being an abstract oil painting.

The album was featured in Time magazine's unranked list of The All-Time 100 Albums.

Several re-packagings were released for the album's 25th anniversary edition through Concord Records on November 18, 2016.

Packaging
Warner Brothers executive Jeff Gold, alongside Rock the Vote campaign co-founder and Virgin Records executive Jeff Ayeroff, approached R.E.M. in regards to printing a petition on the back of Out of Time's CD longbox packaging in the United States where buyers were encouraged to sign their name in support for Rock the Vote, who were in support of the Motor Voter Act to ease voter registration, and would allow voters "to register through their local DMV." Gold reasoned, considering many of the album's buyers would be young, that this could "vote out" the controversial Parents Music Resource Center music censorship bill, who "put pressure on the creators and distributors of 'objectionable' music," as well as make good use of the popular longbox packaging format of the day, which many artists and customers considered unnecessary and wasteful. Michael Stipe also appeared in a public service announcement for the campaign.

In July 2014, radio show 99% Invisible said that because of this packaging, Out of Time is "the most politically significant album in the history of the United States." They said that three weeks after the album's release, "they had received 10,000 petitions, 100 per senator, and they just kept coming in in droves," and a month following its release, the campaign's political director and members of KMD "wheeled a shopping cart full of the first 10,000 petitions into a senate hearing." The bill was eventually passed in 1995 by Bill Clinton; one commentary later said this happened "in no small part because of R.E.M.’s lobbying."

Track listing
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

Side one – "Time side"
 * 1) "Radio Song" (feat. KRS-One) – 4:12
 * 2) "Losing My Religion" – 4:26
 * 3) "Low" – 4:55
 * 4) "Near Wild Heaven" – 3:17
 * 5) "Endgame" – 3:48

Side two – "Memory side"
 * 1) "Shiny Happy People" – 3:44
 * 2) "Belong" – 4:03
 * 3) "Half a World Away" – 3:26
 * 4) "Texarkana" – 3:36
 * 5) "Country Feedback" – 4:07
 * 6) "Me in Honey" – 4:06

Note
 * LP and Cassette releases list Side 1 (tracks 1–5) as Time Side and Side 2 (tracks 6–11) as Memory Side

The 25th anniversary re-release includes several expanded editions:

Disc two – demos
 * 1) "Losing My Religion 1" (demo)
 * 2) "Near Wild Heaven 1" (demo)
 * 3) "Shiny Happy People 1" (demo)
 * 4) "Texarkana 1" (demo)
 * 5) "Untitled Demo 2"
 * 6) "Radio – Acoustic" ("Radio Song 1" demo)
 * 7) "Near Wild Heaven 2" (demo)
 * 8) "Shiny Happy People 2" (demo)
 * 9) "Slow Sad Rocker" ("Endgame" demo)
 * 10) "Radio Band" ("Radio Song 3" demo)
 * 11) "Losing My Religion 2" (demo)
 * 12) "Belong" (demo)
 * 13) "Blackbirds" ("Half a World Away" demo)
 * 14) "Texarkana" (demo)
 * 15) "Country Feedback" (demo)
 * 16) "Me on Keyboard" ("Me in Honey" demo)
 * 17) "Low" (demo)
 * 18) "40 Sec." ("40 Second Song" demo)
 * 19) "Fretless 1" (demo)

Disc three – Mountain Stage, 1991
 * 1) Introduction
 * 2) "World Leader Pretend"
 * 3) "Radio Song"
 * 4) "Fall On Me"
 * 5) "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
 * 6) "Half a World Away"
 * 7) "Belong"
 * 8) "Love Is All Around"
 * 9) "Losing My Religion"
 * 10) "Dallas" (featuring Billy Bragg, Clive Gregson & Christine Collister)
 * 11) "Radio Song"
 * 12) "Disturbance at the Heron House"
 * 13) "Low"
 * 14) "Swan Swan H"
 * 15) "Pop Song 89"

Disc four – Blu-ray
 * 1) Out of Time Hi-Resolution Audio
 * 2) Out of Time 5.1 Surround Sound
 * 3) "Radio Song" music video
 * 4) "Losing My Religion" music video
 * 5) "Low" music video
 * 6) "Near Wild Heaven" music video
 * 7) "Shiny Happy People" music video
 * 8) "Belong" music video
 * 9) "Half a World Away" music video
 * 10) "Country Feedback" music video
 * 11) Time Piece electronic press kit

R.E.M.

 * Bill Berry – drums, percussion, congas on "Low", bass on "Half a World Away" and "Country Feedback", piano on "Near Wild Heaven", backing vocals on Near Wild Heaven", "Belong", and "Country Feedback"; production
 * Peter Buck – electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin on "Losing My Religion" and "Half a World Away"; production
 * Mike Mills – bass; backing vocals; organ on "Radio Song", "Low", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Country Feedback"; piano on "Belong"; harpsichord on "Half a World Away"; percussion on "Half a World Away"; lead vocals on "Near Wild Heaven" and "Texarkana"; keyboards and arrangement on "Losing My Religion" and "Texarkana"; production
 * Michael Stipe – lead vocals, melodica and arrangement on "Endgame", backing vocals on "Near Wild Heaven" and Texarkana"; production; packaging; photography

Additional musicians

 * David Arenz – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Ellie Arenz – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Mark Bingham – string arrangements on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * David Braitberg – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Andrew Cox – cello on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Reid Harris – viola on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Peter Holsapple – bass guitar on "Radio Song" and "Low"; acoustic guitar on "Losing My Religion", "Shiny Happy People", and "Texarkana"; electric guitar on "Belong"
 * Ralph Jones – double bass on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Kidd Jordan – baritone saxophone on "Radio Song" and "Near Wild Heaven", tenor saxophone on "Radio Song" and "Endgame", alto saxophone on "Radio Song", bass clarinet on "Low" and "Endgame"
 * John Keane – pedal steel guitar on "Texarkana" and "Country Feedback"
 * Dave Kempers – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * KRS-One – rapping on "Radio Song"
 * Scott Litt – echo-loop feed on "Radio Song"
 * Elizabeth Murphy – cello on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Paul Murphy – lead viola on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Kate Pierson – vocals on "Near Wild Heaven", and duet on "Shiny Happy People", "Me in Honey"
 * Jay Weigel – orchestral liaison on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
 * Cecil Welch – flugelhorn on "Endgame"

Production

 * Dave Friedlander – engineering
 * Tom Garneau – engineering
 * Ben Katchor – illustrations
 * John Keane – engineering
 * Scott Litt – production, engineering
 * Ted Malia – engineering
 * Stephen Marcussen – mastering, at Precision Mastering, Los Angeles, California, United States
 * Frank Ockenfels – photography
 * Tom Recchion – packaging
 * Mike Reiter – engineering
 * Ed Rogers – illustrations
 * Karina Santo – photography
 * Doug Starn – photography
 * Mike Starn – photography

Release history
In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Out of Time which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, lyrics, a photo album, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes. In 2011 Warner Bros. released a 96 kHz, 24-bit and 192 kHz, 24 bit stereo release (the same High-Resolution stereo mix as featured on the DVD-Audio and later, the Blu-Ray editions) of the album at HDtracks.

Out of Time

Note
 * † Edition packaged with a bonus 7" single—"World Leader Pretend"/"Turn You Inside Out" from Tourfilm

Box sets