Admittedly, you need your own home studio to get the benefit of the Dolby Atmos treatment given to REM’s superstardom album, but you only need ears to hear why it sold 18m copies. From start to finish, it’s a perfect mix of sombreness, playfulness, anger and melancholy, with one moment of great mass communication – Everybody Hurts, a song whose power is undimmed by constant exposure. A stunning live disc repositions Drive as a stomping rock song, and showcases the playful side of the group with covers of Love Is All Around (pre-Four Weddings) and Funtime. The disc of demos is occasionally revealing but inessential: the version of Everybody Hurts (called Michael’s Organ) shows just how much minor alterations added to the song; Mike’s Pop Song is a charming little frippery. But when you get down to a minute of Pete’s Acoustic Idea, then you know the end of the line has been reached. However, for the original album and the live disc, five stars are wholly merited. Non-completists should get the two-disc version, unless they’re desperate for the Blu-Ray of promo clips.
