R.E.M. Live Album Due In October

Dear R.E.M. Fans: Mark down October 26th on the calendar because the boys from Athens, Georgia will be presenting R.E.M. Live at the Olympia, which features two CDs worth of live recordings from the band’s five-show run at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland in 2007.

R.E.M. Live at the Olympia weighs in at a hefty 39-tracks; the two-disc set does a nice job of featuring music that spans the band’s entire career — from “West of the Fields” and “Harborcoat” right there with “Drive” and new a track like “Living Well Is the Best Revenge.”

To hype things up a bit, R.E.M. are planning to stream a few songs on remdublin.com; the always enjoyable “Driver 8″ is available now.

The Dublin shows were used to test material that ended up on last year’s mostly excellent return to form, Accelerate. The concerts quickly took up a life of their own on the ‘net, via mp3s and commentary, so it seems right the band would circle back around and release a sparkling edition of the warm-up gigs. “Live At The Olympia” offers a chance to hear those songs from Accelerate at their earliest stages of development, plus you get all the classic tunes you know and love.

There is a also a DVD included in the special edition. It’s directed by Vincent Moon and Jeremiah and features concert footage of nearly 20 songs as well as behind-the-scenes action.

Back in July the band released a live digital EP, entitled Reckoning Songs From The Olympia. The EP featured live versions of four songs from R.E.M.’s (awesome)  second album Reckoning that were recorded during the same ’07 Olympia Theatre shows featured above.

R.E.M. Live at the Olympia Tracklist:

• 01. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
• 02. Second Guessing
• 03. Letter Never Sent
• 04. Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance
• 05. Disturbance at the Heron House
• 06. Mr. Richards
• 07. Houston
• 08. New Test Leper
• 09. Cuyahoga
• 10. Electrolite
• 11. Man-Sized Wreath
• 12. So. Central Rain
• 13. On the Fly
• 14. Maps and Legends
• 15. Sitting Still
• 16. Driver 8
• 17. Horse to Water
• 18. I’m Gonna DJ
• 19. Circus Envy
• 20. These Days
• 21. Drive
• 22. Feeling Gravity’s Pull
• 23. Until the Day Is Done
• 24. Accelerate
• 25. Auctioneer
• 26. Little America
• 27. 1,000,000
• 28. Disguised
• 29. The Worst Joke Ever
• 30. Welcome to the Occupation
• 31. Carnival of Sorts
• 32. Harborcoat
• 33. Wolves, Lower
• 34. I’ve Been High
• 35. Kohoutek
• 36. West of the Fields
• 37. Pretty Persuasion
• 38. Romance
• 39. Gardening at Night

R.E.M. fans, are you excited about this new live collection? Is there one, specific song missing?