When Reveal came out in May 2001, R.E.M. were still finding their rhythm following the departure of founding drummer Bill Berry four years prior. His exit had forced Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills to rethink how they worked, but their twelfth studio album found the remaining trio settling into a steady creative groove. Craft Recordings is revisiting that transitional period with a twenty-fifth anniversary reissue scheduled for November 20, anchored by an unreleased live radio broadcast captured during a particularly relaxed stretch for the group.
The focal point of the reissue is The Black Sessions Revealed, a seventeen-song concert recorded for Radio France in Paris on May 7, 2001, just days before Reveal reached store shelves. Broadcast recordings from this era are exceptionally scarce. Unlike most records in their catalog, Reveal was never accompanied by an extensive worldwide tour. The band chose instead to promote the music through a small run of special dates and radio appearances, turning this French session into one of the only preserved live documents of songs that rarely surfaced in concert halls.
Joining Stipe, Buck, and Mills on the Paris stage were regular touring partners Joey Waronker on drums, Ken Stringfellow on keyboards, and Scott McCaughey on guitar. Their set balanced fresh material from Reveal, including early performances of Imitation Of Life, All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star), I’ve Been High, and She Just Wants To Be, with long-running favorites like Losing My Religion, The One I Love, Man On The Moon, and It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). A live recording of Imitation Of Life drawn from the broadcast is already out as an advance listen.
Writing in the reissue liner notes, Buck explains that dusting off the Paris tape resolves an obvious omission in the band's catalog, since it highlights material that vanished quickly from their concert repertoires. Mills shares that affection, recalling an afternoon where everyone was simply having a good time. He has consistently championed Reveal over the years, and in the new notes he labels it the most underrated album the group ever produced. In his view, the record succeeds because it holds a unified atmosphere, showing three musicians who had finally accepted their identity after years of adjusting to Berry's absence.
Reaching that state of calm took time. Working alongside producer Pat McCarthy, who had also co-produced 1998's Up, R.E.M. tracked the album across an itinerary of studios in Athens, Georgia, Vancouver, Dublin, and Miami. The ease Mills remembered on stage in Paris stood in stark contrast to the difficult growing pains that shaped the Up sessions, confirming that the trio had finally regained their balance.
Craft Recordings is preparing the reissue in several configurations. The main physical package spreads the original twelve-track album and the complete Radio France performance across two CDs and a Blu-ray disc. It comes enclosed in a thirty-two page hardcover book that pairs archival photography with an essay by journalist Birgit Fuss, featuring new contributions from Stipe, Buck, and Mills. The Blu-ray houses the studio album in high-resolution audio and 5.1 surround sound, along with official music videos for Imitation Of Life, All The Way To Reno, and I’ll Take The Rain. Fans can also purchase The Black Sessions Revealed on vinyl as a standalone double LP, alongside website-exclusive colored pressings and commemorative merchandise.
The package follows Craft's 2023 expanded edition of Up, which similarly pulled a previously unreleased concert from the vaults. R.E.M. called it quits amicably in 2011, and although the original four members have made occasional public appearances together, such as playing Losing My Religion at their 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction and gathering in Athens in February 2025 to play Pretty Persuasion, Buck has insisted that a full reunion could never rival their original run. Instead, this Paris tape offers a rare glimpse back at a quieter phase of their career, finally giving an overlooked album the historical spotlight it warrants.
