A motley collection of b-sides, covers and off-cuts from the early years. It culminates with the tracks from 'Chronic Town'. These are fantastic and worth the price of admission alone. 'Dead Letter Office' was originally released in 1987. The album is essentially a collection of many additional recordings R.E.M. made pre-'Murmur' to 'Life's Rich Pageant' that were outtakes or released as flip sides to their singles internationally. Many of the tracks are favourite cover versions indicating the band's disparate influences and musical tastes, including three Velvet Underground covers, and songs by Pylon, Aerosmith and Roger Miller.