First-ever R.E.M. live album coming in Oct.

The bad news: R.E.M. won’t release its next studio album until 2008. The good news: The band will put out a live CD/DVD set on Oct. 16. While obsessive, quibbling fans may call New Adventures In Hi-Fi a live album, R.E.M. headquarters says it ain’t so. It may be hard to believe, but the new set—simply titled R.E.M. Live—is R.E.M.’s first official live record.

The set was recorded in Dublin in February 2005, and includes the previously unreleased track “I’m Gonna DJ,” along with “Orange Crush,” “Cuyahoga,” “The One I Love,” “Losing My Religion” and “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.”

As for that new studio album, word from Athens is that the band will return to the studio in September to finish recording. Mixing should take place later this year, with the album dropping in early '08.

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