Though the album’s art and the band’s stage banter loudly proclaims, “This is not a show,” Live at the Olympia is a spectacular modern live album. The career-spanning set list is astonishing, but hearing new singles alongside vintage nuggets only serves to illustrate what strong songwriters and performers the members of REM are. The band’s studio producer, Jackknife Lee, brings an audiophile’s ear to the mix but never polishes the live energy out of the material. While first-time listeners will undoubtedly find much to love about Live at the Olympia, longtime fans will appreciate that the songs were chosen as much for the band as they were for the audience.