Mike Mills joined The Minus 5 in Philadelphia and Atlanta, and Michael Stipe joined his R.E.M. bandmates for a four-song encore in Atlanta. Reaction to the tour was mixed. None of the three records sold particularly well, and the critics' approval was tepid: "A three-hour marathon that was simply too much to absorb," Sara Scribner wrote in the Los Angeles Times. "The Minus 5, despite some catchy, jangling tunes from its new album...never got its footing." Geoffrey Himes wrote in The Washington Post: "Genuinely amusing when the tunes were bouncy and catchy, but the slow numbers didn't have the humor or melody to justify the dreary pacing." In June 1997, Buck recorded some tracks with Robyn Hitchcock for his album Jewels For Sophia in Seattle. After the session, McCaughey joined Hitchcock and Buck for a Crocodile Cafe gig under the name "Popscyle Shoppe Incident: Viva Sea Tac II." Tim Keegan and Kurt Bloch joined in the set, and Young Fresh Fellows were the opening act. Hollywood Records deluxe reissues In August 1997, Hollywood Records reissued Old Liquidator and, curiously, McCaughey's 1989 solo album My Chartreuse Opinion in deluxe editions with bonus tracks. My Chartreuse Opinion, a Conrad Uno-recorded affair which featured cameos from Jimmy Silva and Christy McWilson, was now credited to "The Minus 5 of Scott McCaughey." The reissue actually featured fewer bonus tracks than the now out-of-print original release, which featured four unrelated Silva recordings at the end. Nonetheless, it was a great way of drawing attention to McCaughey's back catalog and much easier to find than the initial release. Old Liquidator was also expanded, adding two songs from the Hello Recording Club EP, "Heartache For Sale" from the "Emperor of the Bathroom" single, and two short instrumentals. These would prove to be The Minus 5's final releases on Hollywood. Just weeks before the release of The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy, longtime Hollywood Records president Bob Pfeifer resigned. Under a reorganization plan, Disney acquired established indie Mammoth Records for $25 million in an attempt to diversify its roster. Mammoth founder Jay Faires was now charged with breaking The Minus 5 to a larger audience, but industry watchers such as Variety's Adam Sandler questioned why Disney didn't focus on "pop music, which is a better fit with its TV and film programming, rather than indie-inspired repertoire." McCaughey joins R.E.M. and Tuatara in the studio While R.E.M. was in