This might be my innocence lost

Continuing my trip across the output of Athens' finest...

This post is all about (some of) the best-ofs

Eponymous (1988)

Their first such album would probably never have been released except for the fact that the band had left IRS at this point and the label obviously felt this was the best way of wringing a last bit of cash out of the group.  There's nothing wrong with the selection of tracks (two thirds of them appear on my playlist) - I would have picked more than one track from Lifes Rich Pageant, but it's probably an album that's most improved in reputation since this time.  The only track we've not met before is "Romance" which is a perfectly fine Document/Green-era track which I'd not heard before - it's perfectly fine, but no more that that.  Apparently it's from the Made In Heaven soundtrack which is a film I've not met before (and it sounds bonkers).  All in all, the album was a fine introduction at the time if you weren't aware of them, but I doubt too many people started here - and the fact that it only got to #67 in the UK backs this up.

The Best Of R.E.M. (1991)

This was IRS again, realising after Out Of Time that there were probably a few more eggs they could squeeze out of the golden goose.  Having said that, this is probably a better best-of than Eponymous with 75% of them appearing on my playlist - but that doesn't mean this isn't a total cash-in (and IRS released two more later which I don't feel the need to comment on).

In Time : The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (2003)

This is the first Warner Bros best-of and I feel that 15 years and seven albums is a decent amount of time and music to cover, so the accusation of cash-in can't be made here.  And they have imho picked a decent selection - of the fourteen tracks we've previously met, eleven (79%) are on my playlist which is a very decent hit rate.  I'm also particularly pleased to see "At My Most Beautiful" on this, which isn't widely regarded as one of their top tracks, but I absolutely love it.

The album also has four tracks we haven't previously met, so we have to go through those, don't we?

The Great Beyond (1999)
This was from the Man On The Moon soundtrack, which is an album with a large amount of R.E.M. based input, but not enough to quite make it an R.E.M. album.  This was most definitely an R.E.M. single though and was their most successful chartwise over here, getting to #3.  It's got a really nice range of emotions to it and I really like it, so it's gone on the playlist.

Bad Day (previously unreleased)
This is one I knew from a live album - I liked it on first listen and it took me some time to track down where it was from.  It's got classic R.E.M. lyrics, but maybe more decipherable than normal ("The lights went out, the oil ran dry - we blamed it on the other guy") and it rushes past you at speed - another one for the playlist.

Animal (previously unreleased)
I'm not aware I've ever heard this - it's fine, but I would be fine without having met it.

All The Right Friends (2001)
This is from the Vanilla Sky soundtrack, so I've probably heard it (although it's not a given because I didn't massively pay attention during the film) but I don't remember it - again, I struggle to care about it.

All in all, I think this is a very fine second half best-of - if you want an overview of their output then go for this and the previous offering.  There's also a very interesting looking bonus disc listed on Wikipedia but it doesn't appear to be on Amazon so I might have to track it down.  It also did well commercially - #1 in the UK and #8 in the US.

Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011 (2011)

This nicely titled album is the first and only best-of that covers their entire career and it feels like the band deserve to have a career-spanning record but it's not like it will have drawn in any new fans.  It's interesting to look at the albums that only contribute one track to this album which are Fables Of The Reconstruction, Monster and Around The Sun - and I don't think too many fans of the band would argue with that situation.

Looking at the playlist stats, I have 23/37 (65%) of the previously met tracks on my playlist, which feels quite a low statistic, but when I look at the missing tracks, I'm thinking some rethinking might be required because there are some bangers on the missing list.  "New Test Leper" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" were both mentioned at the time as being unlucky not to make the playlist - and the latter has been on all the best-ofs and was on a four track album before five track albums became a thing, so I'm thinking it deserves a promotion to the playlist.  So let's do it, eh?!?

And we've also got three tracks we've not met before, which for an absolutely final best-of is a pretty good result.  Or is it?

A Month Of Saturdays (previously unreleased)
I'm not aware I've ever heard this on - it's OK, but it doesn't really feel like it's finished.

We All Go Back To Where We Belong (previously unreleased)
I must have heard this one because it was their final single - but it never charted here, so maybe not.  This one does feel like it's finished and it feels it could be a grower, but it has a very bizarre pair of videos with Kirsten Dunst or John Giorno doing not very much.

Hallelujah (previously unreleased)
Another one I've never heard before and it's very meh - nothing to get too excited about at all.

Apparently the initial plan on recording these was to make another album, but once they've done them they decided that splitting up was the easier option - and I think we can probably let them have a well-deserved rest!

If you're looking for a compilation album because you know absolutely nothing about R.E.M. then my first question has to be - why are you here?  But if you really want my opinion I'd recommend you look at a combination of The Best Of & In Time, which give you a good overview or PLPHPTPG, which delves a little deeper.  

Next up - live albums (and I think that might finally be it from the lads!)

Dead Letter Office/Chronic Town - Quirky and variable
Live - The End!