Customer Reviews
It's the End of the World As We Know It... And This Sounds Fine! 
2008-03-02
I haven't heard all of R.E.M's material, but I was quite satisfied with this collection, especially when joined with the the '88-'03 years.
Non-stop greatness !!! 
2007-12-28
In their early days at IRS, before R.E.M. became one of the "untoucheables" like U2 - they were just a group that was largely unknown outside of angst-ridden college radio. It was also in my opinion, one of their more prolific periods - putting out gems such as "Radio Free Europe" and "Gardening at Night" that were hardly typical radio fare at the time. They were a group that put out music that felt right to them, not just hits that'd make Casey Kasem's Top 10 ( ironically - some of their stuff ended up their despite how non-typical their stuff was ).
Once they left IRS - they did end up being more popular, some even accused them of selling out to make a couple of bucks - but these 21 pieces of work on this album - are each a masterpiece in it's own way. If you're a fan, you probably have most of the stuff on this compilation already - but the addition of a special 2nd disk - with live stuff, outtakes & alternate cuts - make this a must-have for anybody.
The record business is killing itself 
2007-12-27
The IRS REM albums were some of the best released... and best sounding... of the 80's. This strips all of this and is shameful. Too much loudness compression, making it impossible and difficult to listen to. Technology is getting better all the time... yet the music industry is releasing albums as if we were all listening to cheap Chevy pick-up truck stereos. THIS IS TO BE AVOIDED. SHAMEFUL.
The best of early R.E.M. 2007-08-03
THE BAND: Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitars). Mike Mills (bass, piano), Bill Berry (drums & percussion). Origin: Athens, GA.
THE DISC: (2006) 21 tracks clocking in at approximately 78 minutes. Included with the disc is a 6-page booklet containing song titles/credits, what songs came from which albums, year released, and a storied 5-page intro from Anthony DeCurtis (NY Times & Rolling Stone Magazine). As the title of the disc states, this release follows the band's beginning only - from 1982-87. There is a 2-disc special edition available as well (with disc-2 containing an additional 21 songs of demos, unreleased tracks, and assorted live cuts). Remastered sound. Label - Capital Records / I.R.S.
SONG REPRESENTATION: Murmur (4 songs), Reckoning (4), Fables Of The Reconstruction (4), Lifes Rich Pageant (4), Document (4), EP Chronic Town (1).
COMMENTS: When I think back of R.E.M., the terms "college radio" and "alternative music" come to mind (especially back in the early 80's when alternative really didn't exist yet). The band decided their music career was more important than college (thus dropping out of the University of Georgia)... and so it was. "Murmur" (1983) was a huge success - labeled Rolling Stone Magazine's "Album of the Year". Records sales unbelievably remained slow, and their songs somehow evaded Billboards famed "Top 40" list... until "Document" (1987). "Document" contained the song, "The One I Love", which was their 1st Top 10 hit. Stipe has one of those voices that's instantly recognizable - singing crystal clear or often times mumbling - it was equally effective. As the band matured, so did their lyrical content... many songs touching on the environment as well as social/political activism. THE GOOD: All the early staples are here - "Radio Free Europe", "Talk About The Passion", "Pretty Persuasion", "7 Chinese Bros.", "So.Central Rain (I'm Sorry)", "Can't Get There From Here", "Driver 8", "Fall On Me", "It's The End Of The World As We Know It", "The One I Love", etc. The liners notes are informative (from writer DeCurtis). Remastered sound has it's ups & downs depending on your stereo. THE NOT SO GOOD: I love to hear the band change/mature through the years in chronological order, but you won't find that here... the track listing is random. The remastered sound is great in some aspects, but disappointing in others. The acoustic guitar on "Talk About The Passion" sounds incredible. As does the entire "7 Chinese Bros". On the flip side though (on many of the tracks), the remastering pulls the percussion up front, and the guitars to the rear. Sadly, some of those subtle little noises are now seemingly as loud as the drums & guitars. I think like so many of the "remastered" discs released today where quality issues come up... the sound will depend on the caliber of your stereo & speakers. A few minor tracks missing ("Pilgrimage", "Harborcoat", "Letter Never Sent"), but in the long run the song selection is perfect for a compilation. In fact, if I could add a song or two here, I wouldn't know what song(s) currently on the track list to get rid of... it's that good. The only solution is an additional disc covering that much more of their material. OVERALL: I liked R.E.M. because they were different at the time. I was in college in the early/mid 80's and they were just making a name for themselves. Their songs blended perfectly on the local college radio stations. And, decades later, the songs still sound fresh. This "And I Feel Fine... The Best Of The I.R.S. Years" shows the band in young form, prior to their monstrous commercial success. New fans looking for a great intro will like the single disc package. Long time fans should absolutely aim for the 2-disc version. Despite a few extremely minor flaws, this is a fantastic disc (5 stars).
And, oh, do I feel fine listening to this collection.... 2007-03-06
I'm not going to lie to you - I like the idea of "Best-Of" & "Greatest Hits" albums in general. This medium allows for bands to gaze backwards through the annals of history so that they might view & review their work, in hopes of gathering together their best songs from a given time period. All of this is done in the hope of providing a means for which their fans (whether old, new, or as-yet-discovered) can listen to those songs in a fairly simple format. With "Greatest Hits" albums, you don't have to carry around all of the albums from your favorite bands just to hear the songs that you like the best. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved - a band gets to make a few more bucks by repackaging old material and a fan of the band only has to carry around one or two albums as opposed to 4, 5, 9, or 10 of them to get their fill of the band's music.
However, there is a dark side from whence a music listener can view a "Best-Of" album, since the whole concept of creating an album or two that will attempt to gather together a band's preeminent songs is one that has been used and disastrously abused for decades now. There are legions of rock snobs out there who disdain (quite rightly) the fact that many of these records only collect a band's singles and/or the songs that receive the widest levels of popularity & notoriety. Record companies too often get involved in the decision-making process, forcing the band to include songs just so that more records will be sold on the basis of that one song (i.e., how record companies have been pushing record sales for years, getting the dumbed-down public to buy an often crappy album for the one poppy, radio-friendly tune). "Best-Of" albums too frequently have been turned into "What-Sells-Best" albums, sacrificing content for sales.
I say all of that to say this - R.E.M.'s prior "Greatest Hits" release, In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003, was plagued by such issues, especially in terms of leaving often strong, fan-favorite songs in favor of ones that were more easily recognized by the average music-buying public. Case in point - while Automatic For The People is one of R.E.M.'s best records, it's also the fan favorite and received 4 nominations on In Time, while the critically-acclaimed New Adventures in Hi-Fi only had two songs included. Yes, an alternate track of "Leave" did make it to Disc Two, but you had to pay extra for it (even though it is an excellent remix). The band was in the thralls of a world tour in 2003 and this compendium of their years on Warner Brothers left much to the imagination. I mean, "Country Feedback" only made it on as a live track to close out Disc Two - as wonderful as the song is and as well-recorded as the live cut is, it's a travesty of justice for this song not to have been on the Disc One.
So, when I heard that And I Feel Fine was going to be released in Fall 2006 as a replacement for the nearly 2-decades-old Eponymous, released when R.E.M. left I.R.S. Records, I was filled with a mixture of excitement & trepidation. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, even with the promise of liner notes & comments left by all four members Yes, I will admit it - even the promise of long-retired drummer Bill Berry contributing to this collection did little to assuage my fears. As such, as highly- and fittingly-lauded as the band's early work is, there is much misunderstanding that revolves around the first five R.E.M. albums: there aren't any true singles until Document, the band seems overly indulgent in regards to experimentation & quirky lack of direction, and no one really knows what Michael Stipe is singing on any of those songs. I wasn't sure if the problems of over-reliance upon one album that afflicted In Time would burden down And I Feel Fine.
And I am so glad that my fears were dismissed (quite quickly at that). Each of the five albums from the I.R.S. Years (Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant, & Document) is appropriately and evenly represented on the 21 songs on Disc One. Four songs were chosen from each of the five albums, plus "Gardening At Night" from the Chronic Town EP. Thus, besides personal favorites such as "Moral Kiosk" off Murmur, I don't think that there's one necessary song missing between the two discs. Name a song that might be missing - I dare you. "7 Chinese Brothers"? It's there. "Disturbance At The Heron House"? Present. "Cuyahoga"? Accounted for. And even more to the point, the tracks on Disc One are arranged in a non-chronological format, with precedence given to how the songs will sound when listened to as a complete album, from song 1 to song 21, as only a mixtape should be.
There are definite highlights that must be pointed out, and they're all from Disc Two (even though Disc One is a wonderful & complete collection). The first notable selection is the 3-song live set from Boston, MA, on 07/13/1983 - "Ages of You," "We Walk," & "1,000,000." The energy of these four boys from Atlanta, GA is never more apparent than on these tracks as they flow effortlessly and seamlessly through their set. In second place comes the at-half-speed, demo version of "Gardening At Night" - the song sounds more hushed & intimate than a great many other songs in the R.E.M. pantheon. "Hyena" (in a scratchy demo version) represents my third choice, complete with the band's revealing in the liner notes that, while the song was released on Life's Rich Pageant, it was originally recorded during the Fables of the Reconstruction sessions. I've always been a fan of hearing songs in their early, unfinished, not-quite-complete phase - it gives new life to how you hear the "finished" version that you've been used to all of these years.
Do I have any complaints? Not really. As I said, there aren't really any songs that have been left off this 2-disc, 42-song compilation. If you've never listened to R.E.M. before, I would suggest you go purchase the album as soon as you finish reading this review. And I Feel Fine is what a "Best Of" album should be - representative of how a band has grown & developed over a given period of time and beautifully illustrative of the contributions that the band has made to the greater picture of music history. But in case you need just one more reason to buy this album, take this into account - it's both poignant and hilarious to read in the liner notes for Disc Two and learn how Bill, Mike, & Peter haven't always understood what Michael Stipe is singing or what his lyrics even mean, but they're certain that they have meaning for someone (and on occasion, the boys even present their differing interpretations of certain songs). So, if the band doesn't know what's going on with Stipe's beautiful mumblings, then it's OK that us listeners have also been confused for almost 25 years now.
Change of heart 2007-02-22
R.E.M. Photos
More from R.E.M.
Lifes Rich Pageant | 
Document | 
Fables of the Reconstruction |
Eponymous | 
The Best of the I.R.S. Years | 
The Best of the I.R.S. Years Video Collection |
"Music that didn't pander to an audience" - it created one 2007-02-18
During 1982-87 REM was probably the best band - possibly ever - if you define best band by great ALBUMS and great concerts. Similar to U2, REM created an audience - a big one - by original ideas that invited the audience to interpret the music. They didn't let tell you what it meant - maybe it meant nothing - but millions (billions?) THOUGHT IT DID. As Michael Stipe stated "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world". They CREATED an audience that wanted something new (the original alternative music). Nowadays - as the last line in U2's "Kite" states ("the time when new media was the big idea") audiences demand technology but the meaning or value of music is not relevant. I'd recommend this album to anyone who wants to hear America's greatest band at its creative best from a time when music could be relevant.
More about the remastering 
2007-01-06
Firstly, the music on this collection is stupendous. In the 80's, R.E.M. was the most consistently excellent, yet idiosyncratic and unconventional, band around and each release was a new gift. I don't have many quibbles with the song selections made for this best-of, and getting the second disc for not much more than the price of the single-disc version is a value. If you don't know early R.E.M. very well, this is a great place to start.
But... as several other reviewers have commented, this release was mastered to sound as loud as possible. And at first listen, it sounds great. Then, after it's on for awhile, you will probably find yourself turning the volume down, and even thinking about turning it off. That's because the mix has been highly compressed - that's how they get newer CDs to sound so much louder than old ones, but it's akin to how a loud commercial suddenly comes on when you're watching a TV show and sends you jumping for the remote to turn it down. It becomes obnoxious and irritating when everything is so loud all the time, and robs the music of all dynamics. And if you listen closely you'll hear distortion - they mix it so high that they're actually introducing clipping, which means flattened sound waves that results in a static-y edge to the sound.
Unfortunately this is a trend that has been going on with CD mastering for the last decade, though it gets very little publicity. The record companies do it because they think we like it, and actually many of us think we do, judging by a lot of the positive comments on the sound of overloud remasters. But once you're aware of it, you'll notice it, and you'll start to feel ripped off. The public needs to tell the record companies we want quality remasters that don't compromise true fidelity and range for shallow loudness and distortion. To learn more on this topic, do a web search on "loudness war".
Discover This Band 2007-01-05
There was once a band called 'R.E.M.' and they played energetic, inventive, interesting, raw, yet somehow sophisticated jangly rock country punk. Their lead singer sounded like nobody else with sort of a baritone drawl that somehow managed to not really sound country at all, but they were from Georgia. They weren't precious or self-conscious. At the same time that a lot of groups were doing synth-pop or hair metal, this band was sorting out how to fuse art-rock with folk rock. The words the singer sang were sometimes imagistic, sometimes surreal, sometimes obscure. The drums were punchy. The bass was melodic. The guitar was sometimes jangly, sometimes ferocious. This is a collection of what that band sounded like 'in the day'. Not complete without the bonus disc, however.
and i feel fine...the best of the irs years 1982-1987 2007-01-05
good.didn't need to be 2 discs though
