Artist: R.E.M.
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2006
The One I Love, Radio Free Europe, Finest Worksong are just a piece of the puzzle on the compilation R.E.M. put out this September. ˝And I feel fine: The Best Of the I.R.S. years 1982-1987˝ is dedicated to their so-called I.R.S. years (1982-1987), when they were on the label of the same name.
Worth mentioning: this is their second The Best Of album, the first one came out in 2003 and only covered the period between 1988 and 2003. They’d also already put out the compilations Dead Letter Office and Eponymous back in 1987 and 1988.
I.R.S. was the first big label they signed with, and they made records under its wing until 1988, when they moved over to Warner Brothers Records.
The I.R.S. era was also crucial for developing their unique style, and a time when they were still a mostly non-commercial “underground” band and the darlings of college radio stations.
The CD collects 21 songs taken from the studio albums Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, and Document.
Pretty much every hit from that period is in here.
Begin the Begin is the overture to an hour-and-a-half-long audio show that whisks us back to the 80s, into the world of Stipe’s mystical lyrics and tender vocals, Buck’s virtuoso chords, Mills’s creativity on keys and bass, and Bill’s rhythms.
I’d single out the following songs: The One I Love is an “anti-love” song that usually gets read as a love song too, and it’s simply one of their biggest hits. Probably the most standout track is without a doubt (Don´t Go Back To) Rockville. It’s a song you don’t have to worry about being misinterpreted. The easygoing country melody and the ˝sing along˝ lyrics are the result of Mills’s unhappy love from his student days. Originally Stipe sings it, but at gigs it’s Mr. Meat Science himself. It’s dedicated to Ingrid Schorr, and all of Stipe’s female fans are jealous of her. Fall On Me is a song Stipe describes as one of his favorites.
The album closes with one of their funniest songs, which has a few parallels (musically, mostly) with the mega-hit Bad Day. It´s The End of the World As We Know It ( And I Feel Fine) was also the closing number of their tour last year.
All in all, the album is a most welcome and pleasant shake-up in today’s oversaturated music scene, and it revives genuine alternative music in a style only R.E.M. can deliver.
Among other things, this collection will help bridge the wait for the eagerly anticipated, announced new studio album from the band – their 14th – and the new R.E.M. tour that comes with it. Until then, listening to the I.R.S. years, I can definitely say: “And I Feel Fine.”
Lineup
Michael Stipe – vocals
Peter Buck – guitar
Mike Mills – bass guitar
Bill Berry – drums
Production
Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Joe Boyd, Don Gehman, Scott Litt & R.E.M.
Tracklist
1. Begin the Begin (3:29)
2. Radio Free Europe (4:06)
3. Pretty Persuasion (3:51)
4. Talk About the Passion (3:22)
5. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville (single version, 1984) (4:33)
6. Sitting Still (3:18)
7. Gardening at Night (3:29)
8. 7 Chinese Bros. (4:15)
9. So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry) (3:15)
10. Driver 8 (3:23)
11. Cant Get There From Here (single version, 1985) (3:39)
12. Finest Worksong (from Document, 1987) (3:48)
13. Feeling Gravitys Pull (4:51)
14. I Believe (3:49)
15. Life and How To Live It (4:08)
16. Cuyahoga (4:21)
17. The One I Love (3:17)
18. Welcome to the Occupation (2:47)
19. Fall On Me (2:51)
20. Perfect Circle (3:29)
21. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (4:05)
Album length: 78.16
