Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 11/09/06
Label: EMI

Long before they headlined the Glastonbury Festival, hung-out with U2, painted their heads blue and disagreed with air stewardesses, REM were a gentle, college radio band. Hell, they pretty much invented the genre. Their Georgia State folk-rock challenged even The Smiths for airplay on student union jukeboxes in the early '80s, while Michael Stipe's awkward sexiness intrigued fans and Peter Buck's inventive, sparse guitar playing was copied in indie bedrooms the nation over.

"And I Feel Fine - The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982 - 1987" is that very legacy. One which suggests, of course, that they'd never be huge. But they had a no-nonsense musical approach, brilliant intros and a clutch of great songs in "Talk About The Passion", "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", "Gardening At Night", "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and beyond, to the more muscular approach used on the likes of "Finest Worksong".

By the time that song appeared on the platinum "Document" album, it seemed likely that REM could indeed become part of the rock establishment. The records always sounded exactly like REM should sound and in Stipe they had an enigmatic showman to counter Buck's evident musical limitations, while bassist Mike Mills began to step out from the shadows. All of that is shown here.

They also had Ronald Reagan and his skewed American foreign policy to focus Stipe's lyrics upon and a hit single in "The One I Love". The mix was irresistible. Suddenly, after six years of slog, it became clear that they were about to break. "It's The End Of The World As We Know It?" Well not exactly. Because all of this has been available on the "Eponymous" compilation album since 1988.

But now, if you have the bucks for the two-CD collectors' edition, you can get another 21 tracks of live versions, outtakes and 11 previously unreleased REM goodies, with four songs hand-picked by the band from the vaults. So we get the murkier, original Hib-Tone "45 version of 1981's "Radio Free Europe", an urgently raw trio of songs from a 1983 Boston gig, of which "Murmur"'s "We Walk" impresses most, a clutch of mildly interesting demos - for fanatics only - and an intriguingly early version of the "Bad Day" single which was featured as a new track on the "In Time" compilation three years ago.

But that's not to say that barrels are being scraped here. The 21 track basic CD alone is an apt reminder of an REM struggling to be heard, when they meant more to many of us than they do now. Add in extras and this is one compilation that'll deprive you of deep sleep for months to come. And not a mandolin in sight.

    by Andy Strickland