When I can not overcome my inner demons, I just come over to my friend’s place and we listen to some evergreens. Try it out, it is more efficient than therapy. Playing record and looking at the ceiling with someone you love is the definition of peace. This Thursday’s suggestion for your music therapy is The best of R.E.M. In Time 1988-2003, a Best Of compilation of American rock group R.E.M.
Those years were not randomly selected, as they represent the fertile period of the band’s “employment” in eponymous record label Warner Bros. They signed their first contract in 1988. It is such a shame that they have released the album Document only one year earlier, so The One I Love and It’s The End Of The World are not be found this collection, and they do belong here based on every other criteria.
Start your engines, fasten your seatbelts, put your headphones and let’s ride this time travel machine. In 1988, Green comes out and slowly closes the door of independent and garage rock while opening arms to the more wide audience. With Green, R.E.M. marked a more commercial era best represented by Orange Crush and Stand. In their times, these songs were huge hits, and are still standing as evergreens.
The real success is attached to the beginning of the 90s when the band dropped two master pieces – Out Of Time and Automatic For The People. In the music world, the albums detonated like two bombs, catapulting four musicians to the stratosphere - drummer Bill Berry, bassist Mike Mills, guitarist Peter Buck and charismatic singer Michael Stipe. Mentioned albums reached the highest levels of success as global hits Losing My Religion, Man On The Moon and Everybody Hurts became unavoidable on every TV and radio station. They were even coming out of your fridge. Many music critics include Out Of Time and Automatic For The People on their list of all time favorite albums. Let’s take a minute to acknowledge that there were not many bands who were able to pull off two magnificent albums in the interval of only 2 years.
With Monster, R.E.M. return to their original sonic expression. While the album clearly differentiates itself from its mega successful predecessors, the critics were still stellar. The biggest hit off this album was certainly What’s The Frequency Kenneth.
In 1996, New Adventures in Hi-Fi continued to bring accolades and maintained the band’s popularity among fans and music magazines. Standouts include E-Bow The Letter and Electrolyte. In the following year, the band experienced small changes as Bill Berry decided to leave the band due to his sickness and go to his ranch. The rest of the band moved on without him.
The first album R.E.M. recorded as a trio was Up, and it dropped in 1998. Conspicuous modifications in style did not harm the wholeness of the album Unfortunately, this collection does not incorporate Lotus, but there are some kick ass tracks such as Daysleeper and At My Most Beautiful. Studio life of R.E.M. ended (at least, by the time when Best Of was released) with Reveal in 2001. Needless to say, this one was also praised by almost every relevant music portal.
In Time also offered two new tracks. Bad Day promoted the collection and Animal stood as a nice surprise. The Great Beyond from Man On The Moon soundtrack and All The Right Friends from Vanilla Sky soundtrack also glorify this compilation.
R.E.M. are still one of the biggest rock attractions in the world. They are so valuable that they could easily release a double album of greatest hits. Maybe they will. Overall, this was a great Best Of album comprised of one of the biggest hits of the 90s. I must admit that I was disappointed not to hear Shinny Happy People here as it is their trademark.
You can love or hate R.E.M. but you must admit that their contribution to the music and the influence they had is undeniable.
