One suspects a box set that tells the full story of this enduring band can't be that far away. For now, though, In Timewill do well enough, especially in this limited edition two-CD set, which augments the hits with 15 B-sides, live tracks and duets with William Burroughs and such. It also reveals REM's penchant for chucking away some mighty songs ("It's a Free World Baby", "Revolution") on the soundtracks of mediocre movies. --John Mulvey

Right, I bought the single CD version of this BEST OF, as I couldn't be bothered paying 20 on the 2 CD version, when the second disc is basically different versions of songs I've already got, or at least heard. Well, with a band as brilliant as REM, this is obviously crammed with brilliant songs. It's what you expect. However, why is that bands bringing out Best Of's and Greatest Hits albums these days always seem to have one CD of basically most of the singles, then the second 'bonus' CD is full of B-sides and remixes?? It would be better for all concerned (it'd certainly be better value) if REM, and indeed other band's/musicians released an actual 2 CD 'Best Of,' which consisted of singles, album tracks AND B-sides, but mixed them together, not having one CD for one and one for the other. This way casual fans would be happier too, and there'd be more chance they'd be persuaded to check out their back catalogue, if each album was better represented. For example, you only have one track from MONSTER. OK, Monster wasn't as good as AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE, but it's still good, and has some absolute gems. The singles 'Crush With Eyeliner,' 'Bang And Blame,' and the perhaps even better 'Strange Currencies' should be included. Also, the magnificent album track 'Let Me In' would've fitted nicely. From GREEN you could've had at least 2 more songs; most notably 'Pop Song 89,' the proper version of 'Turn You Inside Out,' and how about the excellent 'The Wrong Child,' or 'World Leader Pretend?' I mean, whatever the band says about 'Shiny Happy People,' it's still at least as good as 'Stand' and 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,' so that should be on, maybe in place of 'Stand' actually. The quite frankly breathtaking 'Drive' and the beautiful 'Find The River' from AUTOMATIC were left off too. I could go on for ever.

Of the songs that ARE on the main CD, to be honest one or two should be replaced by at least a couple I've just mentioned. I'm sorry but 'Animal' does NOT deserve to be on this album, even though it's fairly good. Of the new songs here, 'Bad Day' is much better. Maybe 'At My Most Beautiful' and 'All The Right Friends' should've been replaced with better songs.

On the whole, this is a decent Best Of, although if you like what's on here, but don't own any of their other albums, then this is only a mere glimpse into the true majestic greatness of this groundbreaking band. Basically, all their albums, including their earlier ones from their IRS label (songs of which are included on the 'other' Best Of they have) are worth having. Buy AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE first, then move onto what I'd say are their equal second best albums: DOCUMENT (1987), LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT (1986) and RECKONING (1984). Then just buy the rest! Even the odd's and sod's album DEAD LETTER OFFICE is excellent.

Well, hopefully that was some use to you people who are only relatively new to the wonders of REM.


Country Feedback live?! Gorgeous!   December 29, 2003
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This compilation should be appealing to all music fans - from the R.E.M. fan to the casual fan.

‘In Time’ is not a true representation of the band’s career (which started in 1980) as it only features songs from the beginning of their Warner Bros era, and so it is effectively made up of the songs that made them famous. It is suggested that you have a look at R.E.M.’s work before this era, as people argue that their work before they became famous is better than their later work. It is also a bad representation as it features only the ‘famous’ - not hits or best – songs. This is obviously good for the casual music fan, as I suspect that the likes of ‘Man on the Moon’, ‘Losing my Religion’ and ‘Everybody Hurts’ should be appealing, and so it should be worth it for those songs. It is also a great way to introduce the band’s other songs, like ‘Orange Crush’ and ‘E-Bow the Letter’, but it is very unfortunate that the best songs aren’t here.

From an R.E.M. fan point of view, ‘In Time’ is a little disappointing in that there are some truly great songs omitted - particularly from ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ (which already has a great contribution to this compilation), ‘Monster’ and ‘Green’. However, this should not affect the choice, as I believe a great majority of fans should already own all the band’s albums, and so this is no worry and should not disappoint a fan.

What is appealing to an R.E.M. fan is that there are 4 tracks that some / most fans may not have on disc - ‘The Great Beyond’, ‘Bad Day’, ‘Animal’ and ‘All the Right Friends’. ‘The Great Beyond’ is without a doubt one of the best songs the band has recorded since Bill left the band. ‘Bad Day’ and ‘Animal’ are both singles from ‘In Time’, and although they are both great songs, I think that the single version of ‘Animal’ is better than this version. ‘All the Right Friends’ is a great early song from the band, but was only recorded recently.

The second ‘Rarities and B-sides’ disc is okay, but not brilliant.

Some songs are okay, but nothing too special (‘Pop Song 89’, ‘Turn You Inside-Out’, ‘Fretless’, ‘It’s a Free World Baby’ and ‘Revolution’).

There are songs that are there for the sole reason of being rarities, as they are so pathetic that I treat them as jokes (‘Chance’ and ‘Star Me Kitten’ which has a contribution from William Burroughs). The "funky" version of ‘Drive’ is also a joke and does the original song no justice. The alternative version of ‘Leave’ is okay, but it does the original (which is one of the band’s best songs) no justice at all. It can be nice, but it’s a bad representation of the original.

The highlight of the entire two discs is the final track of the second disc. The live version of ‘Country Feedback’ is absolutely amazing. I thought the original version from ‘Out of Time’ was enough to persuade someone to buy that album... well I think the same of this version of ‘Country Feedback’. The original was gorgeous, but this version is so much better - I was taken in immediately. If anything, buy this limited edition version of ‘In Time’ for this one song!

There are many reasons why you’d want to buy this compilation, for all people. For casual music fans, it would be a travesty to miss out on the band’s work. For R.E.M. fans, it would be wrong to miss out on owning some more songs on disc.

But for all music fans, it would be a tragedy to miss out on the live version of ‘Country Feedback’.


REM Greatest Hits? Not Really   December 14, 2003
 2 out of 12 found this review helpful

This album includes The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite but not Drive, and does not include Shiny Happy People. REM are now treating their fans with contempt. Buy their best album, Out Of Time (NOT the overrated Automatic For The People) and don't bother with this.