Review R.E.M. - Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 2011

Tracks
Disc 1
1. Gardening at Night (from Chronic Town)
2. Radio Free Europe (from Murmur)
3. Talk About the Passion (from Murmur)
4. Sitting Still (from Murmur)
5. So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) (from Reckoning)
6. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville" (Edit) (from Reckoning)
7. Driver 8 (f. Fables of the Reconstruction)
8. Life and How to Live It (from Fables of the Reconstruction)
9. Begin the Begin(from Lifes Rich Pageant)
10. Fall on Me (from Lifes Rich Pageant)
11. Finest Worksong (from Document)
12. It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (from Document)
13. The One I Love (from Document)
14. Stand (from Green)
15. Pop Song 89 (from Green)
16. Get Up (from Green)
17. Orange Crush (from Green)
18. Losing My Religion (from Out of Time)
19. Country Feedback (from Out of Time)
20. Shiny Happy People (from Out of Time)
21. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite (from Automatic for the People)
Disc 2
22. Everybody Hurts (from Automatic for the People)
23. Man on the Moon (from Automatic for the People)
24. Nightswimming (from Automatic for the People)
25. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? (from Monster)
26. New Test Leper (from New Adventures in Hi-Fi)
27. Electrolite (from New Adventures in Hi-Fi)
28. At My Most Beautiful (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Up)
29. The Great Beyond (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Man on the Moon)
30. Imitation of Life (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Reveal)
31. Bad Day (from In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003)
32. Leaving New York (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Around the Sun)
33. Living Well Is the Best Revenge" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Accelerate)
34. Supernatural Superserious (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Accelerate)
35. Überlin (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Collapse into Now)
36. Oh My Heart (Buck, Mills, Stipe, Scott McCaughey) (from Collapse into Now)
37. Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Collapse into Now)
38. A Month of Saturdays (Buck, Mills, Stipe)
39. We All Go Back to Where We Belong (Buck, Mills, Stipe)
40. Hallelujah (Buck, Mills, Stipe)

Band:
Bill Berry – drums; percussion; backing vocals
Peter Buck – electric and acoustic guitars
Mike Mills – bass guitar; backing vocals
Michael Stipe – vocals

Discography:
Murmur (1983)
Reckoning (1984)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Document (1987)
Green (1988)
Out of Time (1991)
Automatic for the People (1992)
Monster (1994)
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
Up (1998)
Reveal (2001)
Around the Sun (2004)
Accelerate (2008)
Collapse into Now (2011)

Guests:
Shamarr Allen – trumpet on "Oh My Heart"
David Arenz – violin on "Shiny Happy People"
Ellie Arenz – violin on "Shiny Happy People"
Denise Berginson-Smith – violin on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Mark Bingham – string arrangements on "Shiny Happy People"
David Braitberg – violin on "Shiny Happy People"
Andy Carlson – violin on "Electrolite"
Knox Chandler – cello on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Andrew Cox – cello on "Shiny Happy People"
Nathan December – guiro on "Electrolite"
Lommie Ditzen – violin on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Patti Gouvas – violin on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
George Hanson – conductor on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Reid Harris – viola on "Shiny Happy People", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Peter Holsapple – acoustic guitar on "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People"
John Paul Jones – orchestral arrangements on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Leroy Jones – trumpet on "Oh My Heart"
Ralph Jones – double bass on "Shiny Happy People"
Kirk M. Joseph, Sr. – sousaphone on "Oh My Heart"
Lenny Kaye – guitar on "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter"
John Keane – pedal steel guitar on "Country Feedback"
Kathleen Kee – cello on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Dave Kempers – violin on "Shiny Happy People"
Daniel Laufee – cello on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Scott McCaughey – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, accordion
Elizabeth Murphy – cello on "Shiny Happy People", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Paul Murphy – viola on "Shiny Happy People", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Heidi Nitchie – viola on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Peaches – vocals on "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter"
Bill Rieflin – drums, bouzouki, keyboards, guitar
Kate Pierson – vocals on "Shiny Happy People"
Sandy Salzinger – violin on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Sou-Chun Su – violin on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Judy Taylor – violin on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"
Deborah Workman – oboe on "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming"

Info
All tracks written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe unless otherwise noted.
Produced by: Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Joe Boyd, Don Gehman, Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Scott Litt, Pat McCarthy, and Jacknife Lee
Chris Bilheimer – art design
Jay Weigel – orchestral liaison on "Shiny Happy People"

Released 11/11-2011
Reviewed 29/11-2011

Links:
remhq.com
myspace
youtube
last-fm
warner brothers

American alternative rockers R.E.M. are releasing a collection of songs with many parts, forty songs to be exact. It is a document over their entire career as recording artists, it is also a show of their progress as song writers and musicians and it is their grand finale as the band has decided to split up to never again reunite. If you do not know R.E.M. since before they are a band that has managed to be successful without sacrificing their soul and spirit, with over 70 million albums sold and a career devoted to doing the music they have wanted to do I think you can say that this band has been successful. Only the album Out of Time sold in 12 million copies worldwide, and the band has been indicted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame so they can surely be said to be a quite successful and respected band. They do not disband because of hostilities within the band but for they felt it was the right thing to do. You can surely say that this album sounds like a two disc album, doesn’t it?

"Minor key, mid-tempo, enigmatic, semi-folk-rock-balladish things. That's what everyone thinks and to a certain degree, that's true." that is how guitarist Peter Buck described this band’s sound back in 1988 and I think that is quite right. The use of mandolins and such things is also something you’ll notice and the characteristic vocals of Michael Stipe and the guitar playing of Peter Buck are the common denominator throughout the songs despite them being from different eras and periods in the band’s musical evolvement. Of course the songs are quite varied through the album as the band has never really been satisfied with remaining in one space for a longer amount of time, but as I said you will always recognise them as R.E.M. The production is very good through the entire album, no real shortfalls there and despite it being produced by many different people and from many different eras it still remains very cohesive with a sound that feels quite similar throughout. As I have already been touching on, this album has forty tracks and it plays for around two and a half hour.

I am not really a fan of compilation as I think they are way too many and close between, they come too often in a band’s career and all of that. This compilation however feels quite rightly done as the band have collected their hits as the last thing they do as R.E.M. and with the career they have had I think a compilation of their hits is a good way to end. It has all the great hits we have all heard and enjoyed like Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People, What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?, It’s the End of the World as We Know it (and I feel fine), Radio Free Europe and so on and so forth in that order. It is a document of an impressive career, a show of strength from a band that has always walked their own way and still managed to be liked by both fans and the press. It is forty songs that I like and enjoy to listen to, an album that can serve as a good introduction to the band but also as a great send off for the band. It also has three new tracks that has not been on any album before this one so it has a little even for the most loyal of fans as well as for the R.E.M. newcomer.

So, this is a motivated compilation gathering all of the band’s great hits, it may be a bit sad that the band is disbanding but at the same time it is a cool thing that they decide to quit as they feel they have nothing more to prove and maybe no more inspiration to write new songs. In interviews promoting the album Michael Stipe and Peter Buck have said that there is no chance that the band will ever reunite which would be something I wouldn’t believe if it was any other band but this is R.E.M. so we will probably not see any more of them after this, the member might be committing to other things but not as R.E.M. Sure there will probably be some more compilation released by the label and stuff but nothing for the band.

Sure, a compilation can never replace the albums but this is a really great collection even if I’d rather put on Out of Time or Document, but if you do not have any of those this album works really well to play as well. Sure two and a half hours is quite long but these songs makes it well worth the time to play through it, I am despite having all the good stuff from the band considering to get myself this album anyway as it is sometimes great to just play through the hits. Still, the question is if it would be possible to place a better punctuation for the band R.E.M.

HHHHHHH

R.E.M. Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011

R.E.M.
Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011