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 If you've never heard, or don't have the early REM stuff, this is an ideal entry point. June 30, 2007
Mr. M. A. Reed (Somewhere, GB)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Strange as it seems, if REM had split up after leaving IRS, you probably wouldn't have heard much of them. You'd've heard about them far more than you'd actually heard them : faded American legends, spoken of in reverent tones by the few who were there. A band as influential as The Velvet Underground.
IRS never seem to fail to remind us that once upon a time, they had REM as their apprentices... and if they split there they would be legends. The guitarist would be playing in fair to middling indie bands. The bassist probably working in the industry. The drummer went off to be a farmer, whilst the singer became a mystery
Between 1982 and 1987, when REM were far from a big band, they made five albums for the label. Between 1987 and now, IRS have managed to squeeze five compilations out of this, as well as re-issuing the albums as `Vintage Remasters' with extra bonus songs.
"And I Feel Fine!" then is both tedious repetitive overkill, and a vibrant collection of a band in it's most experimental and innovative era. After this, it was REM as leftfield stadium rock, and latterly as intelligent miserabilists. But this?
As the purists say, it's all about the music. Which in one respect it is. But the words "Music" and "Business" often sit together more comfortably than we admit.
Disc One is a haphazard and largely random selection of 21 songs from their albums, sequenced with little respect for chronology or musical worth. Some baffling choices and omissions, as well as little regard for how the album will actually sound, make this record a perverse REM iPod playlist that, to be frank, anyone could do. You could probably do better. The songs themselves are strange, beautiful and wonderful : REM will probably never write anything as wistful or intruiging as "So.Central Rain", "Fall On Me", or "Don't Go Back To Rockville" ever again. Then again, even at the time their records were oft difficult affairs.
Disc Two is the big draw : twelve rare/unreleased songs from the period (surprising that there are, in fact, any songs left unreleased given IRS' aggressive re-release schedules), alongside some of the rare b-sides and the "bands choice" of favourite songs from the era. This sees the A- and B-`s of their first single, as well as a multitude of demos, most of which are unexceptional but functional - and apparent why they weren't released at the time. Of interest though is "Bad Day (PSA)", the song that was later exhumed and whipped into shape to become the lead off single from 2003's "In Time". Of the unreleased stuff, the best material is the smattering of concert recordings from the time, showing that perhaps IRS should stop messing around and put out an REM Live Album from the period.
As Peter Buck said "There's some kid who thinks our first album ends with a live song recorded in Boston!". If IRS had their way, no doubt they would release a set of REM concert albums and DVD's as well. Anything to line the coffers. If you've never heard, or don't have the early REM stuff, this is an ideal entry point. If however you do have it, "And I Feel Fine" is for the completists and bargain hunters.
 All the right songs September 20, 2006
jake doughy
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As soon as i heard this was coming out i went straight into town and brought it on the day of its release. Now being a big R.E.M. fan I already had all the tracks from the first cd which are all taken from CRONIC TOWN-DOCUMENT. Of course the real treat, as everyone will tell you, is the bonus 21 track cd. This bonus disk contains rarities, live performances, outtakes, demos and a song picked by each member of R.E.M., including Bill Berry. (The Drummer from CRONIC TOWN-NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI). For me the highlights of the 2nd disk would be the Gardening at Night slower electric take of the ever loved song from CRONIC TOWN, the unrelesed Mystery to me and the outtake version of Bad day and All the right friends. (Of wich both appear on the IN TIME best of album which is there more 'updated' version).
A perfect introduction to R.E.M.'s early years September 10, 2006
Mike Mantin (Bristol, UK)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
R.E.M.'s career did not start with that shiny shiny people song, and here, at last, is 21 definitive tracks of glorious proof. With most mainstream attention focused almost solely on this mainstream breakthrough and afterwards, it's easy to ignore R.E.M.'s brilliance in a decade characterised as much by terrible music as terrible fashion choices. Constantly evolving but consistently fascinating, their 1980s work contains less of the filler we've come to expect from them now and makes for a solid argument that the period which spawned 'Murmur' and 'Lifes Rich Pageant' is just as important as the one which permanently etched 'Automatic For The People' and 'Out Of Time' into history.
A prequel of sorts to 2003's Warner-era Greatest Hits 'In Time', 'And I Feel Fine' shows none of the failings or difficulties of that collection. It's lovingly compiled (by the band themselves, no quick cash-ins here), and few will find fault with the tracklist, which draws both on album gems and the hits they were beginning to churn towards the end of this era. Wisely, they've opted not to order them chronologically, which means they can start the album with 1986's perfect opener 'Begin The Begin' and, bizarrely tucked away mid-album on 1987's 'Document', end it with the traditional set-closer 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'. Naturally for a greatest hits which draws from five great albums, omissions will be found, but the tracklist is diverse enough to make these merely pedantic. There's a bonus rarities disc for die-hard fans, anyway. Classics like 'Sitting Still' and 'Fall On Me', two non-singles which fully deserve places in any R.E.M. collection, are included alongside the more obvious choices, like impenetrable first single 'Radio Free Europe'.
But for all this talk of tracklistings and fan-pleasing, the most important achievement of the album is introducing new listeners and curious admirers to R.E.M.'s varied delights behind the '90s hits which boosted their popularity but crippled their cred. There's an amazing variety of styles, and though it's scattered, we can trace their movement from fuzzy, opaque college-rock ('Sitting Still') to aggressively political alt-country ('Cuyahoga') and blueprint-setting stadium-rock ('The One I Love'). With only a couple of mediocre exceptions ('Driver 8'), the tunes are exactly the standard of that of their early '90s breakthrough albums. That Peter Buck jangle is still there, it's just frequently buried under lo-fi production. Most important is the fact that, if it introduces people to the period that lurks behind megastardom, when Michael Stipe was a shy student with hair and when Peter Buck's only interaction with yoghurt involved eating it, then this fine compilation will have done its job.
Remember when REM were great? September 3, 2006
Jason Parkes (Worcester, UK)
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
This two disc compilation is a reminder that REM were a great band - something that has been in doubt since the release of 1992's 'Automatic for the People' (if not sooner). 'And I Feel Fine' is a companion to their unsatsifying Warners best of a few years ago - the first disc probably the definitive IRS-era compilation (better than 'Eponymous' from 1988, 'Best of' from 1991, and the 'IRS Singles' compilation), while the second disc is one for the fans with such rarities like 'All the Right Friends' (an early song that would eventually surface on the soundtrack of Vanilla Sky), 'Bad Day' (a precursor of 'It's the End of the World...' from the Life's Rich Paegent era), & 'Theme from Two Steps Forward' (an out-take from Fables like 'When I Was Young' & 'Tired of Singing Trouble') - the second disc is one for the fans, like 'Dead Letter Office'...but better.
The first disc finds all of the tracks that appeared on 'Eponymous' bar the poor 'Romance (Easy Come/Easy Go)' alongside highlights from their first five albums on IRS: Fables' psychedelic classic 'Feeling Gravity's Pull', Murmur's sublime 'Perfect Circle', debut single 'Radio Free Europe', the gorgeous 1986 single 'Fall on Me' & Chronic Town's 'Gardening at Night' - many of these songs finding themselves back in REM's live sets of recent years (possibly cos they're an Oldies band as Paul Morley suggested on The Culture Show, probably due to the poor material from 'Monster' onwards). Songs like 'Finest Worksong', 'Begin the Begin' and the anthemic 'Cuyahoga' were leading away from the charming mysterious band, a blend of Pere Ubu, Jason & the Scorchers & The Byrds, apparent on the first three albums and towards the poor man's U2 they are these days. Ho hum. A reminder of when REM were great - and kudos for including 'Sitting Still', one of their greatest songs and so touching, even if I haven't got a clue what Mr Stipe is singing about. Charming stuff and one to file next to Mission of Burma's 'Signals Calls...', The Replacements' 'Let It Be', Husker Du's 'New Day Rising', The Feelies' 'The Good Earth', The Dream Syndicate's 'Days of Wine & Roses', Green on Red's 'Gas Food Lodging', & Mary Margaret O'Hara's 'Miss America'...a golden era unknown to many...
This Is Going To Be Mind Blowing ! August 12, 2006
Mrs. K. Horne (Scotland)
10 out of 16 found this review helpful
Okay, first off I am using my mums account, I am 16yr old boy student. First off this album will be awesome, it has some of R.E.M. older tracks from albums such as Murmur and some tracks that were never released before. This album takes us through the I.R.S years of R.E.M., 1982-87, with handful of fans favourites. Disc 1 features a staggering 21 tracks along with disc 2 witch also applies 21 more tracks. This is a must for your R.E.M. collection, 42 tracks of pure R.E.M. quality.
A must buy.
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