R.E.M. - 'And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The IRS Years: 1982-87' (EMI) Released 11/09/06

Before they were a globe-straddling stadium rock band of the highest order, selling out enormous tours (and in the views of many just selling out), R.E.M. were just a humble alternative quartet from Athens, Georgia, putting out a series of LPs on the IRS label. Formed in early 1980 at the University of Georgia by Michael Stipe, drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills, they became a college radio hit with the release of debut single 'Radio Free Europe', before signing to I.R.S. Records in 1982, subsequently releasing debut LP 'Murmur' in April 1983. From then until 1987 they released five albums in total, culminating in 1987's 'Document', regarded by many as their commercial breakthrough.

'And I Feel Fine...' attempts to catalogue the best cuts from that period, with extracts from 'Murmur', 'Reckoning', 'Fables Of The Reconstruction', 'Life's Rich Pageant' and 'Document'. Excellent stuff it is too, with all the best examples of Stipe's cryptic lyrics (many of which are undecipherable in song), Buck's distinctive, arpeggiated jangle and the driving twin rhythm section of Mills and Buck.

The songs chosen here are indisputably some of the best music recorded by anyone over that five-year period, from the impassioned 'Pretty Persuasion' to the far colder 'Feeling Gravity's Pull', the folkish 'Driver 8' to the intelligent pop-punk of 'End Of The World As We Know It'. Throw  in 'So Central Rain (I'm Sorry)' and 'The One I Love' - the song that most indicates the band knew the stadiums would shortly be calling - for good measure and you're left with a must-have record for any fan of guitar music.

In many ways it would be interesting if the tracks here were in release order, to see the clear progression in sound. From the more stripped-down early efforts - such as 'Radio Free Europe' and 'Murmur' stand-out 'Talk About The Passion' - to the later more muscular tracks such as 'Begin The Begin' and 'Finest Worksong', it is clear that the band had found their identity, their "voice", so to speak. Chronicling this in such an order would have been most interesting, like tracking a football team from the lower leagues to the Premiership.

But no matter. What we do have here are all the ingredients that made Warners invest so much in the band, a move later rewarded by one of the greatest trio of consecutive albums ever recorded in 'Green', 'Out Of Time' and 'Automatic For The People', even if their subsequent output has been somewhat patchy. Those records will clearly be their legacy, but in terms of detailing how they grew from being the US alternative to The Smiths into the titans we now know them as, this set will do just fine.