The now-disbanded R.E.M. today unveiled the tracklist and cover art for its forthcoming, career-spanning best-of — the 40-song Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011 — and announced that “We All Go Back to Where We Belong,” one of three new tracks on the set, will be issued as a single next month.
The album — the band’s first retrospective to span both its classic ’80s output on IRS Records and its later Warner Bros. material — is due for release Nov. 15, and will be preceded by the new single on Oct. 18. Two other new tracks, “A Month of Saturdays” and “”Hallelujah,” were recorded this past summer in Athens, Ga., with producer Jacknife Lee.
In the announcement of the new best-of, bassist Mike Mills is quoted as saying, “Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.”
The 2CD set is assembled in roughly chronological order, kicking off with “Gardening at Night” and running through 12 more tracks from the IRS years before switching to the more commercially successful Warner Bros. material, starting with “Stand” and running through the three new songs.
Tracklist: R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011
Disc 1:
1. “Gardening At Night”
2. “Radio Free Europe”
3. “Talk About The Passion”
4. “Sitting Still”
5. “So. Central Rain”
6. “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville”
7. “Driver 8”
8. “Life And How To Live It”
9. “Begin The Begin”
10. “Fall On Me”
11. “Finest Worksong”
12. “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
13. “The One I Love”
14. “Stand”
15. “Pop Song 89”
16. “Get Up”
17. “Orange Crush”
18. “Losing My Religion”
19. “Country Feedback”
20. “Shiny Happy People”
Disc 2:
1. “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite”
2. “Everybody Hurts”
3. “Man On The Moon”
4. “Nightswimming”
5. “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”
6. “New Test Leper”
7. “Electrolite”
8. “At My Most Beautiful”
9. “The Great Beyond”
10. “Imitation Of Life”
11. “Bad Day”
12. “Leaving New York”
13. “Living Well Is The Best Revenge”
14. “Supernatural Superserious”
15. “ÜBerlin”
16. “Oh My Heart”
17. “Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter”
18. “A Month of Saturdays” *
19. “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” *
20. “Hallelujah” *
* New songs
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- R.E.M. to release first-ever greatest-hits set spanning IRS, Warner Bros. years
- Stream: Slicing Up Eyeballs’ hour-long R.E.M. retrospective on Strangeways Radio (3/8/11)
- Video: Watch encore set from R.E.M.’s final concert — Mexico City, Nov. 18, 2008
- R.E.M., 1980-2011: Genre-defining college rock band breaks up after 31 years
- Vintage Video: Full R.E.M. concert from 1985′s ‘Fables’ tour filmed for ‘Rockpalast’
- R.E.M. ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ 25th anniversary reissue to include 19 unreleased demos
Come on REM – one last tour or even one concert to end it! Don’t leave us hanging!
They aren’t the Eagles, and I hear Buck has already moved on with with Minus 5. Do not get your hopes up about a “farewell” tour.
They finally included “Shiny Happy People” on a compilation.
I’m glad there is so much ‘Green’ and ‘Collapse into Now’ on it.
“The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight” and “Everybody Hurts” instead of “Drive”. BS.
I love you and miss you R.E.M.
I truly believe you will go down in history as a modern day “Beatles”.
A pretty decent overview of their career indeed. I’d make a few song tweaks here and there (“Perfect Circle” instead of “Standing Still” and throw in “Strange Currencies” in place of a newer tune), but definitely a must-have for anyone wanting to get into the band.
No “Can’t Get There From Here” is a crime. In general, needs more I.R.S. material. Disc two is pretty awful. I get the marketing ploy and all, but man, I hate it when bands put new music on so-called “best-of” packages. When you pull this one out in years to come, the new stuff will stick out like sore thumbs.
lame – so many better songs they could have included. Not a good note to go out on.
The second time that “Drive” has been left off one of their compilations – I don’t get it….
Agreed — totally weird to see “Sidewinder,” a marginal track at best, in place of “Drive” which was huge at the time. An odd decision, from an objective standpoint.
Utterly bewildering. Lead single from one of their best albums, popular and I’ve always thought it was a great song. They seem to have more or less disowned it. It’s a bit like U2 with The Fly (leaving aside the yawning gap in quality between U2 and REM).
probably easier to just go on iTunes and make your own greatest hits collection.
Yes. In this digital “make my own CD” age, putting out a “best of” album seems a bit archaic. I have my best of running on my iPod at the moment and I’ve been a die-hard fan since the mid-80s and I can tell you my list is VERY different from this one. And watch, the new songs will be “album only” on iTunes.
p.s. it might have made more sense to do something for the fans like a collection of rarities and unreleased and / or new songs.
NOTHING ABOUT THIS MAKES ME HAPPY… R.E.M. BREAKS UP AND WE GET ANOTHER GREATEST HITS ALBUM….GRREEAATT!
I have always loved R.E.M., but I do not plan on buying yet another compilation. Miss them already.
Why “Sidewinder” is on there but not “Drive” is def baffling, especially nothing “Drive” is performed live at almost ever show, while the band have gone on record as stating they don’t even care for “Sidewinder” all that much.
only 1 song from MONSTER, but 3 from Collapse Into Now? very strange. and Leaving NY was one of the worst songs on Around the Sun!! granted not a great album, but there are much better songs than that choice. boy in the well, wanderlust to name two. agreed that drive should have been on there. those new songs better be decent guys!
I would have just as hard a time whittling my favorite REM songs down to the top 40 of all time, but I guarantee mine would satisfy a lot more than this list would. Try me…. ;)