| The Best of R.E.M. | |
| Type: | greatest |
| Artist: | R.E.M. |
| Cover: | R.E.M. - The Best of R.E.M..jpg |
| Recorded: | 1982–1987 |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Language: | English |
| Label: | I.R.S. |
| Producer: | Mitch Easter, Don Dixon, Joe Boyd, Don Gehman, Scott Litt, R.E.M. |
| Prev Title: | This Film Is On |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | Automatic for the People |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
The Best of R.E.M. is a greatest hits album by R.E.M. released in 1991, shortly after the success of the band's seventh studio album, Out of Time, released by Warner Bros. The Best of R.E.M., however, was released by the band's previous record label, I.R.S. Records, and only includes tracks from their first five albums while the group was with that label. As such, it covers their output from 1982 to 1987.
The Best of R.E.M. was only issued in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Chile, complete with liner notes from Remarks: The Story of R.E.M. by Tony Fletcher (a domestic American greatest hits album had been released prior with a very similar track list titled Eponymous). It has no alternate mixes (unlike Eponymous); all the songs are the album versions.
Three songs were taken from each of the first five studio albums and one song was taken from Chronic Town, the band's first EP, making a total of sixteen songs on the album.
"A considerable improvement on the useful but haphazard Eponymous collection," wrote Dan Maier in a 5/5 review for Select. "It'll be a few years before Warners release their own 'Best Of'. In the meantime, this'll do very nicely indeed."[1]
All tracks written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe.
| Country | Certification (sales thresholds) | |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Gold | |
| BPI – UK | Gold[2] |