Fans had only just begun to come to terms with the sad demise of R.E.M. when this reflective double-disc set arrived.
It helped ease the sting a little, as the group punched the clock on a three decade-long career which took them from penny-pitcher nights in eastern Georgia to sold-out arenas all over the known world.
“As lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band,” R.E.M. said in an official statement released in September 2011. “We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished.”
Alternative/pop rock lovers everywhere could appreciate R.E.M.’s yearning to turn the page, but there was nevertheless many a tear shed knowing the enormously popular group had most likely made their last studio album and played their last show. But in typical fashion, R.E.M. shined a bright spot on a somber period by bestowing one last gift – Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, an unconventional greatest-hits collection that followed on Nov. 11, 2011.
The title goes back to a comment made by guitarist Peter Buck in 1988: “R.E.M is part lies, part heart, part truth and part garbage.” In retrospect, they chose wisely. With R.E.M., you get that, and everything in between.
Be certain, this isn’t your grandpa’s best-of collection. Unlike many, the track listing for Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage was hand picked by the band – with each song meticulously placed so it takes you from one period to the next. That gives it a chronological sweep across R.E.M.’s body of work, starting with Murmur and following all the way into the group’s last studio album, Collapse Into Now.
Then … it keeps going: Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage takes you even further back than Murmur, with the first track “Gardening at Night” taken from the 1982 album Chronic Town, released by the independent rock label I.R.S. Records. This collection also gives the listener new material to sample with the final three tracks, “A Month of Saturdays,” “We All Go Back Where We Belong” and “Hallelujah” – each conjured up during the Collapse Into Now sessions, but left off the album.
The result is a 40-track journey through R.E.M.’s body of work that whizzes past any other compilation attempt. And they have tried a few. This one, however, spans both their early years on I.R.S. and the later Warner Bros. period, a special treat.
The band’s more familiar tunes are mixed in with some forgotten delights like “So. Central Rain” from the 1984 album Reckoning. An upbeat tune with shades of the Cure or Elvis Costello, this song was released around the time when R.E.M. was swiftly becoming one of the best-known college-rock bands on the scene.
Deeper into the project are all the classics from the late 1980s into a new century, long after R.E.M. exploded into the mainstream. It’ll bring you up with “Orange Crush” and send you right back down with “Losing My Religion.” There’s bohemian hipster gold in “Shiny Happy People,” and the reflective sadness of “Nightswimming.”
Along the way, Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage becomes the best showcase yet for the undeniable songwriting and composing abilities of Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills – a sort-of concept greatest-hits set that tells the story of a growing band, from before its debut through world stardom and then, somehow, past even the end.
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