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The Best of R.E.M.
Greatest hits album by R.E.M.
Released	September 30, 1991 (1991-09-30)
Recorded	1982–1987
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	59:17
Label	I.R.S.
Producer	Mitch Easter Don Dixon Joe Boyd Don Gehman Scott Litt R.E.M.
R.E.M. chronology
This Film Is On (1991) The Best of R.E.M. (1991) Automatic for the People (1992)
R.E.M. compilations chronology
Eponymous (1988) The Best of R.E.M. (1991) The Automatic Box (1993)

The Best of R.E.M. is agreatest hits album byR.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 Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Chile, complete with liner notes fromRemarks: The Story of R.E.M. byTony Fletcher. It was not the first compilation to cover this era, and featured all but two of the songs that had already been included on an earlier greatest hits album titledEponymous (albeit some were different versions).

Three songs were taken from each of the first five studio albums and one song was taken fromChronic Town, the band's firstEP, making a total of sixteen songs on the album.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[1]

"A considerable improvement on the useful but haphazardEponymous collection," wrote Dan Maier in a 5/5 review forSelect. "It'll be a few years before Warners releasetheir own 'Best Of'. In the meantime, this'll do very nicely indeed."^[2]

All tracks written byBill Berry,Peter Buck,Mike Mills,Michael Stipe.

1. "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" (fromChronic Town) – 3:51
2. "Radio Free Europe" (fromMurmur) – 4:03
3. "Perfect Circle" (fromMurmur) – 3:23
4. "Talk About the Passion" (fromMurmur) – 3:22
5. "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" (fromReckoning) – 3:11
6. "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" (fromReckoning) – 4:34
7. "Pretty Persuasion" (fromReckoning) – 3:53
8. "Green Grow the Rushes" (fromFables of the Reconstruction) – 3:42
9. "Cant Get There from Here" (fromFables of the Reconstruction) – 4:10
10. "Driver 8" (fromFables of the Reconstruction) – 3:18
11. "Fall On Me" (fromLifes Rich Pageant) – 2:49
12. "I Believe" (fromLifes Rich Pageant) – 3:32
13. "Cuyahoga" (fromLifes Rich Pageant) – 4:17
14. "The One I Love" (fromDocument) – 3:17
15. "Finest Worksong" (fromDocument) – 3:48
16. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" (fromDocument) – 4:07

• Albums produced by Mitch Easter
• Albums produced by Don Dixon (musician)
• Albums produced by Joe Boyd
• Albums produced by Scott Litt
• Albums produced by Don Gehman
• R.E.M. compilation albums
• 1991 greatest hits albums
• I.R.S. Records compilation albums

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