After R.E.M. ignited the blogosphere on September 21st with the news that they had decided to “call it a day as a band” via a statement on their website, the beloved band have announced that they will release their final album, Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 – 2011, on Warner Bros. Records on November 11th.
The album is a 40-song career-spanning retrospective that collects, for the first time ever, songs from R.E.M.’s entire back catalog, including the pioneering American band’s years on both the IRS label (1982 to 1987) and Warner Bros. Records (1988 to 2011).
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED
We had five copies of this double-CD to give away. Congratulations to David McMahon, Louise O'Mahony, Karen Delaney, Patrick Murrihy and Dermot Moore who all correctly told us that R.E.M.'s debut long-player was called 'Murmur'.
Widely credited with inventing the college-rock genre, R.E.M. became the most influential American alternative rock band in history — inspiring such artists as Sonic Youth, Pavement, Nirvana, and Radiohead — for achieving multi-platinum mainstream success while maintaining their distinct identity. Over the course of its career, the band released 15 studio albums:and sold more than 85 million albums worldwide.
“Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey,” says Mike Mills of choosing the songs that appear on Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 – 2011. “We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.”
In addition to liner notes written by band members Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe, the album also features three new songs that R.E.M. finished after they completed their last album, Collapse Into Now: “A Month of Saturdays,” “We All Go Back To Where We Belong,” and “Hallelujah,” which were recorded over the summer in Athens with producer Jacknife Lee.