Pitchfork: R.E.M.'s Early Years Collected

Music industry, launch your acronym attack! On September 12, R.E.M. will drop the first-ever complete CD and DVD anthologies of their 1980s I.R.S. Recordings. OMG, LOL, etc.

The collection, titled And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987, will come in two packages. Number one (for the likers) is a 21-track single-disc collection of fan and band favorites. Two (for the lovers), a dual-CD collector's edition with Anthony DeCurtis-penned liner notes, includes the aforementioned material as well as 21 rarities, alternate takes, previously unreleased mixes, live recordings, unreleased songs, and more. R.E.M. were responsible for compiling the set, which is being released via EMI on September 12.

A DVD, When the Light Is Mine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 will be released separately on the same date. It brags 2+ hours of content, featuring previously unreleased television performances, interviews, outtakes, and every one of the band's I.R.S.-era music videos, including "Wolves, Lower," which debuts with the film (unless you want to spoil the fun and click on the YouTube link below).

Tracklists:

And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 (CD):

01 Begin the Begin
02 Radio Free Europe
03 Pretty Persuasion
04 Talk About the Passion
05 (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
06 Sitting Still
07 Gardening at Night
08 7 Chinese Bros.
09 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
10 Driver 8
11 Can't Get There from Here
12 Finest Worksong
13 Feeling Gravity's Pull
14 I Believe
15 Life and How to Live It
16 Cuyahoga
17 The One I Love
18 Welcome to the Occupation
19 Fall on Me
20 Perfect Circle
21 It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

And I Feel Fine... The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 (2-CD Collector's Edition):

01 Pilgrimage (Mike's pick)
02 These Days (Bill's pick)
03 Gardening at Night (slower electric demo; previously unreleased)
04 Radio Free Europe (hib-tone version)
05 Sitting Still (hib-tone version)
06 Life and How to Live It (live at the Muzik Centrum, Utrecht, Holland 9/14/87; previously unreleased)
07 Ages of You (live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
08 We Walk (live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
09 1,000,000 (live at the Paradise, Boston 7/13/83; previously unreleased)
10 Finest Worksong (other mix)
11 Hyena (demo; previously unreleased)
12 Theme from Two Steps Onward (previously unreleased)
13 Superman
14 All the Right Friends (previously unreleased)
15 Mystery to Me (demo; previously unreleased)
16 Just a Touch (live in-studio version; previously unreleased)
17 Bad Day (session outtake; previously unreleased)
18 King of Birds
19 Swan Swan H (live, acoustic from Athens, GA - Inside/Out)
20 Disturbance at the Heron House (Peter's pick)
21 Time After Time (annElise; Michael's pick)

DVD tracklist:

01 Wolves, Lower
02 Radio Free Europe
03 Talk About the Passion
04 Radio Free Europe ("The Tube" 11/18/83)
05 Talk About the Passion ("The Tube" 11/18/83)
06 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
07 Left of Reckoning
08 Pretty Persuasion ("The Old Grey Whistle Test" 11/20/84)
09 Can't Get There from Here
10 Driver 8
11 Life and How to Live It
12 Feeling Gravity's Pull
13 Can't Get There from Here ("The Tube" 10/25/85)
14 Fall on Me
15 Swan Swan H (Athens, GA - Inside/Out)
16 The One I Love
17 It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
18 Finest Worksong