Chance is Yours and Call the Shot

Eponymous - 1988

After I listened to Out of Time many times and fell in love with R.E.M., the next album (or should I say "cassette") that I purchased was Eponymous. This record only deepened my appreciation of the band even more. Eponymous is the first "best of" album by R.E.M. Besides offering an small overview of the band's body of work while at I.R.S. Records, this collection also contained alternate takes on three songs and another track that had only previously appeared on a soundtrack.

Eponymous starts at the very beginning and opens up with the original Hib-Tone version of "Radio Free Europe". I've always loved this rendition of the songs so much more than the later Murmur one. The selection from Chronic Town is "Gardening At Night", but with a different vocal mix. Instead of singing in falsetto, this version has Michael Stipe belting out the lyrics in his regular "rock" voice. The instrumental track is still the same, but this new vocal mix really seems to give the song some extra power.

This is followed by "Talk About the Passion" from Murmur, "So. Central Rain" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" from Reckoning, and "Can't Get There From Here" and "Driver 8" from Fables of the Reconstruction. These are all great tracks, but the next real treat on Eponymous is "Romance". This energetic number first appeared on the Made In Heaven soundtrack.

Unfortunately, this is followed up with only one track from Lifes Rich Pageant, which is sorely under-represented here. Luckily, "Fall on Me" is such a magnificent song that it almost makes up for it. The next songs are R.E.M.'s first major hit, "The One I Love", and a new version of "Finest Worksong" that now contains horns. Eponymous closes fittingly with the all too catchy "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)".

As far as "greatest hits" albums go, Eponymous is an excellent example of doing one right. It starts at the very beginning of a band's career, culls a single or two from each album, and includes a couple of new treats. If anyone is remotely interested in R.E.M. this is where they should begin.

10 out of 10