R.E.M.
'In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003'
On Warner Bros. Records
Grade: AWith a band as consistently good as R.E.M., it's hard to imagine them releasing anything except a spectacular greatest hits record. "In Time" is all of your favorite R.E.M. tracks in the perfect running order. It's like an iTunes playlist, only without the work of figuring out when each song should play.

There are new songs on "In Time," but thankfully only a couple. The first, and also the current single from the band, "Bad Day," is briefly discussed by guitarist Peter Buck in the included booklet. He says, "We started writing this song in 1986. We finished writing it in 2003. The sad thing is, between those years nothing much has changed." While "Bad Day," in its time-spanning inception, may be the perfect song to sum up the purpose of the entire disc, the truth is that the changes in R.E.M.'s sound, no matter how subtle, are beautifully documented by this collection. Buck comments on every included song on the album in the booklet, providing glimpses into the recording process, writing process and general nature of what it is like to be in R.E.M.

"In Time" is like a never-ending barrage of every song you sing along to on the radio. Opening up with the Andy Kaufman one-two punch of "Man on the Moon" and "The Great Beyond"- the former written about Kaufman and the latter written for the movie about the man and named after the first song - the listener is swept through "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" "Losing My Religion" and "Orange Crush." This is all before the disc is halfway done. From fan favorites like "E-Bow The Letter" and "At My Most Beautiful," to radio classics like "Everybody Hurts" and "Stand," every aspect of R.E.M.'s heyday is covered in this disc. Listening to it is like reliving your childhood, one radio hit at a time.

Since R.E.M. has always taken the artistic principles of their music quite seriously, their fans often follow suit, sneering at record executives and radio stations that dare to play the band too much. In the world of R.E.M., commercialization means death. So it's not surprising to hear that many fans have frowned on the band's decision to release an album of this nature. However, the truth is that "In Time" is a perfect collection of the best R.E.M. songs released in the past 15 years. If fans want to slave away over vinyl or tapes, putting together their own mixes that they can declare infinitely superior to "In Time," I say go for it. Just don't make too much noise; I'm quite happy to slip this baby into my stereo and pump the volume way up. Artistic morals be damned, this is one of the best hits collections you can own.