Eponymous

R.E.M.

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 27, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002UVY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,275 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Much as the outtake and B-side collection Dead Letter Office anthologizes the many oddities of R.E.M., 1988's Eponymous is a document testifying to the astounding strength of their formative I.R.S. years. Eponymous reinforces the notion that the inchoate R.E.M. was a rare and brilliant gem of a group. While a somewhat brief CD, it provides quality listening from start to finish with hits such as "The One I Love," "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville," and "Driver 8" tucked amid the likes of an alternate take of "Finest Worksong" and the wonderfully mysterious "Gardening at Night." Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of the original seven-inch version of "Radio Free Europe," the band's 1981 release. --Lorry Fleming

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars End of Indie Rock As We Knew It, and REM Did Fine, March 17, 2000

By	Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This collection gathers the better radio tracks from REM's first (and, to these ears, best) six years together. It's hard to remember how organic and dynamic underground-turned-mainstream hits like "South Central Rain" and "Radio Free Europe" (heard here in its original demo version) were until you hear them again, especially in the 80s when alternative radio was restricted to college frequencies.

The group had already concocted muscular folk-rock melodies based on the genre's heroes. The Byrds' country and folk-rock influences all the songs, as does Alex Chilton's Box Tops and Michael Nesmith's First National Band ("Rockville" closes with a quote from Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side of Town.")Who could forget Michael Stipe's distinctive voice buried in musical quicksand, and trying to decipher his cryptic lyric images?

Highlights include the staples "The One I Love" and the fun, if silly "It's The End of The World" (the conductor, Communist, comic and critic fit together only rythmically), the gorgeous "Fall On Me" from their only Don Gehman-produced album (with softheaded Biblical imagery reminiscent of his other major client, John Mellencamp) and Bill Berry's great drumming throughout, especially on "Can't Get There From Here" and "Gardening at Night." Recommended early music from a Hall of Fame-bound rock band.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Greatest Hits" Collection, May 16, 2001

By	Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Eponymous was the final release by R.E.M. on the IRS label. Even though it was released to fulfill contractual obligations, it is a great overview of the band's work for the seminal label. There most well known songs from this era like "The One I Love", "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", "Can't Get There From Here" and "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" are included. There are few treats like the original 7" Hibtone version of "Radio Free Europe", an alternative take of "Gardening At Night" and a horn mix of "The Finest Worksong". If you are only familiar with the band's Warner Brothers output, then Eponymous is a great place to start to hear what the band sounded like in their early, formative years.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a stingy compilation - stay away from this, November 20, 2003

By	Gulley Jimson (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

The first thing I would like to point out is that this CD is 42 minutes long. Forty-two! In the age of 80 minute running times, on the greatest hits album for probably the greatest American band of the past thirty odd years, on a disc covering their most fertile period - you get TWELVE SONGS! Other reviews have complained that a few more tracks would have fit on here: for god's sake, ten more tracks would have fit on here, and every single one would have been a classic! The only original contribution that this album makes is the forgettable new track Romance.

Eponymous covers the period where pretty much every album REM put out is brilliant. If you insist on buying just one golden age REM CD, get Murmur. Or Reckoning, or Document, depending on what songs you desperately want to have. The depressing thing is that, with all the time left on this CD, you could probably have fit the rest of any of those albums on here. I bought this a while ago and finally sold it to a Used CD store after not listening to it for years. The albums I'll own forever. Each of them has its own flavor (Murmur especially): the songs gain from being around each other.

(Let me just give a short list of the brilliant songs that could have all fit on here: Perfect Circle, Catapult, Shaking Through, We Walk, 7 Chinese Brothers, Camera, and Oddfellows Local 151. And those are just my personal favorites.)