Time isn’t kind to details. In the case of musical artists, much of their oeuvre gets lost in the din of their hits or predominant sound. Behind it all, there’s often a deeper, more interesting art that should rightfully be as recognizable as the Greatest Hits catalog. When a band is around for as long as this week’s condensees, REM, there’s plenty in the radio-unfriendly but nonetheless stunning category. Enough to build an entire album, such as the last of three CD’s in REM: Condensed.

·    Drive
The opening track on Automatic For The People is what folk music would sound like if it had actually evolved since 1965. Much of Automatic is lush and moody, so this song is a great way to open things. As for why it’s on Condensed, I think it’s the perfect fusion of REM’s folk acoustic side and expansive rock side. It deserves to be on more Best Of compilations than it is.

·    E-Bow The Letter
Michael Stipe is a poet. This song from New Adventures in the Hi-Fi is Stipe at his most spoken-word dramatic. The instrumentation is jumbled and druggy. If REM had done more songs like this, the style would’ve worn thin quickly. But “E-Bow” stands alone stylistically and lyrically in all of REM’s work, so it’s excellent.

·    The Apologist
·    I Don’t Sleep, I Dream

REM got a reputation as a band that made sincere acoustic tunes, radio pop songs and quirky indie sing-alongs. This track from Monster exposes REM’s more droll, sexual side, as does the track that follows it here on the Condensed CD.
·    Low
·    Pilgrimage
·    Electrolite
·    Be Mine
·    Strange Currencies
Most of the time, we get distracted by the fact that it’s a modern pop band playing the song to realize what we’re actually listening to. “Strange Currencies” is a 1990’s update for early-1960’s slow dance songs. It has the same structure and a lot of the same tonal qualities as songs like “This Magic Moment”. I love it when pop evolves.
·    Daysleeper
·    Sad Professor
The above two tracks, like quite a few on Condensed, come from 1998’s Up. I keep on referring to this album in regard to its poor critical and fan reception, which is roundly undeserved. Of all the band’s albums, Up requires the least cutting. It’s not a perfect album, but it’s the most artistically consistent the band has to offer. The late-90’s were strange years for music and Up is a pretty brave collection of songs considering the landscape.
·    Let Me In
I’m convinced that no music critic has ever written the words “noise rock” without surrounding it with the word “experimental”. Maybe that’s because so few artists manage to apply the principles of Noise in a way that works as more than just earsplitting static. “Let Me In”, from Monster, is successful Noise Rock with genuine emotional content. If I had a magic lamp that granted musical wishes, an entire album full of songs like “Let Me In” would be on the list.
·    Leave
·    Parakeet
·    Suspicion
·    Star Me Kitten
·    Tongue
The last song on REM: Condensed has Michael Stipe singing in a playful falsetto, backed by piano, organ and ooh-ah vocals. It’s a sweet, vulnerable song about sex and screwed up relationships. In fact, Stipe has often claimed that he chose the falsetto because the speaker in the song is supposed to be a woman. In this last CD filled with admirable oddities, I couldn’t end it on any other note.

I’ll be back next week with another artist. Until then, listen well.