R. E. M.: In Time: The Best of 1988-2003

Reviewed by RUSSELL BAILLIE

Herald rating: * * *

(Warner Bros)

It's odd if you know the original albums from which these 18 songs spring from to hear them re-sorted into a greatest hits package — the likes of Everybody Hurts, Losing My Religion, or Orange Crush all mark distinct, sonically diverse chapters in the band's career.

But rubbing shoulders on this non-chronological compilation of the group's major-label years, they never quite achieve a cohesive whole.

It's not quite a definitive greatest hits either, with the thankful absence of Shiny Happy People.

And while fans might appreciate the inclusions of soundtrack-only cuts The Great Beyond and All the Right Friends included, they certainly aren't the "best" the title promises. Either are Bad Day (a rewrite of their It's the End of the World as We Know It of the George W. era) or Animal (the Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows with an R. E. M. chorus).

Useful if, like many, you missed recent developments in their career, but the conclusion is R. E. M. is too much of a great album band to have a great greatest hits as well.

Label: Warner Bros