Complete Studio Albums - I.R.S. 1982-1987

iTunes Editors’ Notes

R.E.M.'s popularity was proof that major labels were failing to capture segments of the college market. Unlike bands who were pumped up as the “next big thing” only to not meet expectations, R.E.M. built their audience gradually and organically, with each release expanding their audience piece by piece. By Document—their fifth album for the small I.R.S. label—they'd consistently been scoring hit singles without a major label's leverage (though I.R.S. was linked to A&M Records). R.E.M.'s music began as mysterious, near-indecipherable songs on the five-track Chronic Town EP and the early albums Murmur, Reckoning, and the gorgeous Fables of the Reconstruction. They surged toward more pop-oriented material on Lifes Rich Pageant (sic), where producer Don Gehman brought singer Michael Stipe’s vocals to the front and gave Peter Buck’s guitars serious firepower. “Fall on Me” was an exuberant hit single, and Document continued the streak with the stunning “The One I Love” and “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”