I saw the last two nights on that tour, the did Life and How to Live It as the first encore song both nights. It was great.

I saw the last two nights on that tour, the did Life and How to Live It as the first encore song both nights. It was great.

This piece kind of inspired me to revisit Around the Sun, and while it still sucks, it doesn't seem as bad as I remembered. I will say I really enjoy Stipe's singing on it. The music is lackluster, but he sounds pretty great. Here is hoping that someday we can hear some demos or something that don't have all that…

It comes with a digital download code. So there's that.

Maybe swap that for In the Air? I dunno. I'm ok with cutting tracks as long as they get out there eventually. I can't help but think hearing that as an Up B-side rather than "Surfing the Ganges" or "Lotus (Weird Mix)" would have been really nice.

I always thought Airportman was interesting as an intro piece but could never understand why it needed to be 4 minutes long. Cut it down by 2 minutes and get on with the album.

I love those live versions of Country Feedback where he kind of tags some of Chorus and the Ring at the beginning.

I remember hearing/reading Stipe saying that.

Daysleeper is a great song, but for some reason I feel like it would have been better served not being on that album. Maybe hold it for Reveal or as a non-album single.

I feel like around Automatic when they weren't touring or really doing much other than making records/videos people started assuming something was wrong.

Up was the first R.E.M. album I bought day of release, I think I was 15 or 16 at the time. It soundtracked a big part of my life and thus is completely beyond any kind of rational criticism or assessment for me.

No Code is a great call. That's a great record, difficult, varied, pretty much the record they wanted to make and not another world conquering hit. A lot like NAIHF. Those two have always been related in my head.

I've seen Mills hanging around shows in Athens, GA and honestly when he's not on stage he still comes off really down to earth and chill. I think maybe he just liked having a crazy costume for when he was on stage.

Wow does that make me sad. Country Feedback might be my favorite song ever by any band. I saw R.E.M. six times and never got to hear them play it.

I've always kind of felt like those songs might have been a lot better if twas just Michael, Mike, Peter and a drummer. Simpler arrangements, less production.

By the time people are done commenting on this thread, I think someone is going to claim every single song on NAIHF as their favorite. And that's just how good that record is.

It was a really safe choice and unrepresentative of the album as a whole. Something tells me Warner's maybe had a hand in that one. Especially since the lead single from NAiHF was the amazing, but not terribly accessible E-bow.

That just reminds me of Stipe's quote about Around the Sun: "primitive and howling". That sounded so good at the time, and then… not so much.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the lack of a "final tour" kind of thing. Because as an artistic decision I fully support it. They didn't want to go out like a lot of other bands and do the big final cash grab.

In all seriousness, I want Find the River played at my funeral. Such a wonderful song.