by
R.E.M.
- Record Label: Warner Bros.
- Release Date: Nov 15, 2011
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MojoDec 12, 2011Pageant has aged well, with the bonus disc of Athens Demos confirming that much of the album's brilliance is down to band and producer making the most of slum resources.[Aug. 2011, p. 113]
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Nov 11, 2011Not only did they change the course of rock music; they also sustained an inspired creativity for almost two decades, something that the career arc of this retrospective brings into focus, right down to the Bacharach-esque touches of the final unreleased tracks, which pleasingly bring things full-circle in certain ways.
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Nov 15, 2011Part Lies makes a good case that their later period has value too, and that the group had raised the bar so high for themselves that merely being very good could be interpreted as a failure.
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Nov 28, 2011Part Lies, is absolutely the definitive collection to come from R.E.M. – the one to own and cherish and keep – and this one goes out to the ones who love what they've heard on the radio, but are unsure where to begin the begin.
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Nov 16, 2011Every song a casual fan would know is here.
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Nov 15, 2011Part Lies is a goodbye to the fans who have been around for years but a hello to those who missed out the first time 'round. And that is all truth.
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Nov 15, 2011Chronological evenhandedness short-shrifts their vaunted 1980s but shows that their confused past 15 years did produce some Georgia peaches.
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Q MagazineDec 22, 2011This two-disc set captures R.E.M. in their prime, erasing the memory of their middling final decade. [Jan 2012, p.135]
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UncutDec 12, 2011The chronological sequencing, kicking off with the delightfully sloppy "Gardening At night" from the "Chronic Town" EP, charts a course from indie college jangle to pensive AOR, and tracks fro their latter days on the IRS label sparkle with eloquence and grandeur. [Jan 2012, p.96]
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Nov 30, 2011This is a portrait of maturation, a chronicle of growth with arguably few missteps.
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Nov 23, 2011The most important thing to establish is that most of this music is extraordinary and that the first half is nigh on faultless... much of the second half really does feels like band or label have tried to airbrush out the stuff the Yanks didn't like so much.
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Nov 16, 2011Beautifully-balanced and well-paced.
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Nov 15, 2011The benefit of a comp is that it's totally possible, even welcome, to downplay dull lapses like Around the Sun--and, when combined with well-chosen highlights from the band's powerful first two acts, adds up to a thorough narrative of R.E.M.'s entire career.
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Nov 10, 2011There are three new songs, finished after this year's Collapse Into Now, and folky highlight ''We All Go Back to Where We Belong'' suggests that Athens' finest had more sweet jangle left in 'em.
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Nov 16, 2011As a gateway drug for newbies, "Part Lies" is a good introduction to the rich pagaent that was R.E.M.'s musical life.
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Nov 14, 2011The 40 tracks collected here are arranged more or less chronologically, which makes enough sense for a best-of set, and are divided almost perfectly evenly between the three eras of R.E.M.'s career, a choice that actively dilutes the quality of the album.
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Nov 10, 2011The three new songs tacked on at the end are indicative of their latter day torpor: hardly awful, but hardly memorable either; just three middle-aged millionaires going through the motions. But remember them as they were during the majority of this fine collection.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 15
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Mixed: 1 out of 15
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Negative: 1 out of 15
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Aug 30, 2012
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Feb 23, 2022