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Track Listings

1	Radio Song
2	Losing My Religion
3	Low
4	Near Wild Heaven
5	Endgame
6	Shiny Happy People
7	Belong
8	Half A World Away
9	Texarkana
10	Country Feedback
11	Me In Honey

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

After putting Athens, GA, on the musical map in the early '80s, R.E.M. went on to become one of the world's biggest bands. Fusing folk, garage rock, pop sensibilities, and insightful lyrics delivered with Michael Stipe's inimitable lead vocals, these alt-rock forefathers built a massive indie following, and in 1988 unleashed their major-label debut, Warner Bros.' Green. This roots rock tour de force was followed in '91 by the Grammy-winning #1 blockbuster Out of Time, which led to an ongoing stream of masterpieces. These two classics, along with five more albums from R.E.M.'s extraordinary catalog-plus their retrospective Best Of-now each feature a Bonus DVD with Surround Sound audio and video extras

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Though R.E.M. titled a later album Monster, this 1991 smash was the true monster, with the little Athens, Georgia, quartet graduating once and for all from its jangling independent-rock roots. The confusion Michael Stipe communicates in the catchy "Losing My Religion" and the dark-and-dreamy "Low" hit the mainstream-rock audience when it was most primed for uneasy angst. (Nirvana's Nevermind was released a few months later.) There are also odd but successful experiments, like ceding the opening "Radio Song" to rapper KRS-One (with Stipe playing the moaning straight man) and going peppy for the surprisingly nonsarcastic "Shiny Happy People." --Steve Knopper

Warner's new edition of the band's mainstream contender has been both digitally remastered for superior sound as well as expanded with a new, bonus DVD. That new chapter contains an expansive, 5.1 surround mix as well as Time Piece, a previously unreleased 1991 20-minute documentary that chronicles the recording of the album via rare in-studio footage and band interviews. Also included are the video for "Losing My Religion" and an album of period still photos.

Product details

Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.55 x 4.97 x 0.54 inches; 2.83 ounces
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Rhino
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 3, 2007
Label ‏ : ‎ Rhino
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0006ICF9A
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2

Best Sellers Rank: #348,497 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #352 in Jangle Pop
- #5,954 in Adult Alternative (CDs & Vinyl)
- #20,914 in Vocal Pop (CDs & Vinyl)

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4.7 733 ratings

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Rocky Raccoon

Watershed with a Geyser

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2006

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'Out of Time,' but certainly not out of talent, R.E.M. reinvented themselves in sound and outlook like never before. The double images of a watershed on the album's cover can't fail to make its point: They will never be the same. To accentuate their makeover, the back photo shows the group in black, mourning their old image. (It is an update to the Beatles at their own funeral on the cover of 'Sgt. Pepper'.) Mike Mills has an all-knowing smirk, and Michael Stipe's arms are raised to embrace the horizon like the tragic characters in Joyce Carol Oates' story, "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" They definitely go to new destinations from here on out. The desperation, angst, and appeals made for divine and human love seemingly gone wrong are brilliantly presented on this their, er..., watershed...album.

On 'Out of Time' the sky's the limit. They start with a loose and skillful rap "Radio Song" with scathing lines addressed to the aggrieved beloved. The song also skillfully parodies "Pop Song '89," which is itself a fun-filled mockery of pop music. Then, their anguished anthem "Losing My Religion" serenades the listener even in the midst of despair. Peter's expert mandolin playing and the alternative "wall of sound" they created shot this song nearest the top spot of any R.E.M. single. (Sour relationships and the alienation of stardom have shaken their faith.)

The angry despair of unrequited love continues even though the potpourri of music embellishes it in many different ways. "Low" is brilliant, even with its Velvet Underground influence. The desperation is stark and superbly presented. "Near Will Heaven" is sarcastic and innocuous at the same time. Sounding like a pop choir, the lyrics celebrate innocense and its overthrow in the same breath. Then, there is the pensiveness presented in the fine instrumental "Endgame". (As Tom Petty sang, "Waiting is the hardest part.")

The second half of the C.D. trumps the first. "Shiny Happy People" has the same effect as "Near Wild Heaven," except it is looser and more exhiliarating. The bitterness is apparent, but R.E.M. sings to cheer themselves up. (The video, especially Bill Berry's appearance, tells it all.) "Half a World Away" continues the pensiveness with a harpsicord-like accompaniment and a lyrical assertiveness that lets us know that love is more important than politics. (Not resisting comparisons, U2 demonstrated this by ending 'Rattle and Hum,' the movie and the C.D., with "All I Want Is You".) Then, "Texarkana," is arguably--yes, subjectively, too--the album's best song. With able delivery and finesse shown like on "World Leader Pretend," 'Green''s best song, "Texarkana" is a symphonic psalm that builds up to a crescendo, sung with bitter sarcasm by Mike Mills with fine back-up vocals by Stipe. If this weren't enough, "Country Feedback" is a brilliant piece of country alternative, complete with reverberation that evokes all the blistering heartache present. Even Michael Stipe's vocals trail off, too emotional to prevent a pause. After all this variety and brilliance, the album ends with a hopeful, exhiliarating, but desperate appeal. "Me in Honey" treats alternative like big band music with a gallop.

The energy and appeal of the music on 'Out of Time' is stunning. Certainly, the inspiration is exceptional, but the quality of musicianship, lyrics, and variety of forms presented is stunning and perfectionistic, especially when they loosen up their shirtsleeves like never before.

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Amazon Customer

Best Deal!!!

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2023

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Fast shipping. Excellent condition!!!

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Robert Bykowski

A 'Pet Sounds' for the '90's and beyond

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2010

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People are free to disagree, but I think this is R.E.M.'s masterpiece and, more than anything else, it reminds me of the Beach Boys' 1966 tour-de-force 'Pet Sounds'. It shares many of the same qualities of that magnificent album. Clear, forceful, emotional vocals. Buoyant, memorable melodies. Songwriting that looks within with introspection and occasional weariness, but also celebrates something as simple as a good, sunshiny day surrounded by happy people. Graceful, string-laced arrangements. And at least four clear-cut classics: "Losing My Religion", "Near Wild Heaven", "Half a World Away", and "Country Feedback". This is a wonderful record, and the crown on R.E.M.'s career thus far.

Many consider 1992's 'Automatic for the People' a stronger album, but even though there were some great songs on that record ("Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon"), I found it uneven overall. THIS is the one.

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Kabalabonga

Never Comes Close To Selling Out: An Opinion From An Old-School Fan

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2011

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Suddenly emerging as one of the most universally recognizable acts in mainstream rock after years of toiling in relative obscurity in the alternative genre followed by brief appearances within the Top 40 and partial commercial breakthrough, REM's 1991 release "Out Of Time" catapulted them permanently into the consciousness of popular culture. No real universal points of absolute demarcation can be referenced to pigeonhole REM with one definitive sound when discussing the evolution of the band's musical direction; this is a group that was kind of like Janus, looking forward and backward in order to blend previous strengths with new wrinkles in arrangement and instrumentation. Television and radio stations embraced "Out Of Time" as a collection of subversively poppy tunes heavily embedded with string arrangements, horns, and keyboard, augmented by the presence of other offbeat instruments, such as harpsichord, pedal steel guitar, congas, and mandolin.

REM produced "Out Of Time" with Scott Litt, and it's fully amplified, somewhat heavily orchestrated, and displays production values that were burnished to a glossy sheen. The strings first heard on "Fables of the Reconstruction" during "Feeling Gravitys Pull" are resurrected and lavishly interspersed throughout; "Near Wild Heaven", "Radio Song" "Losing My Religion", "Low" "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half A World Away", and "Texarkana" all contain some sort of arrangement, whether up front in the mix or simply serving as another textural element. Having previously employed horns on "Fables" ("Can't Get There From Here") and "Document" ("Fireplace"), the band punctuates "Radio Song" with brassy, call-and-response saxophone blasts, then introduces a wistful flugelhorn passage during "Endgame". The fluidly progressing percussive rhythms of the piano heard on "Murmur" ("Shaking Through") and "Reckoning" ("So. Central Rain" and Don't Go Back To Rockville") emerge again on "Near Wild Heaven" and "Belong" to provide a hopeful buoyancy to each. And the mandolin, serving as the focal point of "Green"'s "You Are The Everything" and included substantively on two other cuts from that CD ("Hairshirt" and "The Wrong Child") once again weaves its melodic way through the melancholy "Half A World Away" in addition to the universally acclaimed " Losing My Religion".

Most universally recognized as their best known (or at least highest-charting) popular songs outside of the preferences of their long-term fanbase, "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People" were played almost incessantly across the airwaves, and offer an interesting contrast to each other; the former imbued with a sense of wistfulness, in both lyrical and musical arrangement; the latter with a mostly positive, nearly joyous, upbeat vibe. The rest of the tracks on the CD can be aligned more or less respectively with one or the other based on the mood established by the tempo, arrangement, and instrumentation. "Near Wild Heaven", for example, is one of the definitively effervescent tracks on the CD, and can be grouped with the latter song, while "Half A World Away", with its expression of plaintive longing, could be included with the former, although stylistic variation ran the spectrum from the heavy, boisterous, faux-funk workout of "Radio Song" to the sustained explosive, fluidly-strummed, agilely percussive, long-unwinding burn of "Me In Honey" to the savagely deliberative pedal steel that infects "Country Feedback" with a haunting, mournful atmosphere.

And lost in all of the venom that some long-time fans were spewing over REM's advancement of their musical direction toward what was perceived as a widely commercial bearing is the underlying fact that in many ways "Out Of Time" was a release with country-inflected overtones, and one that was not mutually exclusive of the instrumental elements that contributed so much to the distinctive nature of their earlier sound. It's neither regressive or progressive, but a hybrid of sorts instead. While I'll always prefer old school REM, I listen to this CD with a little frequency because it respects its influences while using them to nudge the band to grow their sound further.

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Harry Manback

Great album by a truly great band

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2014

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This album was a huge part of my time as I moved to California in the early 90's to reconnect with my mom. It certainly gave me a safe place to sort out many diverse emotions that came along with my experience. Every song served to evoke a very healthy construct of self and what it meant to interact on a higher level of emotion with others. The musical growth that R.E.M. achieved, even beyond the often over-played and thus Mtv and radio diluted "Losing My Religion" is not lost to the listener with so many great songs that go well beyond the singular hit single. I am truly happy to have returned to this music in recent times and recommend to any and all fans of this type of music to purchase this one. It is an album that will never run "Out Of Time" with me.

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