Customer Reviews
Really original name! - By: Gareth Franklin, 11 Apr 2008 
Not being a huge REM fanin the first place, I bought this CD purely because it was cheap...but it has converted me! Some of the songs on here are classics while others are less well known (to me anyway). However, it's the DVD that pushed this up to 4 stars. How I wish I had been at that concert now, especially when "Losing My Religion" started!
Well worth buying - By: M. Eadon, 09 Jan 2008 
I must admit that the decision to get this wasn't easy, having been so disappointed by "Around the Sun"
However, it's an absolute blinder. Great sound quality, a few relevant comments from Mr Stipe between the songs & an appreciative crowd.
Rather than the usual regurgitation of greatest hits, there is a nice mix of old, new & not so well known. Like some previous reviewers, I shall be digging out "Around the Sun" again for another listen.
Not quite up the level of "One more from the road" (by Lynyrd Skynrd) where the live set is the definitive album, but well worth buying.
What's wrong with live albums?? - By: Doc, 27 Oct 2007 Dismissing live albums because you can download bootlegs is not very persuasive. The fact that along with 2-cds you get the concert dvd makes for excellent value & firmly establishes its right to exist!
This is great - R.E.M. play through some of their best songs & do so with energy, passion, a little bit of political comment. Some of the songs have never sounded better. Specifically, those from Around the Sun are startlingly good & have made me return to that album to hear what went wrong. Haven't enjoyed an album as much for a long time.
What's the point? - By: M.T. Glass, 25 Oct 2007 
What an original title for a live REM album! The only positive thing about this release is the fact that now they have bought out a Best Of album & a Live set, maybe they may decide to call it a day & spare us all from any more of this 6th-form pretentious twaddle. I can't believe that I have just written 'positive' & 'REM'in same paragraph.
Great record of great shows for disappointing album - By: J. H. Bateman, 25 Oct 2007 I realised I've never bought a brand new live album before, but I've loved REM for over 20 years, saw this tour (in Manchester), & liked the value for money, so couldn't really not buy it!
I'd stayed clear of live albums due to concerns about 1) lack of new material & 2) poor sound quality. Neither concern detracts from this collection. The enthusiasm & energy of REM's live performances comes over perfectly, & the lyrics are actually more audible than on the originals. Stipe's inter-song comments are sufficient to convey the show's flavour without irritating or detracting from the songs.
As other reviewers have noted, the tour supported the disappointing 'Around The Sun', but the live performances representing that album here are much better than on the originals (as is 'Walk Unafraid'). A range of the group's finest moments - from 1984's 'Don't Go Back To Rockville' to 2001's 'Imitation of Life', about 1 per album but 3 from top-selling Automatic for the People & 2 from grungy, stadium-friendly Monster - are collected, tailed with passable new stadium rocker 'I'm gonna DJ'.
Highlights for me included great concert opener I Took Your Name, What's The Frequency Kenneth, So Fast So Numb, The Great Beyond, Cuyahoga, Man on the Moon, & Losing My Religion, but recording quality is maintained throughout.
The DVD, again, adds excellent value as a souvenir/introduction to REM live (many acts would sell this separately for the same price again).
There could have been more sleevenotes/packaging, & I'd have liked 'It's the end of the world as we know it', 'Fall on me', 'Welcome to the Occupation', 'Undertow' - etc.... - but with such an extensive catalogue, we can't have everything!
As an introduction to REM, most fans would recommend AFTP. I might actually offer this one: it's certainly better than Around the Sun, or - considering their greatnessin concert - even 2004's 'In Time' 'greatest hits', which perversely omitted some of their more famous songs. REM love playing live, & if you're a newcomer to them & like rock live, you'll enjoy this selection.
