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In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003
Greatest hits album by R.E.M.
Released	October 27, 2003 (2003-10-27)
Recorded	1988–2003
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	76:15
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Scott Litt, Pat McCarthy, R.E.M.
R.E.M. chronology
r.e.m.IX (2002) In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 (2003) In View: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 (2003)
Singles from In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003
"Bad Day" Released: September 29, 2003 "Animal" Released: January 5, 2004
R.E.M. compilations chronology
R.E.M.: In the Attic – Alternative Recordings 1985–1989 (1997) In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 (2003) iTunes Originals – R.E.M. (2004)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Entertainment Weekly	A−
NME	6/10
Pitchfork Media	7.5/10
Rolling Stone
RTÉ.ie
Stylus Magazine	A

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 is the second official compilation album released by R.E.M. Issued in 2003, it includes tracks from their Warner Bros. Records era, from 1988's Green to 2001's Reveal, as well as two new recordings and two songs from movie soundtracks. The album was the tenth-best-selling album of 2003 in the UK, and the 50th-best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.

Background

"Bad Day" was a demo version in 1986, a Life's Rich Pageant outtake when Bill Berry was still in the band, and was re-recorded for this compilation. "Animal" was a recent song written for their upcoming studio album. Similarly, "All the Right Friends", originally written in the early 1980s, had been re-recorded by the band for use in Cameron Crowe's 2001 film Vanilla Sky. Finally, "The Great Beyond" was initially issued in 1999 as part of Miloš Forman's film on Andy Kaufman, Man on the Moon. It ended up becoming the band's biggest UK hit, with a No. 3 peak, in early 2000. This, the third inclusion of the song on an official release, is the only unedited version. On the Man on the Moon soundtrack, there is some dialogue from the movie at the end of the track; the single version is a radio edit, with the bridge omitted.

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 was also issued in a limited two-disc edition that included a "Rarities and B-Sides" disc from the same era, with liner notes by Peter Buck. The single-disc edition of the album reached No. 1 in the UK, while going platinum in the U.S. and peaking at #8. The limited-edition two-disc release managed to reach No. 16 in the U.S. and No. 37 in the UK. There is also a vinyl edition which consists of two LPs inside a gatefold cover and a limited CD box-set edition featuring all eighteen tracks on their own individual one-track CDs, with cover art from the original singles.

A notable omission from the album is the song "Shiny Happy People" which was deliberately left out by the band despite it being one of their biggest hits.

A companion DVD, entitled In View: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003, was released at the same time. In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of the compilation which included a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes. The "Rarities and B-Sides" bonus disc from the limited edition is not included in this package.

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe except as indicated.

1. "Man on the Moon" (from Automatic for the People, 1992) – 5:12
2. "The Great Beyond" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from the Man on the Moon soundtrack, 1999) – 5:04
3. "Bad Day" (previously unreleased) – 4:05
4. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" (from Monster, 1994) – 3:58
5. "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Reveal, 2001) – 4:43
6. "Losing My Religion" (from Out of Time, 1991) – 4:26
7. "E-Bow the Letter" (from New Adventures in Hi-Fi, 1996) – 5:22
8. "Orange Crush" (from Green, 1988) – 3:50
9. "Imitation of Life" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Reveal, 2001) – 3:56
10. "Daysleeper" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Up, 1998) – 3:37
11. "Animal" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (previously unreleased) – 4:00
12. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" (from Automatic for the People, 1992) – 4:06
13. "Stand" (from Green, 1988) – 3:09
14. "Electrolite" (from New Adventures in Hi-Fi, 1996) – 4:04
15. "All the Right Friends" (from the Vanilla Sky soundtrack, 2001) – 2:45
16. "Everybody Hurts" (from Automatic for the People, 1992) – 5:17
17. "At My Most Beautiful" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) (from Up, 1998) – 3:33
18. "Nightswimming" (from Automatic for the People, 1992) – 4:16

Bonus disc 'Rarities and B-sides'

1. "Pop Song 89" (acoustic) – 2:56
   • B-side of "Pop Song 89" 7 Inch; 1989
2. "Turn You Inside-Out" (live) – 4:16
   • although listed on the cover as being from the live video Tourfilm (which version was also released as B-side of "Losing My Religion" "Collector's Editions" CD 1), this recording is actually from the radio broadcast of the Orlando show from April 30, 1989, previously included on a "Get Up" promotional CD-single.
3. "Fretless" – 4:49
   • B-side of "Losing My Religion" "Collector's Editions" CD 2, Until the End of the World soundtrack, B-side of "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" "Collector's Edition" CD 1 UK; 1991
4. "Chance (Dub)" – 2:33
   • B-side of "Everybody Hurts" "Collector's Edition" CD 2 UK; 1993
5. "It's a Free World, Baby" – 5:11
   • B-side of "Drive" "Collector's Edition" Single UK & the Coneheads soundtrack; 1992
6. "Drive" (live, November 19, 1992) – 3:59
   • Alternative NRG, B-side of "Strange Currencies" CD single; 1994
7. "Star Me Kitten" (featuring William S. Burroughs) – 3:29
   • Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files; 1996
8. "Revolution" – 3:02
   • Batman & Robin soundtrack; 1997
9. "Leave" (alternate version) – 4:40
   • A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack; 1997
10. "Why Not Smile" (Oxford American version) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 2:59
    • B-side of "Daysleeper" CD single; 1998
11. "The Lifting" (original version) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 5:19
    • B-side of "Imitation of Life" CD single; 2001
12. "Beat a Drum" (Dalkey demo) (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 4:25
    • B-side of "Imitation of Life" CD single; 2001
13. "2JN" (Buck, Mills, Stipe) – 3:24
    • B-side of "Imitation of Life" CD single; 2001
14. "The One I Love" (live from the Museum of Television and Radio, June 8, 2001) – 3:23
    • previously unreleased
15. "Country Feedback" (live from Wiesbaden, Germany, 2003) – 6:15
    • previously unreleased

Later pressings of the collector's edition have the second disc enhanced with the "Bad Day" video.

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

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2. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
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External links

• In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 at MusicBrainz (list of releases)

v t e R.E.M.
Bill Berry Peter Buck Mike Mills Michael Stipe Bertis Downs Jefferson Holt
Studio albums	Murmur Reckoning Fables of the Reconstruction Lifes Rich Pageant Document Green Out of Time Automatic for the People Monster New Adventures in Hi-Fi Up Reveal Around the Sun Accelerate Collapse into Now
Live albums	R.E.M. Live Live at The Olympia Unplugged: The Complete 1991 and 2001 Sessions R.E.M. at the BBC Live at the Borderline 1991
Compilations	Dead Letter Office Eponymous The Best of R.E.M. The Automatic Box Singles Collected In the Attic In Time iTunes Originals And I Feel Fine Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 Complete Rarities (I.R.S. · WB) 7IN—83–88
EPs	Chronic Town Not Bad for No Tour Vancouver Rehearsal Tapes Live from London Reckoning Songs from The Olympia
Other albums	Man on the Moon r.e.m.IX
Singles	"Radio Free Europe" "Talk About the Passion" "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" "Cant Get There from Here" "Driver 8" "Wendell Gee" "Fall on Me" "Superman" "The One I Love" "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" "Finest Worksong" "Orange Crush" "Stand" "Pop Song 89" "Get Up" "Losing My Religion" "Shiny Happy People" "Near Wild Heaven" "Radio Song" "Drive" "Man on the Moon" "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" "Everybody Hurts" "Nightswimming" "Find the River" "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" "Bang and Blame" "Crush with Eyeliner" "Strange Currencies" "Tongue" "E-Bow the Letter" "Bittersweet Me" "Electrolite" "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" "Daysleeper" "Lotus" "At My Most Beautiful" "Suspicion" "The Great Beyond" "Imitation of Life" "All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)" "I'll Take the Rain" "Bad Day" "Animal" "Leaving New York" "Aftermath" "Electron Blue" "Wanderlust" "#9 Dream" "Supernatural Superserious" "Hollow Man" "Man-Sized Wreath" "Until the Day Is Done" "Mine Smell Like Honey" "Überlin" "Oh My Heart" "We All Go Back to Where We Belong"
Other songs	"Sitting Still" "Gardening at Night" "Perfect Circle" "Pretty Persuasion" "7 Chinese Bros." "Begin the Begin" "Cuyahoga" "Ages of You" "Turn You Inside-Out" "Texarkana" "Country Feedback" "First We Take Manhattan" "Ignoreland" "Dark Globe" "Star 69" "New Test Leper" "All the Right Friends" "Out in the Country"
Videos	Succumbs Tourfilm Pop Screen This Film Is On Parallel Road Movie In View Perfect Square When the Light Is Mine R.E.M. Live Live from Austin, TX REMTV
Support and side projects	Nathan December Buren Fowler Peter Holsapple Barrett Martin Scott McCaughey Bill Rieflin Ken Stringfellow Joey Waronker The Baseball Project Filthy Friends Hindu Love Gods The Minus 5 Tanzplagen Tuatara Tired Pony
Related articles	Discography List of songs Awards Tours 170 College Avenue Peter Buck Athens Andover "I Belong to You" Hib-Tone Surprise Your Pig: A Tribute to R.E.M. Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic for the People
Category

• Albums produced by Scott Litt
• B-side compilation albums
• Albums produced by Bill Berry
• Albums produced by Mike Mills
• Albums produced by Peter Buck
• Albums produced by Michael Stipe
• R.E.M. compilation albums
• 2003 greatest hits albums
• Warner Records compilation albums
• Albums produced by Pat McCarthy (record producer)