With Jeff's fellow Georgia residents R.E.M. being no more, I thought it a good time to find 10 songs that are well worth a listen. Some well-known, some less so, all good.

10. “Überlin” – Collapse Into Now, 2011

REM’s last studio album throws up this one song that for me easily betters anything off “Accelerate”, with classic jangling guitar and a yearning lyric from Stipe. “I know that this is changing me”, it serves as a great farewell from a band who had arguably lost some direction in latter years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN1YpMtPIpE

9. “Leaving New York” – Around The Sun, 2004

R.E.M.’s albums used to have many stand out tracks, but for me at least, the later albums were more likely to have just one or two that I loved. And for “Around The Sun”, that was definitely “Leaving New York”, another poignant R.E.M. song tinged with slight wistfulness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCvnGxfBfiw&ob=av2e

8. “Try Not To Breathe” – Automatic For The People, 1992

As tempting as it is to include one of the hugely popular songs from the follow up to “Out Of Time” and as hard as I find this song to listen to for personal reasons, I still have to choose this as my favourite from the album. An elegaic message to those left behind to think on the positives of a life, it still manages to be uplifting. For me, it manages to do that better than “Everybody Hurts”, despite much less exposure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jpptsy2qbU

7. “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” – Document, 1987

A stream of politically-linked loosely connected lyrics at rapid pace is the pinnacle of Michael Stipe’s early fondness for slightly unclear, indistinct words. So much so that to sing it live, he takes a crib sheet with him. Even so, it makes for a great song, driving to the finish and with the counterpoint “Time I spent some time alone” building in volume in each successive chorus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY

6. “Driver 8” – Fables Of The Reconstruction, 1985

An archetypal early R.E.M. song, all four members working well together with the addition of a touch of harmonica, it contributes a lot to the great start made to “Fables…”. Signs of albums to come can be heard here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuFId1RYSZE&ob=av2e

5. “Orange Crush” – Green, 1988

Some of the political themes of “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” are here crystallised and made harder. With an equally hard guitar riff, “Orange Crush” saw the arrival of R.E.M. as a singles band as well as an album one in the US, although it was less successful than the earlier “The One I Love” here in the UK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSmOcmk7uQ&ob=av2e

4. “Fall On Me” – Life’s Rich Pageant, 1986

Fall On Me takes the same elements as Driver 8, slows them down and makes a more wistful song out of them. Yes, wistful again. I tried to think of another way of putting it, but I hear it in a lot of R.E.M.’s music and the songs I hear it most in tend to be my favourites. That’s the way it is. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf6vCjtaV1k&ob=av2e

3. “Let Me In” – Monster, 1994

“Monster” was something of a reaction to the lighter, melodic “Out Of Time” and primarily acoustic, using harder, more distorted guitars. “Bang and blame” and “What’s the frequency Kenneth?” deserve mention here, but no one song typifies the approach more than “Let me in”. A dense wall of guitars that Stipe’s vocals struggle to penetrate, a brief pause halfway through might seem like some respite from the guitar but you’ll still hear the echoes in your head. A synth riff comes along to join in, but the guitars carry the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUjQOs-5HaQ

2. “All The Way To Reno” – Reveal, 2001

They had me at “Your Achilles heel is a tendency to dream”, but pair that with an 8 note riff, sometimes in synth, sometimes guitar, sometimes both and this makes the cut despite a slightly disappointing chorus. This is the point I’m regretting saying 10 songs at the outset and weighing up the merits of “Imitation Of Life”, “The Great Beyond” and numerous others but Reno makes the cut. For today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHlpWokiduk&ob=av2e

1. “Losing My Religion” – Out Of Time, 1991

Yes, I was never going to ignore Out Of Time, the album so good that a friend once thought it was a compilation album. And while part of me wants to be controversial and pick, say, “Country Feedback” I can’t in all honesty deny that “Losing My Religion” is my favourite track. And the one most likely to make you think “I must learn how to play the mandolin!”. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-UzXIQ5vw&ob=av2e