Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 | ||||
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Greatest hits album by R.E.M. | ||||
Released | November 11, 2011 | |||
Recorded | 1981–2011 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 151:24 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | ||||
Compiler | R.E.M. | |||
R.E.M. chronology | ||||
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Singles from Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 | ||||
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R.E.M. compilations chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 87/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
Consequence of Sound | |
Drowned in Sound | 8/10 |
Entertainment Weekly | B |
The Independent | |
The Phoenix | |
Pitchfork Media | 9.4/10 |
PopMatters | |
Rolling Stone | |
Slant Magazine |
Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 is a 2011 greatest hits album from alternative rock band R.E.M. Intended as a coda on their career, this is the first compilation album that features their early work on independent record label I.R.S. Records in addition to their 10 studio releases through Warner Bros. Records. The double-disc retrospective was released through Warner Bros. on November 11, 2011, and was compiled by the band members. The existence of the compilation was revealed simultaneously with the group's announcement that they were disbanding on September 21, 2011.
In addition to previously recorded music that spans the band's entire career, three new songs are included. Their final studio album—Collapse into Now—fulfilled the band's contractual obligations to Warner Bros. and they began recording material without a contract a few months later with producer Jacknife Lee in Athens, Georgia with the possible intention of self-releasing the work. Rather than completing an album's worth of material, the band elected to take what they had completed from those sessions and release them on this compilation. The new songs "Hallelujah" and "A Month of Saturdays" were demoed in the Collapse into Now sessions and the lead single "We All Go Back to Where We Belong" was recorded entirely after that album.
The band compiled the contents themselves, attempting to capture different periods of their songwriting. Vocalist Michael Stipe has explained that the inspiration for his approach to compiling the songs was the David Bowie compilation Changesonebowie. The title of the album comes from a quip that guitarist Peter Buck made about the band during an interview in 1988, "R.E.M is part lies, part heart, part truth and part garbage."
"We All Go Back to Where We Belong" was made available over the Internet on October 17, 2011. Early reviews of the song considered it a "low-key, string-drenched ballad" (Stereogum) and compared it to the pop styling of Burt Bacharach and R.E.M.'s 2001 album Reveal.