Mix Tape Friday: The Ones I Love

And that, of course, would be R.E.M.

We’ve been in Acceleration this week. In case you didn’t know, R.E.M.’s fourteenth studio album, Accelerate, was released this week to great reviews and great dance moves up and down my hallway.

Psssssst: Have you heard the news?

Secondly, Saturday marks the twenty-eighth anniversary of the band’s first performance — a big day on the calendars of us R.E.M. nerds. Can you imagine doing the same job with the same folks for nearly thirty years?

This has been a fun week for me — and I want you to join in the fun, to understand why I’ve loved R.E.M. totally and completely for most of my adult life. To help you get in that Athens frame of mind, here are fifty of my favorite non-album tracks — B-sides, fan club singles, cuts from soundtracks and tribute albums, a couple of live tracks.

Check in this weekend for one more R.E.M.-centric post — and a big announcement.

Let's start with a love song of sorts to R.E.M., and then dive into the cool tunes.

Pavement :: Unseen Power of the Picket Fence

R.E.M. :: Windout

R.E.M. :: Funtime

R.E.M. :: First We Take Manhattan

R.E.M. :: Burning Down

R.E.M. :: See No Evil

R.E.M. :: Bad Day

R.E.M. :: All the Right Friends

R.E.M. :: After Hours

R.E.M. :: Academy Fight Song

R.E.M. :: Sex Bomb

R.E.M. :: Ghost Riders

R.E.M. :: Chance (Dub)

R.E.M. :: There She Goes Again

R.E.M. :: Wall of Death

R.E.M. :: Memphis Train Blues

R.E.M. :: Adagio

R.E.M. :: Pale Blue Eyes

R.E.M. :: I Will Survive

R.E.M. :: Live for Today

R.E.M. :: Jimmy Crack Corn/Behind Closed Doors

R.E.M. :: Bandwagon

R.E.M. :: Dark Globe

R.E.M. :: The Lions Sleeps Tonight

R.E.M. :: Hot Java

R.E.M. feat. The Muppets :: Furry Happy Monsters

R.E.M. :: Only in America

R.E.M. :: Arms of Love

R.E.M. :: Baby Baby

R.E.M. :: Love Is All Around

R.E.M. feat. Robyn Hitchcock + Billy Bragg :: Tom’s Diner

R.E.M. :: Femme Fatale

R.E.M. feat. Kate Pearson :: Fretless

R.E.M. :: Wicked Game

R.E.M. :: Summertime

R.E.M. :: 2JN

R.E.M. :: Surfing the Ganges

R.E.M. :: The Passenger

R.E.M. :: Tired of Singing Trouble

R.E.M. :: Walter’s Theme

R.E.M. :: Sponge

R.E.M. :: Animal

R.E.M. feat. William S. Burroughs :: Star Me Kitten

R.E.M. :: #9 Dream

R.E.M. :: Jesus Christ

R.E.M. :: Favorite Writer

R.E.M. :: Dream (All I Have to Do)

R.E.M. :: Crazy

R.E.M. :: Wichita Lineman

R.E.M. feat. Bruce Springsteen :: Because the Night

Automatic Baby :: One

Too Accelerated to download each track? Take the shortcut to the zip file.

I could go on … and on … and on about every damn one of these tracks, but I’m trying hard not to bore you with minutiae. But let me point out what a groovy pool of artists R.E.M. has covered: Velvet Underground, Television and Mission of Burma, Big Star and Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen and Richard Thompson, Iggy and Syd — even Athens neighbors Pylon, Magnapop, and Vic Chesnutt.

These songs have me too distracted to continue typing. Think it’s time to Winamp up the room and dance. Hope you love this tape.

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