OK, I did make a mistake in my chronology and forgot that Life's Rich Pageant came after Fables. I would include LRP and Document the good album list. So all the IRS albums would be a more accurate, corrected above. But I don't think its that spicy a take. Murmur was really different and cool when it came out and started the indie jangle pop sound that many other bands tried to copy. Radio Free Europe was obviously the standout track, but the rest of the album was really solid. Reckoning, with the exception of Camera, was just one banger after another. Fables and LRP were also really strong with some moving away from the older jangle sounds into exciting new stuff, like some of the dissonant guitar riffs. But it still had that indie, garage rock vibe. I bought Green the first day it came out and few records disappointed me more than that one. Stand was OK, Orange Crush was like a hollowed version of themselves. Like a track really wasn't good enough to put on an album in the IRS days. And each album after became more generic pop and further and further away from what was awesome about early REM. Not to say that they didn't have a few good songs here and there, but nothing that could remotely compare to the quality of Reckoning. I do admit some bias in that I was old enough to see them on tour several times in small venues in the early days (and some medium ones after Fables came out) and it was that era that made me love the band.