R.E.M. - In Time (best of 88-03)

I tend to think of REM as two different bands, from two different times. There's the IRS years...and the Warner years. While there is a little overlap ("It's The End Of The World As We Know It(and i feel fine)", for example), REM's style began to move away from garagey folk on Green.
Now, this of course is my perception of REM. Do they think that such a stylistic shift happened? Was their songwriting process different? I don't have those answers...because they don't really matter. What does matter is that I've been listening to these guys for a long time. Songs like "Radio Free Europe" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" will always be associated with those college nights spent listening to albums like Murmur at my friend Gene's parents house up in Bangor, Maine. The music made a big impression on me, so that time period comes along for the ride. The rest of the pre-Warner days stuff is in there too because, let's face it, does anyone really feel like an adult when they first get out of school? Not me. It took a few years. A job. A marriage. A mortgage...and then REM comes out with "Stand"...and suddenly, it appears that things have changed.