What was R.E.M.'s first greatest hits album, released in 1988?

Eponymous was R.E.M.’s first greatest-hits album, released in 1988.

Issued by I.R.S. Records on October 17, 1988, Eponymous surveys the band’s work from the 1981 “Radio Free Europe” era through 1987’s Document. It was the group’s final authorized release for I.R.S., arriving shortly before R.E.M.’s Warner Bros. debut, Green. The compilation reached number 44 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number 69 in the United Kingdom.

The album is more than a straightforward hits package. It includes alternate mixes and versions, including “Gardening at Night” and “Finest Worksong,” as well as “Romance,” a song connected with the 1987 film Made in Heaven. Its title is a self-referential joke: “eponymous” means something named after itself, fitting a band compilation that did not use a conventional descriptive title.

“Dead Letter Office” is an understandable distractor because it is also an I.R.S.-era compilation, but it is a rarities and B-sides collection released in 1987. “In Time” came much later, covering R.E.M.’s Warner Bros. period.