Welcome to part one of our short series on R.E.M. So, as fans of the show know, the general thrust of Unsung is that each week we choose a record by a band. That record is either a classic by an unsung artist, or an unsung classic by a well known (and we take a fairly liberal view on what "well known" actually means) artist.

The catalyst for this series is that Chris has chosen the album New Adventures in Hi-Fi by R.E.M. as an unsung classic. But before we even get to the album (coming next week in part four) we need to do our due diligence and take a quick glance over their entire discography.

And folks, for R.E.M., it's a big ol discography. With fifteen albums, there's a lot to wade through, which is why this is a series in four parts, as opposed to one episode.

But before we dive into the discography, we need to give cont ...