Losing My Religion/ Rotary Eleven

Having been a big R.E.M. fan since their 1983 debut ("Radio Free Europe"), and then watching their career unfold... not always in a direction I was thrilled about... I remember being totally astounded to hear this one. Not only was it a magnificent return to their roots musically, but it's a simply superior pop song. Nothing simple about it, but it sounds so simple! And consider this: "Losing My Religion" has no chorus. How do you make a pop song a hit that has no hummable chorus? And yet on the strength of its music and lyrics — totally legible, it's so right-on as a tale of fragile, vulnerable love — "Religion" went on to become the biggest chart hit of the group's career. Deservedly so, and it anchored an album of similarly worthy note. As with most R.E.M. singles, the B side is a previously unreleased, non-LP cut. Dave Marsh included this single in his 1999 addendum to the original list of 1001 greatest singles, originally published in 1989. Note: This beautiful copy comes in a vintage Warner Bros. Records factory sleeve. It has Mint labels, and even though it's clearly been jukebox-played, the audio sounds Mint.