|
Accelerate being REM's 14th album and their 2008 release was met with positive reviews by the critics and Allmusic, Spinn and The Guardian gave it 4 stars. The album spawned four singles "Man-Sized Wreath", "Supernatural Superserious", "Hollow Man" and "Until The Day Is Done". I agree the album is a wast improvement compared to their 2004 release Around the sun. The album also did well with the public peaking at #1 in several countries, i.e., Ireland, Greece, UK and Belgium and Norway. The booklet has all the lyrics and some strange graphics on the front. 4/5.
REM with Michael Stipe have come up with an album that produces a "tried and true" sound. The group's strength is in its past efforts, however. Any true REM fan should have this in their collection, but I'd personally like to smack the cover artist upside the head. There is nothing attractive about the product, and, if you judge a book by its cover, you will judge this "book" unworthy.
After having listened to this album here and there for the last few months, I have to make a few observations:- Loud does not necessarily equate to interesting- Though there seems to be more "energy" on this record, I feel like this energy is just a product of the in-your-face production by Jacknife Lee, not a product of the music itselfI really wanted to like this record, but I just found the "energy" of this record forced and in-authentic, and none of the tunes hold a candle to those produced by the band in the 80s and 90s. In addition, I truly resent the ridiculously poor sound quality of this CD. I hope in the future that R.E.M. can do better.
You can have your Fleet Foxes, Kings Of Leon and Vampire Weekend; I'll take R.E.M. Every song is brilliant, from the driving, rollicking opener "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" to the punchy "Supernatural Superserious" to the absolutely sublime "Until The Day Is Done" right through to the tongue-in-cheek punk of "I'm Gonna DJ".
In fact, why was it omitted from any. How did "Accelerate" not make more 2008 best-of lists.
But even more than being the best thing they've released in over 10 years, it's also better than the vast majority of what was released THIS year. This is - beyond dispute - the best, most cohesive, most LISTENABLE album they've released since "Automatic For The People", and while it bears little sonic resemblence to that masterpiece, it does demonstrate more than a passing similarity to "Life's Rich Pageant" and "Document".
This can be heard in Peter Buck's muscular guitar work and the thundering drums, certainly, but also in the return of Michael Stipe's cryptically profound and politically charged lyrics. Even the more challenging, less immediate tracks like "Houston" and "Sing For The Submarine" are winners, standing head and shoulders above 95% of the junk that passes for rock these days.
any day.
"Guitars," barks Buck, "lots of guitar." "Synths," adds Stipe before pausing. Producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Green Day) maintains a quiet but consistent presence, his production offering a consistency not heard on an R.E.M. "Lets make something Bill would like." Buck shifts awkwardly in his chair, eyebrows raised, snorting. In the driveway sits a pickup truck full of electric guitars, all of which Buck threatens to set on fire and roll into the Stipe Mansion unless his old friend Michael agrees to do at least one and a half of two things: 1) fires new age dreamer/producer Pat McCarthy; 2) finally lets Buck and Mills make the rock album their band had been promising for years.Later, probably in the café located in the private art gallery inside Stipe's house, the three sit down, have a few drinks, arm wrestle and talk about the now long-gone good `ol days of Bill Berry beats.
for over a decade now, but this album, this guitar-loving indie-pop album, is a gem of a record that even sounds as if it could've been released after the last great R.E.M. are still a strong band who know how to put together strong, memorable pop songs that sound like no one else. Buck, fire in his eyes, fumbles Stipe into a headlock, rendering him immobile on the front porch while Mills shoots rubber bands and flips paper footballs at the famously mumbly singer's famously bald head. "Burried synths," he rescinds.Okay, enough dreaming - time to get to bizness. album since Automatic for the People.
hasn't been good enough to call themselves R.E.M. "Short songs with backing vocals," chirps Mills, glasses fogged from his steaming Caffè macchiato. Accelerate, the aptly titled 14th R.E.M. His voice and delivery through Accelerate sound like longtime fans would hope, while Buck - who has always created excellent music, be it with this band, the Minus 5 or Robyn Hitchcock - is as on point as he has been in years, sounding - similar to Stipe's allure here - exactly like fans hope he would, though maybe a bit louder and hungrier than he's been, possibly ever.Not to burn the party down, but don't get too excited just yet - Accelerate is no Life's Rich Pageant, Document or Out of Time.
Insupposable bit of reverie that it may be, I daydream of Peter Buck and Mike Mills showing up at Michael Stipe's door sometime soon after the failed tour that followed the release of R.E.M.'s most recent album, 2004's impressively pathetic Around the Sun. Accelerate is an expertly made album that looks and sounds like it belongs on the "employee picks" shelf alongside Spoon and Zumpano albums in hipster record stores - though it'd be filed, genetically speaking, under "influential," not "influenced.""Hollow Man," one of Accelerate's many standout tracks, reads almost like a late night memo from Stipe to Mills and Buck: "You had placed your trust in me / I went upside down / I emptied out the room in 30 seconds flat / I can't believe you held your ground." Or, maybe, a letter to R.E.M.'s loyal fans, subconscious as it may be. The truth is, R.E.M. album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi.Despite the wandering failures of their post-Hi-Fi past, R.E.M. It's a guitar-filled, somewhat minimalist-minded rock n' roll album that touches on many of the band's hallmarks. Stipe's phrasing and spitfire deliver, Mills' backing vocals and Buck's post-jangle bounce riffs are all finely executed and very familiar, leaving only one real question: are these nearly written-off legends enjoying themselves while doing what they do best, or simply doing what they have to do to keep their career chugging along. "Lets make an album that looks and sounds like something a college or indie or whatever band would make," Stipe finally says in his deep voice, as if it's his own idea.
Answer that question for yourself after a couple of accelerated spins and you'll know if these 11 new songs are ones you'll live with or, good as they are, just function as a fleeting reminder of better times. studio album, was recorded - according to Stipe - faster than anything the band has done in 20 years. No lost-but-ambitious McCarthy production on this accelerated slice of edge - nope, not a drop. The major element of that formula, of course, is Stipe, who sings and writes like no one else. (Greg Locke)
|
